Organizations such as the Women’s and Gender Equity Center, New Life Beginnings and the Young Women’s Freedom Center all provide resources for women.
The Women’s and Gender Equity Center is an organization at Long Beach State that aims to inform and prepare students and larger communities. The organization works to provide members with an understanding of gender, which is constantly changing in academia and society.
The organization started in 1977 under the name of University Women’s Center.
Their educational approach is based on social justice and fights to advocate change for students affected by oppression based on gender.
The organization provides an open spaces to study, group gatherings, computer stations, snacks, printing for members and referrals to on campus organizations.
The lists of sources the organization provides on their website include the LGBTQ+ Student Cultural Resources Center, Sexual Assault Awareness events and the Pregnant and Parenting Students Initiative.
The center wants to advocate and educate on topics such as homophobia, inclusive language, heterosexism and other topics relating to sexual and gender identity issues. The center is used for group meetings, support programs and more.
The organization also hosts events such as The Clothesline Project, Denim Day and Take Back the Night. The events are held to raise awareness about sexual assault.
The Student Affairs Division of CSULB back in 2016 implemented the pregnant and parenting student initiative, which is still in place today. This implementation supports pregnant and parenting students equity efforts and gaps.
New Life Beginnings is another organization in the city of Long Beach that students can support. For over 30 years, the organization has helped pregnant women with children, victims of human trafficking and domestic abuse.
In the organization’s website, students can find several locations and contacts of resources. For example, they provide contacts for hotlines, homeless shelters, counseling centers, food assistance and more.
“Our plan is to unite the community to be service-oriented to meet the needs of the neediest in our community and to offer hope to women who have no hope,” as stated by NLB. “Our goal is not to make them dependent on us, but to give them a hand up, not a hand out.”
Through the years, the organization has been able to buy several residences. According to their message statement online, they hope to provide loving, caring and stable shelters.
Their demands for help have increased and purchased a new facility to meet that growing need. This increased housing to 20 with more women and children.
The organization works to prevent families from being separated.
The Young Women’s Freedom Center has been supporting, mentoring, training and providing employment and advocacy to young women and trans youth since 1993.
Their vision is to build power and leadership among impacted young people. They want to inspire and create positive change in young people’s lives and communities.
The organization provides support and resources to find safety and stability. They also transform programs, laws, legislation, public systems and institutions to decrease harm and have more actions to their needs.
They work to heal from trauma and change the conditions, systems and the policies that result in incarceration, cycles of violence and poverty.
“YWFC does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, disability or genetic information,” the website states.
Additionally the organization has a campaign, Freedom 2030, which is led by former incarcerated and systems-involved women, young women and transgender people. The campaign works on ending the incarceration and criminalization of families and communities.
The campaign also aims to stop the separation families, to reunite, end profiting off of incarceration, amongst others.
Apart from resources already mentioned, the organization also encourages people to apply for any of the job positions. They have a position for executive assistant, operation manager/director and others.
All three organizations have the option to donate to the cause or join. CSULB students, especially women, are recommended to do more research on the various programs.