Advocates to the Front! 2024 WSCADV Conference

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Come get checked in for the conference and enjoy some coffee, tea, and light refreshments before we get started!

Advocates to the Front!

You are invited to attend this year's Annual Meeting! It will be held during Monday's lunch. This is the time for elections to the Board of Directors, and a chance for you to hear about the past year's highlights.

Each Member Program in good standing should designate one person to pick up your ballot. Ballots will be available in the Ballroom on Monday morning.

Come support your peers and learn more about your Coalition!

This workshop will focus on building narrative power in rural Washington to address gender-based violence and intersecting issues of economic justice, racial justice, and reproductive justice. Participants will learn to weave narrative strategies into campaign and initiative work, integrating community organizing and strategic communications. The session will include interactive exercises to help programs develop, distribute, and organize narrative change across key issues. Participants will also build connections across programs to use narrative change as a shared project.

En honor a “Advocactes to the Front”, WSCADV tiene el honor de presentarles un panel de intercesoras latinas que han tenido un profundo impacto en sus comunidades a través de su pasión y dedicación a este trabajo. Agradecemos a nuestras panelistas Rosalinda Álvarez, Celia Guardado y Brandi Belgarde por todo el trabajo que han realizado para apoyar a los sobrevivientes latinos. Este taller se presentará en español con interpretación al inglés.

In honor of “Advocates to the Front”, WSCADV has the honor to present you with a panel of strong Latine advocates who have made a profound impact in their communities through their passion and dedication to this work. We are grateful to our panelists Rosalinda Alvarez, Celia Guardado, and Brandi Belgarde for all the work that they have done to support Latine survivors. This workshop will be presented in Spanish with English interpretation available.

This dynamic workshop will cover two important programs at the YWCA: Survivors FIRST and the Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI)

Women represent the fastest growing incarcerated population, and those charged with crimes are overwhelmingly survivors of gender-based violence. Research highlights that the traditional criminal justice approach often fails to address the unique needs and experiences of Black women and women of color who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. Few resources exist to provide diversion, services, and pathways to healing for criminalized survivors.

Survivors FIRST is the pioneering program from the YWCA and King County Prosecuting Attorney addressing this critical gap, and it has now become the national model. This program aims to identify victims of gender-based violence facing criminal charges and offer alternative pathways to address trauma and provide support by connecting survivors with culturally relevant community providers and services. This portion of the workshop will discuss survivor-centered diversion, showcase Survivors FIRST, and discuss how prosecutors and victim advocates can work together to break the cycles of abuse and victimization

The second half of the workshop will provoke your thought process to identify biases and shift your understanding about the intersection of violence of Black women in marginalized communities. We will provide information to empower and educate you about structural racism and the frameworks fostered by YWCA RSJI. The Race and Social Justice Initiative is YWCA’s expression of its commitment to eliminate racial disparities, raise up the voices and experiences of Black women, and achieve racial equity and social justice.

This workshop will cover important updates to gender-based violence statutes that legal advocates need to know as they navigate working with survivors.

Yeha:wi means “holding her sacred.” In our Yeha:wi Service Center, we deliver powerful cultural healing services that nurture, embolden, and honor a new generation of Native women leaders. This panel will discuss the ways that Mother Nation supports Native and Indigenous women in their healing journeys from gender violence and homelessness by reclaiming their cultural heritage, building strong relationships of sisterhood, and participating in their community.

Mother Nation was founded in 2013 by Norine Hill, with a mission to deliver social and cultural healing services for Native women that nurture, create stability, and inspire growth through sisterhood. Today Mother Nation is a Native American 501(c)(3) nonprofit that offers culturally informed healing services, advocacy, mentorship and homeless prevention in Washington State. We support Native and Indigenous women during times of transition from chronic homelessness and gender-based violence to stable housing by providing counseling, connection to social services, sisterhood, community, and spiritual support.

Abolition Feminism 101 will offer workshop participants a chance to become familiar with the radical orientation to anti-violence work that is based on principles of abolition feminism.  It will include a review of the genealogy of the movement that has been led by Black feminists and other feminists of color and discussion of the ways that abolition feminism enables a more justice-oriented approach to ending gender violence.  Topics will include a critique of carceral feminism and examples of abolition feminist praxis, including presentation of specific analytical and organizing tools.  Participants will be invited to create and share long-term strategies that they can embrace in the work for freedom.

Come learn about the evidence-based Domestic Violence Housing First (DVHF) model, focused on getting survivors of domestic violence into stable housing as quickly as possible, and then providing the necessary support as they rebuild their lives.

Join us for an insightful breakout session exploring the phenomena of secondary trauma as a form of countertransference, focusing on how these experiences can serve as a mirror for self-discovery and personal growth. Participants will learn to identify and understand various autonomic physical and emotional reactions that arise when working with stories of trauma, and gain valuable insights into their personal strengths and vulnerabilities. Together, we will develop practical strategies for leveraging these insights to enhance personal well-being, improve case management, and strengthen professional resilience.

Primary prevention initiatives are a critical component in the movement to end gender-based violence, but it can be challenging to juggle with many competing priorities and other contract requirements. This workshop will explore options for how and why to allocate resources towards prevention work, communication strategies to share the beneficial impacts of prevention initiatives with funders, donors, and community partners, and encouragement for managers, directors, and other leaders to "take the leap" in supporting prevention work to greater heights.

Our panelists, Rokea Jones, BLK MAMAS Collective, Jamie Lovato, Spokane Tribe Indigenous Birth Justice and Jessica Houseman-Whitehawk, Ttáwaxt Birth Justice Center, are combining their expertise as doulas and birth justice advocates, while utilizing holistic, healing, plant, and cultural knowledge in their support of birthing families and training of doulas. They focus on dismantling oppressive systems and fighting for healthcare equity for Indigenous, Tribal, and Black birthing families. We invite you to join in on our discussion, facilitated by Andrea Garcia Brown, on what birth justice means to us and how it connects to our advocacy work.

Join us immediately after workshops end Monday for a networking social with refreshments provided. Let’s connect, chat, and learn from each other!

Native Advocates, we know how hard you work to bring healing to your communities. You carry the grief, trauma, strength, and resilience of every survivor. You also deserve healing. You also deserve rest. Please join us for an informal gathering to reflect, connect, and practice care for ourselves among our relatives. All Native Advocates are welcome.

Rooted Resiliency, led by a dedicated team of grassroots Indigenous women, offers trauma-informed wellness programs that honor cultural traditions, promote healing, and strengthen community resilience.

This space is intended for participants who identify as Native American, Alaska Native, First Nations, or Indigenous. Please contact us if you have any questions.

When the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision was leaked in May 2022, everyone planned for what now seemed inevitable: Roe would be overturned, and abortion would be outlawed in at least nineteen states. An anonymous distributor in the U.S. is enlisted to send pills to patients in red states. Pills were and continue to be shipped to states where telemedicine has become illegal, and abortion is criminalized. But Plan C’s message is that no matter where you live, you can still access pills by mail: either in a matter of days, or weeks, if ordering from overseas providers. PLAN C documents the work of determined women in the United States expanding access to medication abortion by any means necessary.

Join us for a film screening of Plan C and talk-back immediately following the film. Doors at 7:00pm, film will begin at 7:30pm.