women see justice

CAUSE Women SEE Justice Project

SEE = Social, Economic and Environmental

For more information: Gabriela Alvarado, gabriela@coastalalliance.com, 805-487-8984.

Purpose

The majority of those living in poverty in California, the U.S. and globally are women and the children they care for. The CAUSE Women SEE Justice Project:

Develops and assists the leadership power of nontraditional grassroots women and teens to organize their community for social, economic and environmental justice;
Coordinates the annual Women SEE Justice Regional Conference, involving dozens of individual and organizational co-sponsors and volunteers.
Conducts policy and participatory action research related to women’s social, economic and environmental status and SEE Justice strategies; and
Strengthens the CAUSE Centro Mujer as the only central coast women’s SEE Justice community organizing and resource center.

CAUSE Centro Mujer, 4225 Saviers Rd., Oxnard, CA 93033; 805-487-8984

Current Action

Support the 6th Annual Women SEE Justice Regional Conference on Saturday, March 8, 2008 at Oxnard College in Ventura County! March 8th is International Women’s Day.

MUJER begins organizing for improved child care access for low wage working women!

Grassroots women leaders fundraise, prepare for and complete the power-building Ntosake Training in Atlanta, GA and the National Leadership Training in Los Gatos, CA!

The first CAUSE Centro Mujer Four Generations Vision and Resource Team begins their work to see Centro Mujer seven generations forward!

CAUSE Women SEE Justice HERSTORY highlights:

2001
CAUSE convenes women community leaders to advocate on behalf of nearly 2000 In Home Support Service (IHSS) Workers excluded from the County of Ventura Living Wage Ordinance. This begins the community support for IHSS workers to gain collective bargaining rights and protections.

2002
First Annual Regional Women Working for Economic Justice Conference in honor of International Women’s Day, March 8 held at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). This regional conference on economic justice is rare in that it is specifically for low wage and immigrant women, most of whom have never participated in a conference or set foot on a university campus.

Publish Challenging the Feminization of Poverty: Women in Poverty in the Central Coast Region of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties

2003
MUJER (Mujeres Unidas por Justicia, Educacion y Respeto – Women United for Justice, Education and Respect) is created by community and woman’s activist and future CAUSE Board Member, Gloria Roman.

CAUSE community supporters work along with SEIU 998 to unionize IHSS workers. With SEIU 998, thousands of IHSS workers who had been earning only the minimum wage, now earn $9.50 per hour with health benefits.

2004
Mujeres Unidas y Activas (MUA) based in the San Francisco Women’s Building provides local leadership development to a dozen grassroots women leaders. As a result, MUJER defines its Mission Statement:

We are women focused on a vision of a world of peace and justice, free of greed and oppression. We are a living movement of strong women breaking barriers and opening doors to fortify and develop our abilities as leaders in our families, community and nation.

2006
Open CAUSE Centro Mujer as the first women’s community organizing center for economic justice in the central coast.

Publish the bilingual participatory action research report: Enough Injustice: Voices of Central Coast Working Women / Ya basta con la injusticia: Voces de mujeres trabajando en la costa central. The report is a result of focus groups, surveys and interviews designed and conducted by and with low wage immigrant women.

The 5th Annual Women Working for Economic Justice is held for the first time at Oxnard Community College, includes women from Los Angeles County and workshop presenters from San Francisco to San Diego. Keynote Speaker is Maria Elena Durazo, Secretary Treasurer of the Los Angeles Federation of Labor, the highest ranking Latina labor leader.

2007
Grassroots women leaders make it possible to organize over 2,500 diverse people to defeat the world’s largest mining company, BHP Billiton proposal to build a Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) import terminal off the coast of Oxnard. The proposed terminal would have been the region’s worst polluter and had a projected lifespan of 40 years.