Search results for: equity
Day 15: Media
Media Historically, the LGBTQIA+ community has been excluded or erased from mainstream media for generations. Vita Russo’s book The Celluloid Closet, explores the history of gay and same-sex attraction in film. The book highlighted how the Motion Picture Production Code (1934-1968) was put in place because of governmental and community pressures following the US Supreme Court ruling…
Read MoreDay 13: Income Inequality
Income Inequality LGBTQIA+ adults are more likely to live in poverty than straight and cisgender adults. Additionally, transgender adults and cisgender queer people of color are more likely to live in poverty than cisgender gay white adults. A 2022 study found that LGBTQ+ workers earn 22% less than their heterosexual cisgender counterparts. Another 2022 study showed that LGBTQ+ workers…
Read MoreDay 10: Allyship and Advocacy
Allyship and Advocacy The word ally is growing in awareness and recognition. An ally is someone who does not belong to a particular oppressed group, but works to advocate with/for and support that group in the biggest and smallest ways. An LGBTQIA+ ally can be a straight/heterosexual friend who advocates for gay rights, an allosexual family members…
Read MoreDay 9: Systems of Oppression
Systems of Oppression Systems of oppression are often described as -isms: racism, sexism, ableism, and more. These terms describe the ways that groups experience unearned disadvantage and can be described through four levels of oppression: personal, interpersonal, institutional, and structural. While systems of oppression operate distinctly, for example, racism shows up in fundamentally different ways…
Read MoreDay 7: Chosen Names and Pronouns
Chosen Names and Pronouns Some trans or non-binary people choose to change their name and/or pronouns to align with their gender identity. Our names and pronouns are deeply connected to how we are seen and understood in the world. For some, choosing a different name and updating pronouns can help lessen the impact of gender…
Read MoreDay 2: Intersectionality
Intersectionality “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” – Audre Lorde, civil rights activist A discussion of any marginalized group is not complete without a broader discussion of intersectionality. The Combahee River Collective, a group of Black, lesbian women is often credited for…
Read MoreIntroduction to the LGBTQIA+ Community
Introduction to the LGBTQIA+ Community Welcome to the 21-Day Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) Equity Challenge, and to the start of LGBTQ History Month! We celebrate LGBTQ History Month every October to commemorate the first March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1979 as well as National Coming Out…
Read MoreHow Gun Violence Affects The Whole Community
KALAMAZOO — Many people think gun violence is something that happens “elsewhere” — some other community, some other school, some other neighborhood. So they pay it little mind, convinced it doesn’t affect them. That view can keep gun violence from being a widely shared priority. It’s also completely wrong. “Gun violence costs all of us,”…
Read MoreOur Team
Executive Leadership Chris Sargent (he/him) President & Executive Officer c.sargent@uwscmi.org Jen Hsu-Bishop (they/them) Executive Impact and Equity Officer j.hsu-bishop@uwscmi.org Teresa Kmetz (she/her) Executive Development & Marketing Officer t.kmetz@uwscmi.org Natalie O’Hagan (she/her) Senior Director of Strategy & Innovation n.ohagan@uwscmi.org Bethany Stutzman (she/her) Senior Director of Community Impact b.stutzman@uwscmi.org United Way Team Lakeesha Anderson (she/her) Finance Associate…
Read MoreCelebrating Our 1st Birthday
President & CEO Chris Sargent reflects on our progress as we note the one-year anniversary of the merger that created United Way of South Central Michigan. “The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.” Mark Twain said that to poke fun at April Fools’…
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