100+ Black Women Running for Office
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It is important that we start following the lead of Black women, and it is more and more clear why. Here is a list of Black women who are running for office across the United States.
Celebrating 50 years in 2018, BWOPA is excited to have started the movement in support of Black women in politics with its 12 founding members - Alfreda Abbott, Margaret Amoureaux, Belva Davis, Ruth Hagwood-Webb, Aileen Hernandez, Ella Hill Hutch, Mary Jane Johnson, Dorothy Pitts, Teola Sanders, Frances Taylor and Dezie Woods-Jones.
London Breed
Condolences to Mayor Ed Lee's family, San Francisco and support to our sister Acting Mayor London Breed
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee passed away early this morning after suffering an apparent heart attack while grocery shopping late Monday night. He was 65, and is survived by his wife, Anita, and two daughters, Brianna and Tania.
Lee was in his second term in office as the city’s 43rd mayor, a role he was initially reluctant to take on when appointed to the job after Mayor Gavin Newsom became the state’s lieutenant governor. Lee took the job after a campaign by Chinese-American civic leaders who were eager to see the first Chinese American hold the position. During his tenure, Lee helped oversee San Francisco’s continued role as a center of tech and innovation.
Now, Board of Supervisors President London Breed is serving as acting mayor. According to the SF Gate, the Board of Supervisors will either vote to keep Breed as the temporary mayor, or they could choose another candidate. If a majority of supervisors cannot agree on a candidate, Breed would remain in the office until the June 2018 election. Per the Gate, though, it is likely that Breed will keep the post.
Here are four things to know about San Francisco’s current acting mayor:
- She is the first black woman to hold the post.
- She is a lifelong resident of the city. She grew up with her grandmother in the city’s housing projects and public housing has been an important part and particular focus of her political career. She got her start in politics working as an intern for the Office of Housing and Neighborhood Services under former Mayor Willie Brown.
- She is known to be very frank, which has ruffled feathers in the past.
- Breed may have been preparing for the position, as it’s widely believed she was planning a mayoral run when Lee’s second term expired in two years. She is well qualified for the job. She earned a bachelor’s degree at UC Davis and received her master’s degree in public administration at the University of San Francisco. Breed was elected as city supervisor in 2012 and became board president in 2015.
2018 BWOPA Turns 50!
BWOPA TURNS 50
Stay tuned for our 2018 calendar of celebratory events!
Founded in 1968 by 12 politically active women from various Bay Area cities under the leadership of San Francisco community leader Edith M. Austin, it was Paul Cobb, political activist, running for Oakland City Council, who labeled the group Women Organized for Political Action.
BWOPA's founding member, former Oakland Vice Mayor and California State President Hon. Dezie Woods Jones reigns over eight (8) chapters throughout California today. Surviving founding members of the 12 also include former Oakland School Board member Hon. Alfreda Abbott and renowned TV Journalist Belva Davis. Founding members in memoriam are Margaret Amoureaux, Ruth Hagwood-Webb, Aileen Hernandez, Ella Hill Hutch, Mary Jane Johnson, Dorothy Pitts, Teola Sanders and Frances Taylor.
Today BWOPA still asserts everything which affects the quality of life is in most ways political. On this tenet, BWOPA’s primary goal is to educate, train, and involve as many African American women as possible in the political process.
BWOPA's work is accomplished through our main organization BWOPA, our Training Institute for Leadership Enrichment (TILE), and our political action committee (PAC). BWOPA commitment to addressing those core issues which adversely affect the African American community fall within the realm of Health, Education, Criminal Justice and Economic Security.
Interested in learning more about our 50th Anniversary celebratory events and serving as a partner, email staff@bwopa.org to request a sponsorship package.
BE A BWOPA GIRL: It's BWOPA membership season and we welcome join one of our eight chapters. CLICK HERE TO JOIN BWOPA Today!
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BWOPA Welcomes Solano/Napa Chapter
[ 2018 NEW PAID MEMBERS ] K. Patrice Williams, Latressa Wilson Alford, Janet Hubbard, Danette Mitchell, Vanessa Calloway, Lynette Henley, Jacqueline Jones, Elissa Stewart, Hon. Brenda Knight, Deborah Dickson, Hakeem Brown, Sheila Johnson, Elissa Stewart, Janet Hubbard, Verneal Brumfield, Nathell Glover Buford
[ 2018 LIFETIME MEMBERS ] Eileene Tejada, Jacqueline Jones, K. Patrice Williams
For more information on the Solano/Napa Chapter, contact patrice@brandgov.com and LIKE BWOPA Solano/Napa on Facebook!
Let's Talk!
Enjoyed an enlightening evening of Community Engagement at the "Let's Talk" event hosted by Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA). Congratulations to the 2017 Cohort of BWOPA/TILE DWJ Fellows.
These beautiful young sistah's did an excellent job presenting policy recommendations on a range of social issues that disproportionately impact the Black community from CSEC; Small Business Dev; Infant Mortality; to the Justice System. Congrats and wishing them much success! #BlackWomenLead #DWJFellows #BWOPA #Congrats #GreatEvent
"Letitia Henderson" #BWOPA/TILE Let's Talk 2017
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DWJ Fellows at Congresswoman Barbara Lee Political Forum with Congressman Keith Ellison and Van Jones
Saturday, June 24th at the Scottish Rite Temple in Oakland, Congresswoman Barbara Lee and Congressman Keith Ellison hosted a political forum moderated by Van Jones.
Van Jones, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and Congressman Keith Ellison
2017 DWJ Fellow Tyffanie Wedding and Van Jones
June's National Safety Month
The Status of Black Women in The United States
National Domestic Workers Alliance's The Status of Black Women in The United States
Black women are integral to the well-being of their families, their communities and the nation as a whole. Through their work, entrepreneurship, caregiving, political participation, and more, Black women are creating opportunities for themselves, their loved ones, and improving the our economy and society. They have all the makings of what should be success, yet their contributions are undervalued and under compensated. Black domestic workers are particularly vulnerable because of the ways in which racial disparities, gender discrimination, and immigration status serve to further marginalize and disempower the very people who power our economy and push our democracy to be the best that it can be. Whether one examines Black women’s access to healthcare, earnings, or access to much needed social supports like childcare and eldercare, Black women are getting the short end of the stick, despite having contributed so much to the building of this nation.
National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month
May is National Asthma and Allergy Awareness month. This time of recognition and awareness is important to me considering the fact that I am a 44 year-old African-American woman who has dealt with asthma and allergies all of my life. My family and I are quite familiar with this disease in that my grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins as well as my own two children have all been diagnosed with some form of allergies and asthma.
Asthma is a chronic disease of the lung airways. When someone is having an asthma attack, their airways become inflamed and narrow as a result of reacting to "certain triggers", making it extremely hard for that individual to breath.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than 3 million African-Americans have asthma. As a result of several risk factors which include poverty, poor housing and the inability to access quality healthcare, African-Americans are three times more likely to die from asthma-related illness than their white counterparts. Asthma is also the leading reason why kids miss school.
Although there is no cure for this disease, people with chronic asthma can have productive lives by taking the necessary steps to keep asthma under control.