Just yesterday, City of Joy celebrated its 20th graduation! It was joyous. Filled with laughter. Brimming with hope. 1734 survivors graduated to date. They are change makers, turning pain to power. Congratulations to V-Day Congo Director and Co-founder/Director of City of Joy Christine Schuler Deschryver and the team at City of Joy and to all of the graduates!...
A V-Card supports the global activist movement to end violence against all women, girls & the planet and is the perfect gift for the Holidays! This year, you can make a donation to V-Day on behalf of your friends and loved ones. V-Day will send a specially designed 2021 holiday V-Card letting them know of your unique gift to them. Donations support V-Day’s work, including VOICES, the Beyond Incarceration Project, One Billion Rising and City of Joy. To send a V-Card, go to the donate page, check the boxes next to "Make this an honorary or memorial gift" and then "Send an...
(Reposted from onebillionrising.org) One Billion Rising activists are heeding the call of the #1BillionRising 2022 Campaign – a call to RISE for the Bodies of All Women, Girls & the Earth – harnessing the global energy of 16 Days of Activism to connect both in a deeper, more purposeful, political, transformative and yet also empowering, hopeful way. And to make this coming year a truly radical, bold, fearless escalation of artistic Risings, bringing the issue of Gender Based Violence front and center in their communities. We are experiencing the devastating consequences of the ongoing vicious systems of patriarchy, imperialism, capitalism and racism...
New $10 Million Women’s Re-entry Center Opens in Maine» After three years of parole supervision, New York State finally discharged me. As a free woman, my excitement brewed for my first visit to Maine. Cheryl Wilkins and Yolanda-Peterkin Johnson accompanied me. We wanted to connect with the women in our group, Right/Write to Heal, for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women in New York and Maine and see them in person. Cheryl and Yolanda were also crucial speakers in the Abolition Night at the Strand Theater. I couldn’t have had better companions. I admire these women for their strength and dedication to...
On October 13, 2021, several organizations came together to protest closing the death camp; closing this death chamber has been a long-standing issue for advocates of criminal justice reform and abolitionists throughout New York State for decades. The crumbling infrastructure, the infestation of rodents, inhumane living conditions, the onset of COVID-19, and the ongoing deplorable abuse from staff and persons in custody have resulted in far too many deaths. I remember back in 1979 being shipped off to Rikers Island at 17 years of age. I was petrified because of the stories I heard about the rapes, the rat infestation, the...
From City of Joy to Voices, the Safe House in Kenya to The Apology, the Beyond Incarceration Project to One Billion Rising, the work is as vibrant and deep as ever. V-Day and One Billion Rising grassroots activists are pushing boundaries and engaging in dialogue to thrust forward the most innovative and creative solutions to challenges on the ground, all the while with an intersectional lens and art and activism at the forefront. They are rising against a wave of right-wing nationalism, white supremacy, misogyny, and greed. And they are rising to center the voices and experiences of the most marginalized....
This giving season support V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against all women (cisgender, transgender, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender-based violence), girls and the planet. Your Solidarity & Support Make This Movement Possible. 
Please consider giving to V-Day this season. The global pandemic has changed our world in unprecedented ways, confining us, taking loved ones away from us and forcing us to reckon with the intractable systems that keep countless people oppressed. Similarly, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, unrelenting violence from regional conflicts in places like Congo, Venezuela, Israel/Palestine, and the impact of climate...
(Reposted from onebillionrising.org) Dearest Activists, These are times of huge political upheavals - fascism, imperialism, capitalism, climate crisis. And there is an escalation of violence against women being seen throughout the world. Today, we announce the ONE BILLION RISING 2022 campaign: RISE for the Bodies of All Women, Girls & the Earth, created by the ONE BILLION RISING coordinators. Our 2022 call is to connect both in a deeper, more purposeful, political, transformative and yet also empowering, hopeful way. And to make this coming year a truly radical, bold, fearless escalation of artistic risings. Join us. RISE. Women = cisgender, transgender, and those who hold...
(Reposted from onebillionrising.org) By Evangeline Lawson Evangeline Lawson is a southern California-based writer and content creator. You can learn more about her and her work at www.evangelinelawson.net 25 September was a typical cloudless, azure-skied day, but oddly quiet on a Saturday afternoon on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. The bar-hopping crowd had yet to awaken from their Friday-night stupors and the luxury cars had not yet congested the streets. As a bustling assembly grew, the weather was not the only thing of beauty. Women with fair to brown skin, and hues in between, with hair pulled in ponytails or in curly afros, were...
(Reposted from onebillionrising.org) New York City Rises For and With the Women of Afghanistan, Attracting Changemakers From Diverse Backgrounds By Jerin Arifa, Activist/Writer and founder of Young Feminists and Allies (YFA), Inaugural Vitual Chapter for National Organization of Women (NOW) On a warm autumn day in New York City, activists gathered outside the United Nations to rally for and with the women of Afghanistan. Organized by One Billion Rising, the event was part of globally-occurring demonstrations, timed to coincide with a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. In NYC, ralliers included women, men, girls, boys and gender-nonconforming folks from all backgrounds. They wore...