FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“Our Voice, Our Time: Louisiana Black Women’s Advocacy Day”
Contact: Nia Weeks, Director of Policy and Advocacy, Women with a Vision niaweeks@gmail.com
On April 26, 2017, sponsored by State Senator Karen Carter Peterson, Women With a Vision (WWAV) will bring Black Women from across Louisiana to Baton Rouge for an advocacy day focused on Black Women’s issues and issues impacting black families.
Women with a Vision is a social justice non-profit created by and for women of color, to address  issues faced by women within our community and region. Major areas of focus include Sex Worker Rights, Drug Policy Reform, HIV Positive Women’s Advocacy, and Reproductive Justice outreach and advocacy.   As an organization, WWAV  is having ongoing conversations with Black Women across the state and has developed a campaign that discusses the issues surrounding Black Womanhood in Louisiana.   On this day Black Women will gather and tell Louisiana legislators to prioritize access to health care, support pathways to economic equity, commit to criminal justice reform, and create laws that support black women’s ability to successfully care for our families and children.
The agenda for the day consists of a press conference at 9:00am in Governor John Bel Edwards press room, prominent speakers and black women in Louisiana, an advocacy training, opportunities to attend committee hearings and meet with Legislators.  Lunch will also be provided.
Black women across the state have always been at the cornerstone in the fight for equity for our communities, families and our children.  “Our Voice, Our Time: Louisiana Black Women’s Advocacy Day” will bring black women from across Louisiana to demonstrate the following core beliefs and values:

• All women are deserving of access to quality Healthcare and that to provide it is not only a commitment to the individual, but to families across Louisiana;

• All women have the right to economic freedom and equity so that they are not forced into making unhealthy decisions about their personal well-being or the well-being of their families;

• The criminal justice system should not treat any member of the community differently than the other and that to do so based on race or gender identity has a disparaging impact on the discriminated parties, their family members and families across Louisiana as a whole;

• That universal access to quality education is a community commitment to sustainable households;

• That strong voter engagement allows all members of the city and state to be represented and heard in a effort to ensure that all community members Constitutional guarantees are safeguarded.

Registration is through Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-voice-our-time-black-womens-advocacy-day-at-the-capitol-tickets-32517410450