Our Project:
The Department of Women & Gender Studies requests your support to send five students to the annual Young Feminist Leadership Conference, hosted by the Feminist Majority Foundation in Washington D.C. over our spring break in March 2020. This conference teaches students the fundamentals of grassroots political organizing and the principles of feminist activism. With a day spent lobbying Congress about important gender justice issues, led by national figures in the feminist movement, this hands-on conference is a one-of-a-kind learning experience.
Who we are:
TCU’s interdisciplinary department of Women & Gender Studies puts women, gender, and sexuality at the center of academic investigation. The department promotes inquiry into the intersections of gender with other identity categories; the workings of power in society; and the means of advancing social justice and equality. Through research, teaching and learning, and collaboration, the program fosters feminist and interdisciplinary analysis across social, historical, cultural and global contexts, products and practices.
Our story:
YFLC “brings together hundreds of student activists from around the country to build collective power and share strategies of resistance, grow knowledge about critical domestic and global feminist issues, learn hands-on grassroots organizing tactics, and mobilize for political gain at Congressional Visit Day on Capitol Hill” and focuses on vital social justice issues like “reproductive health, rights, and justice, racial justice, intersectionality and identity-based activism, environmental justice, voter engagement and mobilization, LGBTQIA+ rights, campus organizing tactics and methods, political organizing, social media platforms and digital communications, and global women’s rights.”
Having sent 5 students in spring 2019, we already know this conference has a deep impact on students, and is a unique opportunity for us to develop student leaders in Women & Gender Studies. Students gained valuable hands-on organizing experience in D.C. As one of last year’s attendees wrote:
"Attending the National Young Feminist Leadership Conference in Washington D.C. over spring break was one of the best weekends I have had as a TCU student and as a WGST minor. This conference has encouraged me to not just continue being a feminist who shows up to vote and is always ready to march, but to become a feminist who is actively advocating for change, whether it be here at TCU or even on a national level. From writing letters to your senators and representatives to asking your administration to make a change on campus, there is something we all can do as college students to change our communities for the better."
Students will fill out an application outlining what they hope to gain from this experience and how they plan to use the skills they gain to better the TCU and Fort Worth communities. If we are able to send students this year, we would like to build in a programmatic component for students upon their return to TCU that will include sharing what they learned and contributing to a gender justice lobbying campaign for a local Fort Worth issue. We believe that the Feminist Majority Foundation would be supportive of such a local initiative, and that this would give our student leaders a national platform to share their work. We believe that this project represents a synergy between our ties to a significant national organization and our local Fort Worth community partners. Involving our community to raise funds for the project also deepens the community investment in sending the students and heightens the students’ sense of responsibility to bring their knowledge and experience back to the community.
Where the money will go:
We will provide regular updates through our social media sites. It is important to us to keep you informed!
Your support will provide flights, lodging, registration, and meals for five students. See list below for a full funding breakdown:
- Flights: $400.00 x 5
- Lodging: $200.00 x 5
- Registration: $200.00 x 5
- Meals: $200.00 x 5
Find us here:
Website: https://sis.tcu.edu/wgst/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TCUWGST/
Twitter: @TCUWGST
Instagram: tcuwgst
E-mail: wgst@tcu.edu
Help us succeed
Your support means the world to us! Please feel free to share this project on personal social media, through email, and any other ways you might think of!
