Domestic Workers, Women's Health , Human Trafficking training and more!
Louisville Metro Government sent this bulletin at 09/20/2022 01:31 PM EDT
The Office for Women
The Office for Women, located under the Office of Equity, is committed to advancing the status of women through education, advocacy and legislation. We focus on seven areas: gender based violence, human trafficking, social and economic well being, housing, education, civic engagement and autonomy.
Happy Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month!
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Please join us in giving a warm welcome to our newest OFW interns!
Kimberly Dueñez Gallegos is a senior at Holy Cross High School who enjoys acting, singing, and reading. As Kimberly shares: "I am super excited to learn about and how to help my community." We are excited to have Kimberly work alongside us this year to help raise the status of women and girls in Metro Louisville!
Bri Lauderdale is a graduate student in social work at LSU who enjoys traveling, shopping, and exploring. As Bri shares: “I haven’t been excited for something to challenge me in a long time and to take risk to bring more opportunities to others warms my heart!” We are excited to to have Bri join our team this year to help raise the status of women and girls in metro Louisville.
The Office for Women Internship provides students with an opportunity to gain valuable knowledge about issues facing women, girls and families in our community and local government. This internship is excellent preparation for careers in policy, social service, government and a host of related fields.
Awareness Events
ICYMI: We hosted a panel discussion on the importance of domestic and care workers, who are overwhelmingly female, BIPOC and immigrant and often lack key labor protections. The panel was moderated by LuTisha Buckner, of Russell a Place of Promise, who is also studying domestic and care workers as part of her Masters of Public Administration work. You can view the recording of the event here.
ICYMI: We hosted a panel discussion of leaders working to safeguard women's and maternal health and the health of birthing individuals. Check out the panel discussion here.
Human Trafficking Training Series and Survey
The Office for Women, together with the Bakhita Empowerment Initiative of Catholic Charities, La Casita Center and the Trauma Resilient Communities Project of the Office of Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods will host a training series on human trafficking to be held September 27 and November 1. The training is free, but registration is required. RSVP Here: https://louisvilleky.wufoo.com/.../human-trafficking-survey/
OFW is also working with Bakhita Empowerment Initiative to conduct a survey to map resources for communities who may be vulnerable to human trafficking in order to better understand the array of services and gaps in the Louisville Metro Area. This survey builds on previous work conducted by Metro United Way to develop a landscape analysis of human trafficking in Metro Louisville. This survey is also funded through a grant from Metro United Way.
If you are an agency serving individuals or communities who may be vulnerable to human trafficking (ex: houseless, foster care youth, immigrants), please complete this survey by Nov. 1, 2022. The survey should take about 15-20 minutes. It is fine if multiple individuals from your agency complete the survey.
We will analyze the results to provide a resource guide to the community of available programs and to help us address gaps in our community’s response to human trafficking. The mapping survey, along with recommendations the Landscape Analysis will form the basis of strategic planning discussions that will occur during a Human Trafficking Convening in March 2023 (information forthcoming).
Diaper Need Awareness Week September 24-Oct 6
Diaper Need Awareness Week will be held across the US on Sept. 24- Oct 6. to raise awareness of the ongoing need to provide diapers to families. Here in Louisville, advocates are working to encourage donations of diapers to organizations including the St. Bernadette Diaper Bank. Community members can shop for diapers and donate them at the "Fill the Truck" events hosted by the Diaper Bank during this period:
Saturday September 24th Kroger 9440 Brownsboro Rd. 10-1
Wednesday September 28th Walmart 3706 Diann Marie Rd. 9-1
Advocates have also turned their focus on removing the tax on diapers and period products. On August 8th, Councilwoman Paula McCraney and her colleagues passed a resolution urging Kentucky legislators to remove the sales tax on diapers and period products. The Office for Women was proud to stand alongside other partners to advocate for this change. You can watch the press conference here.
Have news you'd like to share about the work you are doing to elevate women in Louisville?
