Black Women Organized for Political Action
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Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) was founded in 1968 in California after branching off from the Bay Area Women for Dellums, a group of 12 politically active women who were involved in fundraising for
Ron Dellums Ronald Vernie Dellums (November 24, 1935 – July 30, 2018) was an American politician who served as Mayor of Oakland from 2007 to 2011. He had previously served thirteen terms as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Californi ...
run for congressional office. It is now a 501 c4 nonprofit advocacy organization. Their mission is to encourage African American women to be more involved in politics so that action can be taken to address their oppressions. The goal of the organization is to focus on the intersectionality of issues pertaining to race and gender by encouraging African American women to become involved in the political process. Dezie Woods-Jones was elected the first president of the organization in 1970. Woods dedicated her life to addressing issues concerning education,
poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
,
female empowerment Women's empowerment (or female empowerment) may be defined in several ways, including accepting women's viewpoints, making an effort to seek them and raising the status of women through education, awareness, literacy, and training.Kabeer, Naila ...
, and disenchantment. BWOPA focuses on addressing its three branches: operations, political advocacy, and education.


History

Black Women Organized for Political Action was founded in 1968 after expanding from a smaller group called the Bay Area Women for Dellums. The group was formed by 12 women in the
Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...
of California. Until 1970, the group functioned under co-chairs. In 1970, however, they elected their first president Dezie Woods-Jones.
Aileen Hernandez Aileen Hernandez (born Clarke; May 23, 1926 – February 13, 2017) was an African-American union organizer, civil rights activist, and women's rights activist. She served as the president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) between 1970 ...
is one of the women credited with founding this organization.


Leadership

Dezie Woods-Jones was the first president of Black Women Organized for Political Action. In addition to her involvement in BWOPA, she was a community activist for over 40 years. In her years of
activism Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in Social change, social, Political campaign, political, economic or Natural environment, environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes i ...
, she served as a city council member in
Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
, Vice Mayor of Oakland, and president of BWOPA for 30 years. Through her involvement, BWOPA's political action resulted in the election of other women who were the first African American women representatives in their areas.
Ella Hill Hutch Ella Hill Hutch (June 9, 1923 – February 25, 1981) was an American politician. She was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in San Francisco, California, in 1977 (along with Harvey Milk and Dan White) and reelected in 1980. She was ...
was a charter member of Black Women Organized for Political Action.


Mission

Black Women Organized for Political Action’s mission is to motivate and support African American women to involve themselves in the political process. They provide leadership training to help women develop strategies, articulate
injustices Injustice is a quality relating to unfairness or undeserved outcomes. The term may be applied in reference to a particular event or situation, or to a larger status quo. In Western philosophy and jurisprudence, injustice is very commonly—but ...
to African American women, and form networks. The core issues of their focus are health, education, criminal justice, and
economic security Economic security or financial security is the condition of having stable income or other resources to support a standard of living now and in the foreseeable future. It includes: * probable continued solvency * predictability of the future cash fl ...
. * Health - BWOPA strives to raise awareness of the health disparities in the
health system Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
and advocate for political action that will give African American women more accessible health care. Their goal within the health sector is to spread awareness and advocate for policies to increase access to quality care. * Education - BWOPA advocates for political action that will increase the rates of African American high school graduation and college completion rates. They are focused on improving access to early education, safe school environments, high-quality education, and more support for funding for schools. * Criminal Justice Reform - BWOPA is concerned with reducing the high rates of African American
incarceration Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...
by providing alternatives to incarceration for youths, encourage
rehabilitation Rehabilitation or Rehab may refer to: Health * Rehabilitation (neuropsychology), therapy to regain or improve neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished * Rehabilitation (wildlife), treatment of injured wildlife so they can be retur ...
and assistance in reintegrating after incarceration. * Economic Security - BWOPA aims to reduce the disparity of African American
unemployment rates This is a list of countries by unemployment rate. Methods of calculation and presentation of unemployment rate vary from country to country. Some countries count insured unemployed only, some count those in receipt of welfare benefit only, some cou ...
by providing job training,
financial education Financial literacy is the possession of the set of skills and knowledge that allows an individual to make informed and effective decisions with all of their financial resources. Raising interest in personal finance is now a focus of state-run prog ...
, and support for entrepreneurship.


References

{{Reflist 1968 establishments in California