More Than A Magazine, A Movement
With the end of the expanded child tax credit plunging millions of families back into poverty, low-income families are struggling to remain afloat. But the Bridge Project, a guaranteed income program focusing on women of color in NYC, is fighting for a future that supports—and empowers— the most vulnerable among us.
Instead of wasting away hours scrolling on Instagram and TikTok during quarantine in 2021, Alyssa Simone spent her time researching mental health techniques and sharing her knowledge with her peers.
Recently, her group launched Mentalligence, an immersive program making mental health education accessible to teens weekly via Zoom. So far, over 150 NYC students have connected in small groups to learn about and experiment with different therapy techniques.
Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, Dutch physician and medication abortion pioneer, has a long history of working to provide abortion pills in countries with barriers to abortion healthcare. Whether through the mail, on a ship or via drone, Gomperts has continued to find creative ways to get pills into the hands of those who need them.
“It’s really a privilege to be able to do it. It’s empowering for me, as well as for the people using the service. And it’s also empowering for the doctors to join the service. I think everybody really feels very excited about it.”
The largest family violence center in Texas is in the testing phase of an “anger hotline” where potential abusers can get peer coaching when in distress. Any full-fledged “Men’s Hotline” would be a first in the United States. Other countries—like the United Kingdom and Israel—already have designated call centers for male victims and potential abusers. It was a revolutionary idea … that seems to be working.
Start your engines, organize your campaign and submit your filing paperwork, ladies—because now is the time to run. Women are critically underrepresented in government, regardless of the level or branch.
Female candidates should be motivated, too. The last two election cycles marked record-breaking numbers of women running for office and ultimately winning. Research in political science (like the work of Jennifer Lawless and Richard Fox) shows that when women run, they win—but they do not run as often as men do. This disparity in declaring candidacies leads to the gender gap in politics. A government “of the people, by the people, for the people” must include the people who aren’t men.
Black women are now the most educated group in the United States, but they remain woefully underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The COVID-19 pandemic is our chance to repair this gap.
The chilling “I’m Sorry” campaign showcases another side of abuse—the inevitable apology—via a medium which abusers cannot hide from their victims: public billboards. The PSA was curated by domestic violence nonprofits Safe in Harm’s Way Foundation Inc. and DomesticShelters.org who joined forces with two major advertising organizations to connect victims of abuse with the help they need.
“If you talk to survivors, there’s a lot of people who say, ‘I didn’t even realize I was being abused.’”
As the childhood poverty rate rises—from 12 percent in December to 17 percent in January—Black and Latino families are being hit the hardest by the end of the child tax credit payments. Experts estimate that the poverty rate for Black and Latino children will jump to over 25 percent. One reason the CTC was so successful in reducing poverty rates is because it puts unrestricted cash directly into the hands of people who need it most. Over 90 percent of low-income families used the CTC to afford basic needs—food, clothing, school supplies, utilities and rent.
“If I could talk to President Biden, I would tell him that he should make the child tax credit permanent, because so many people are still unemployed and the pandemic is not over,” revealed one low-income mom, I’esha. “And people need help even without a pandemic going on.”
After months of negotiations, a bipartisan group of senators announced Wednesday that they had reached a deal to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)—which has been expired since December 2018.
The Equal Rights Amendment, which is stuck in a tug-of-war with the U.S. archivist and the Senate, would provide the basis for Congress to enact stronger laws on gender violence, including restoring the civil rights remedy in VAWA.
Despite a wealth of research that concludes that a medical abortion at home with a consultation by phone is effective, safe, acceptable, and improves access to care, 19 U.S. states are introducing laws to block access to the medication.