YWCA USA Launches YWCA Racial Justice Challenge

For Immediate ReleaseContact: Deborah BaldwinDigital Media SpecialistYWCA USAdbaldwin@ywca.orgWASHINGTON, D.C., February 15, 2023 — Today, YWCA USA, the nation’s oldest and largest women’s organization, launched the YWCA Racial Justice Challenge to coincide with their Until Justice Just Is (UJJI) campaign, which will run throughout the month of April and is intended to raise awareness of systemic racism and how each of us can take action to advance justice.Formerly known as the Stand Against Racism Challenge, or the 21-Day Racial Equity and Social Justice Challenge, the YWCA Racial Justice Challenge is an updated version of the original program originally developed by YWCA Greater Cleveland in 2019. YWCA’s Stand Against Racism Challenge content was designed and curated by YWCA Greater Cleveland. Music week was created in partnership with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.YWCA wants to thank and acknowledge Dr. Eddie Moore Jr., Debby Irving, and Dr. Marguerite Penick for their leadership in the field of racial equity as exhibited in their 21-Day Racial Equity and Habit Building Challenge and the movement they helped to initiate. YWCA’s content is independently designed, written, and curated by staff as part of YWCA’s racial equity and social justice programs offered to the community. Available as a web and phone app platform, the 2023 YWCA Racial Justice Challenge will present daily activities allowing participants to discover how racial justice and social injustice impact their communities, connect with one another, and identify ways to dismantle racism and other forms of discrimination. Weekly topics include disability, housing, music, and mental health.The goal of the month-long challenge is to build more effective social justice habits, particularly those dealing with issues of race, power, privilege, and leadership. By encouraging personal reflection and social responsibility, it is YWCA USA’s hope that participants will be moved to act.The Racial Justice Challenge can be accessed by visiting justice.ywca.org or downloaded on the App Store or Google Play.

About YWCA’s Until Justice Just Is Campaign

 YWCA's first Director of Racial Justice, Dr. Dorothy Height, built a legacy of racial and gender justice that helped shape the civil rights movement. To carry forth her momentum in the movement for racial justice, YWCA USA introduced Until Justice Just Is to bring awareness to the pervasiveness of systemic racism and to act as a roadmap for how individuals, communities, and corporations can take actionable steps to eliminate racism.Until Justice Just Is centers the racial justice work that our vast network of Local Associations carry out in communities across the country. No matter their size, YWCAs offer anti-racism discussion guides, learning libraries, equity training for workplaces, convenings of local activists and national leaders, and many other unique community-based approaches to advancing justice.

About YWCA

YWCA USA is on a mission to eliminate racism, empower women, stand up for social justice, help families, and strengthen communities. We are one of the oldest and largest women’s organizations in the nation, serving approximately 2 million women, girls, and their families.YWCA has been at the forefront of the most pressing social movements for more than 160 years — from voting rights to civil rights, from affordable housing to pay equity, from violence prevention to health care reform. Today, we combine programming and advocacy in order to generate institutional change in three key areas: racial justice and civil rights, empowerment and economic advancement of women and girls, and health and safety of women and girls.For more information, visit ywca.org.