The Women’s Rural Policy Advocacy Project, a blossoming vision, Passages is working to secure funding to begin this program in the fall.

Policy Advocacy Workshop (agenda)

In the fall Passages, along with collaborative partners, will hold a two-day policy workshop for rural women in Northern California with a focus on women in the counties within or on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. This includes Plumas, Sierra, Nevada, Lassen, Modoc, Shasta and Siskiyou. Many of these counties are considered frontier and aren’t often included in planning processes or capacity building programs, which are made available to other communities. Other rural counties in Northern California may participate, but will not be eligible for scholarships. The recruitment focus will include agency personnel, as well as grass roots women

Training and Project Implementation

In addition to the initial two-day training, 8-10 participants will be recruited to continue to participate in a year-long process whereby they work to implement the local or state-level changes they identified during the workshop. The teams will develop an action plan and a list of technical assistance they will need to implement their project. Passages will work with other agencies to provide support and training via Internet, teleconferences and pod casting. In addition, Passages will provide some funding for teams, participants to travel to trainings or to the Capitol to work on identified legislative issues.

Project Objectives include:

• Increase the number of policies in California (locally and at the state-level) that reflect the needs and realities of rural low-income women and families;
• Increase and support the leadership, advocacy and public policy knowledge of participants that can be applied to local and state issues;
• Strengthen links between rural grassroots leaders and organizations with those who influence and make policy;
• Increase the number of rural community-based women involved in the policy making process who understand and work for issues concerning women and girls.