Women's Issues Summit

Thank you to all who attended our 8th Annual Women's Issues Summit on June 5th!

More than seventy-five representatives from fifty nonprofit organizations involved with women and girls in the Philadelphia region gathered at the annual Women’s Issues Summit on Tuesday, June 5^th . The Summit was held on the campus of Community College of Philadelphia and supported through the Women’s Center of Community College.

Joan L. Bush, the Dean of Educational Support Services at the Community College of Philadelphia, pointed out the importance of the summit at the opening. “What we are doing, not only matters to women and girls, but the whole society,” said Bush. “Giving a voice to people being marginalized is important.”

The Summit is an opportunity for WOMEN'S WAY to check in with organizations "on the ground" that are working with women and girls and to find out about the challenges facing their clients, as well as their operational and organizational needs. The results of the discussion are folded into our advocacy and education programming as well as help form the annual funding priorities of our Community Women’s Fund.

The Summit format focused on small group discussions each with a separate topic area – violence prevention and safety, girls and youth, economic self-sufficiency,  health care and reproductive freedom. Each group came to consensus on three emerging client and organizational needs. At the conclusion of the Summit, one representative from each group shared the results (report-outs) with entire forum of participants.

During the report-outs, nearly all of the groups touched on the importance of having reliable funding for their work.

The details of the group discussions, which includes the identified needs and strategies to address those needs, will be included in a report produced by WOMEN’S WAY. It is intended that the document could be used by nonprofits, community members, funders, and policy makers. The report will be available in early August, allowing the general public to better understand the emerging issues that need to be addressed within the framework of women and girls in our region.