Resources

The California Black Women's Health Project will soon begin training a new class of students for the Advocate Training Program (ATP). The ATP is a program that is designed to train women from the grassroots community to become effective health policy activists and advocates. The inaugural program in 2002-2003 was enormously successful. We anticipate that the 2003-2004 ATP will be equally (if not more) successful. The ATP focuses on advocacy that addresses the intersection between Black women's mental, emotional and physical health. The training program emphasizes skill-building so that participants learn community organizing and advocacy skills, including initiating and sustaining letter writing campaigns, writing press releases and becoming effective legislative advocates, in an interactive environment. The central focus of the ATP is to empower Black women who are not traditionally part of the policy advocacy arena to advocate for their health, the health of their families and the Black community. Graduates of the ATP will enhance and expand the network of activists, policymakers and leaders striving to improve the health of Black women in California.

(Proposition 54)

When Californians go to the polls on October 7 to decide whether to remove Gov. Gray Davis from office, they will also vote on a measure that if approved, would prevent the state, including public colleges, from collecting and using information on race and ethnicity.

Known as CRECNO (Classification by Race, Ethnicity, Color or National Origin) and backed by Ward Connerly, the University of California regent who successfully promoted referendums in California and Washington to ban affirmative action, the measure was originally scheduled to appear on the primary election ballot in March 2004.

But under state law, the measure must be on the next statewide ballot, which is now slated for October 7. The special recall election was certified for the ballot recently. The shift left supporters and opponents of the referendum only11 weeks to mount their campaigns.