Celebrating women’s activism while focusing on continued safety issues for inner city women

For more than 100 years, Central City Foundation has been bringing British Columbians together to invest in community-led solutions that help people in the inner city improve their lives. As part of that work, we are co-conveners of Feminists Deliver, supporting local women’s organizations, amplifying their voices and extending their impact.

On International Women’s Day this year, March 8th, Feminists Deliver hosted a webinar on “Leading Transformative Changes as Acts of Resistance.” This session brought together five powerful panelists who have been leading resistance movements in their communities to celebrate those movements and discuss what lies ahead in achieving more equitable, anti- oppressive and just communities.

“My advice for young people, if there’s ever an adult that tells you that’s the way it’s always done—fight them,” said panelist Tai Simpson, an antiracism activist and community leader. “That’s not the way it’s always been done. That’s the way that’s comfortable. That’s the way that’s safe. That’s the way that protects privilege and power… Stay diligent. Stay tenacious. Stay aggressive. Stay assertive. Stay loud. Those are the things we need in our movement spaces now because quiet, passive, comfortable is not the way we’re going to get our land back. It’s not the way we’re going to be able to seek and find liberation for one another.”

The session also included discussion about the challenges of working from within the system to help achieve transformational change.

“It is important to bring movements together to recognize the common ways these systems have oppressed and divided us,” noted Feminists Deliver member Rhiannon Bennett who moderated the event. “It’s an opportunity for us to come together in radical love and solidarity to know that we aren’t alone. We need to build relationships and connections to hold each up other. We need to find moments of joy and laughter to keep us and our movements going. All of our movements are really rooted in deep love and that shines through when we come together.”

The webinar from Feminists Deliver was recorded and can be viewed online here.

Central City Foundation’s continued work with Feminists Deliver is an example of how we are supporting community-focused and community-led solutions to create a resilient, caring and inclusive community where it is possible for all people to overcome injustice, participate and thrive. We continue to focus on supporting community partners who are creating stronger advocacy and community-led programs to help improve the safety and security of women in the inner city. This includes support for the creation of critically needed safe spaces and support for creative programs like Mission Possible’s women-only employment training and Battered Women’s Support Services’s Sacred Sisters Outreach Project. Both of which are a direct response to the combined crisis of COVID-19 and the staggering increase in gender-based violence in our community.

When you give to Central City Foundation, you are supporting community-led initiatives like these that help people in the inner city improve their lives.