In May of 2015, New York City
Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, along with her colleagues, Council
Members Julissa Ferreras-Copeland, Elizabeth Crowley, Laurie Cumbo and Darlene
Mealy, announced the launch of the New York City Council's Young Women’s Initiative
(YWI).
YWI seeks to build a lasting
blueprint for investing in the future of young women and girls in New York City
over the long-term, especially those of color. YWI focused on the following:
- Addressing
the needs of young women and girls ages 12–24, knowing that areas for
intervention may reach a wider age range;
- Spotlighting
issues experienced by women and girls of color, knowing that when inequity is
disaggregated by race and gender, disparities in outcomes in New York City are
overwhelmingly concentrated in communities of color; and
-Embracing
an inclusive framework around gender beyond the binary, ensuring that
transgender women and gender-non-conforming young women are also centered in
this work.
Aligned with the Council’s
commitment to participatory governance and knowing that young women and girls
are experts in their own lives, the City Council created a Young Women’s
Advisory Council (YWAC), which played a key role during the process.
The
City Council called upon three leaders for racial and gender justice to serve
as Initiative Co-Chairs: Ana Oliveira, CEO of the New York Women’s Foundation;
Danielle Moss Lee, CEO of the YWCA of New York City; and Joanne Smith, Founder
and Executive Director of Girls for Gender Equity. In this capacity, they
helped provide the vision, structure and framework for YWI. Initiative
Co-Chairs then formed a Steering Committee of grassroots advocates, policy
experts and leaders of YWAC, who convened a Working Group process to develop
recommendations for improving the lives of young women and girls.
