Women and Girls Collective Action Network Records

Abstract

The Women and Girls Collective Action Network (WGCAN) was established in Chicago, Illinois, in August 2004 as an organization dedicated to end violence and social injustices against women and girls. Through its two primary initiatives, the Community Accountability Institute and Females United for Action (FUFA), WGCAN provided trainings, resources and programs to develop youth and community leadership, challenge media representations and end domestic violence. The documentation includes correspondence, interviews, meeting minutes, photographs, programs, reports, research articles, training surveys and workshop materials.

Biographical/Historical

The Women and Girls Collective Action Network (WGCAN) was established in Chicago, Illinois in August 2004 as an organization dedicated to ceasing violence and social injustices against women and girls. The organization was originally known as the Woman & Girls’ Leadership Project. Over time, the organization broadened its reach to combine individual transformation and self-care with social activism by providing safe spaces for leadership training. WGCAN provided training, resources and programs to strengthen connections across communities, promote collective action and transformative social change. Melissa Spatz served as Executive Director from 2004-2010.

WGCAN had two primary initiatives: The Community Accountability Institute and Females United for Action (FUFA). The Community Accountability Institute planned and convened ongoing group dialogs about how to end violence against women, girls and the LGBTQ communtiy. Females United for Action (FUFA) was a coalition of young women from communities across Chicago who organized actions to challenge media representations and end violence against women, girls and LGBTQ communities. Among their initiatives were several campaigns that targeted advertising and other media portrayals of women, including their campaign to end the offensive depiction of women and the Latinx community in the “25 Pegaditas” advertising campaign by La Ley radio. FUFA held monthly organizing workshops, art gatherings and meetings.

WGCAN helped research and release two analytical reports, Communities Engaged in Resisting Violence (2007), and Status of Girls in Illinois (2009). The organization closed in 2011.

Scope and Contents

The Women and Girls Collective Action Network (WGCAN) was established in Chicago, Illinois, in August 2004 as an organization dedicated to end violence and social injustices against women and girls. Through its two primary initiatives, the Community Accountability Institute and Females United for Action (FUFA), WGCAN provided trainings, resources and programs to develop youth and community leadership, challenge media representations and end domestic violence between 2004 and 2011. The documentation includes correspondence, interviews, meeting minutes, photographs, programs, reports, research articles, training surveys and workshop materials.

Arrangement

The records are arranged into two series: Series 1: Administrative, 2004-2011 and Series 2: Initiatives and Programs, 2001-2009.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements 

Access to some audiovisual material may not be possible due to available replay equipment or to state of physical media. Tapes have not been checked to ensure content or playability. Titles and other descriptive information is as transcribed from packages. Please contact the archives before your visit.

Subject Headings

• Date rape
• Domestic violence
• Female activism
• Females United for Action
• Gender identity
• Intimate partner violence
• Kaba, Mariame
• La Ley – Chicago Radio Station
• Martinez, Miriam
• Spatz, Melissa
• Stereotypes (Social psychology) in mass media
• Teenage girls -- Illinois -- Chicago
• Transgender people
• Women and Girls Collective Action Network
• Zamora, Daisy

Related Collections

Mariame Kaba Papers

Collection Inventory

Series 1: Administrative, 2004-2011

Scope and Contents

Series 1 contains documents related to the formation and operations of the Women and Girls Collective Action Network (WGCAN). The materials include documentation of board and monthly meetings, promotional materials and information on workshops and conferences designed to train WGCAN’s staff and community partners. Melissa Spatz, WGCAN’s Executive Director, led many of the workshops and training sessions with other community organizations. The Board minutes provide an overarching view of the organization’s activities and operational structure. The October 2008 and January 2009 meetings include discussions about gender identity and violence.

Information from conferences, workshops and other programs designed to engage youth and other community groups directly can be found in Series 2.

Arrangement

Series 1 is arranged by type of material or activity and then chronologically within.

Series 2: Initiatives and Programs, 2001-2009

Scope and Contents

Series 2 contains documentation of WGCAN’s two primary initiatives, the Community Accountability Institute and Females United for Action (FUFA), as well as other related community actions, programs and research projects. The materials include meeting and planning notes, conference packets, interviews, photographs, promotional items, reports, research articles and workshop programs. The meeting folders often contain reading packets, flyers for community events, and other pertinent information about their projects and related activities by similar organizations. Several meetings included trainings.

The Community Accountability Institute created a range of conferences and workshops designed to impart strategies to communities to end harassment and violence against women, girls and LGBTQ communities. The planning group also gathered research to document local organizations and projects that worked toward these goals. The result was the Communities Engaged in Resisting Violence report and conference in 2007.

Females United for Action (FUFA) began in 2005 as a coalition of young women from communities across Chicago who organized actions to challenge media representations and end violence against women, girls and LGBTQ communities. Among their initiatives were several campaigns that targeted advertising and other media portrayals of women, including their campaign to end the offensive depiction of women and the Latinx community in the “25 Pegaditas” advertising campaign by La Ley radio. FUFA held monthly organizing workshops, art gatherings and meetings. Other topics included hip hop music, an examination of men and boys in media representation and street harassment. The Alternative Windows project provided a way for FUFA members to partner with young men on creating positive photographic representations that were exhibited in 2006.

Other notable WGCAN projects include the Anti-White Supremacy Initiative with the Chicago Freedom School, Transformative Justice Teach-In actions coming out of the Queer Transformative Justice Working Group and the development of the 2009 Status of Girls in Illinois report written by Mariame Kaba, Melissa Spatz and Michelle VanNatta.

Arrangement

Series 2 is arranged alphabetically by initiative or program name and then by name or type of activity.