Advocacy
YWCA Delaware’s mission is to eliminate racism, empower women and promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.
We advocate for community action, public policies and practices that improve economic security, health, safety and social equity for women and their families, with particular attention to the issues that affect people of color.
View our policy pillars and advocacy issues pdf file. A list of bills that we support will be coming soon.
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Sign Up for Advocacy Action Alerts
Be the first to know about legistative news and ways to get involved with advocacy in Delaware. Thank you for standing with us.
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Racial Justice
We advocate for advancing equity, safety and racial justice for people of color with a focus on the criminal justice system, accessible voting and elections, environmental justice, education, and other systems with structural racial disparities. Priorities include education, law enforcement reform, prison and probation reform, equal access to voting and environmental justice.
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Housing Security for Women and Families
We advocate for policies that keep women and children in safe and affordable housing. Priorities include tenant rights, funding for affordable housing and establishing a right to counsel for indigent parents in custody cases.
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Health and Security
We support survivors and work to prevent domestic violence, sexual assault and other forms of gender-based violence as demand for services continues to rise. Priorities include victim rights, equitable healthcare, establishing and funding a Family Justice Center, and reproductive justice.
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Economic Empowerment and Opportunities
We advocate for safe, fair and inclusive workplaces that expand opportunities for women, particularly women of color, LGBTQ+ people and historically marginalized communities. This includes addressing childcare needs and providing services that support women’s success in entrepreneurship and workforce development.
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Non-Profit Sector
The non-profit sector is the backbone of our community and continues to provide programs and human services for families in Delaware. We support efforts to strengthen these organizations.
YWCA Delaware pursues our mission every day to eliminate racism, empower women, and promote peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all. Through our public policy efforts, we seek to provide long-lasting systemic change in the areas of education, law enforcement reform, prison and probation reform, equal access to voting and environmental justice, housing security for women and families, health and safety, safe, and fair and inclusive workplaces that expand opportunities for women, including addressing childcare needs. If you would like to join us in our advocacy efforts this year by contacting your legislators or making public comments in support, please sign up for our Advocacy Action Alerts.
Bills and Issues We're Watching
Bill of Rights for Individuals Experiencing Homelessness
An act to ensure that all individuals, regardless of housing status, have equal opportunity to live in decent, safe, sanitary, and healthful accommodations and enjoy equality of opportunities. This Act sets forth the rights of individuals experiencing homelessness and creates a process by which the State Human and Civil Rights Commission and the Division of Human Relations may accept and investigate complaints of discriminatory treatment, attempt conciliation, and refer enforcement actions to the Department of Justice where necessary.
Free meals for all Delaware students
An act to provide free breakfast and lunch every school day to all Delaware students.
Requires employees of institutions of higher ed and students receive training in sexual assault prevention
This Act mandates that employees of institutions of higher education and students receive training in sexual assault prevention. Although the current law makes training available, it has not been required. This Act further changes the reporting period in which academic institutions must report information on campus sexual assaults from the calendar year to the academic year. Finally, this Act requires the DOJ to post the annual reports from the previous 5 years on its website and to include the aggregate data from the previous 5 years in each report so that data trends are easily identified.
Expanding access to postpartum care
An act requiring Medicaid coverage for additional postpartum visits with a doula upon recommendation of a licensed practitioner or clinician.
Supporting Workforce and Afforable Housing Programs
This act would impose a lodging tax to spend money from that tax on workforce and affordable housing programs
Foreclosure Prevention
This Act removes the expiration dates from the Office of Foreclosure Prevention and Financial Education and the Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program.
In the News
YWCA Delaware heads to Capitol Hill to urge Congress to increase federal funding for ChildCare, Housing and Gender-based violence (GBV) programs and services provided across the YWCA network.
We’ve been at the forefront of the biggest issues of the day for 128 years: from voting rights to civil rights, from affordable housing to pay equity and from violence prevention to health care reform. We carry on this long tradition of social action and advocacy to advance our mission — and you are a crucial part of this work. Your voice is critical as we advocate for policies that bring us closer to eliminating racism, empowering women, and ensuring peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.