2005 Conference: Women of Color and Allies Summit Plan of Action

Friday, July 1, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

The Women of Color and Allies (WOCA) Summit held in April 2005 provided a forum for the discussion of issues affecting women of color. The WOCA Summit was a result of a Resolution approved by the membership at the 2004 National Conference in Las Vegas. This Resolution called for a plenary session at the 2005 National Conference devoted to a report of the recommendations emerging from the WOCA Summit. Recommendations will be submitted for consideration through resolutions at various Issue Hearings at the Conference.

Panelists:

• Mandy Carter
• Diana Castañeda
• Loretta Ross

Mandy Carter, one of the nation's leading lesbian rights activists, helped found Southerners on New Ground (SONG) at the Durham Creating Change Conference in 1993, where she now serves as the organization's executive director. A noted public speaker and recipient of the prestigious Stonewall Award rewarding achievements benefiting the LGBT community, Carter travels extensively, educating audiences about LGBT rights in a broader social justice movement. Earlier this year, Carter was elected to be treasurer of the Democratic National Committee Gay and Lesbian American Caucus. She is a lifetime NOW member and a former member of the NOW Lesbian Rights Conference Implementation Committee and the North Carolina NOW Political Action Committee.

Diana Castañeda, long-time NOW activist and former Texas NOW Vice President-Diversity, currently serves as vice president of membership for Texas NOW. An active leader in her community, Castañeda honors her heritage as a second-generation Mexican American. Some of the many organizations she has lead include Austin School Board of Trustees, the Mexican-American School Board Association of Texas, Mexican-American Business and Professional Women's Association and chair of the Mexican-American Cultural Center Task Force. She's also a charter member of the Hispanic Women's Association of Texas. Castañeda infused her heritage with her passion for feminism this year while helping to plan the WOCA Summit as vice chair of the WOCA Planning Committee. Castañeda, proud mother of five and grandmother of four, devotes her time and energy to the women's movement and civic organizations to make a better world for her children and grandchildren.

Loretta J. Ross is a founder and the national coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective, composed of 70 women of color groups across the country. She was the co-director of the 2004 March for Women's Lives and co-authored "Undivided Right: Women of Color Organizing for Reproductive Justice," and serves as a political analyst for Pacifica News Service and Alternative Radio. Ross is the founder and former executive director of the National Center for Human Rights Education. As program director for the National Black Women's Health Project, she coordinated the first national conference of African American Women and Reproductive Rights in 1990. From 1985 to 1989, she served as NOW's Director of Women of Color Programs.Ross was one of the first African American women to direct the first rape crisis center in the U.S. in the 1970s. Sterilized at age 23, Ross was also one of the first black women to win a suit against A.H. Robins, manufacturer of the Dalkon Shield that sterilized thousands of women worldwide.