Why change the name from Women’s City Club of New York to Women Creating Change?
WCC has explored changing our name over the years, but we thought it was important to ensure our name accurately reflected the new mission of our organization. The organization has moved away from a traditional “club” structure and towards a comprehensive roll-out of programs and policy to reach women who have been traditionally underserved.
After reviewing a list of over 50 names and testing the name with a number of stakeholders, we selected Women Creating Change. It is inclusive, inspiring, action-oriented, and dynamic; and it keeps women as the central focus. By retaining the same acronym of “WCC,” the organization remains faithful to its 104-year history of policy and advocacy work.
Why does WCC have a new strategic direction?
In late 2017, Carole Wacey began as President and CEO, and launched a comprehensive, strategic planning process during which WCC consulted with over one hundred stakeholders (partners, elected officials, nonprofit leaders, corporate leaders, funders, Board members, and members) to understand WCC’s history and deepen WCC’s impact plan to provide leadership today and in the future.
What is the new Vision of WCC?
Women Creating Change envisions a more just and equitable New York City where all women are civically engaged.
WCC is committed to its new vision that all women have the power to be changemakers to create a more equitable New York City. This vision is reflected in its soon-to-be unveiled programming that addresses barriers to civic participation by offering women access to the resources, tools, and educational support needed to be more actively engaged in local civic life.
What is the new Mission of WCC?
Women Creating Change is an inclusive community that partners with organizations and with New York City women who have been systemically excluded from civic processes to develop programs and influence policies that result in more equitable civic engagement.
WCC is adopting a new mission to ensure that it has a broader reach across New York to become more inclusive as it partners with other organizations to serve more women and help them to develop and strengthen the skills and resources needed to effectively advocate for New York’s diverse communities.
What programs and policies will WCC be leading?
WCC’s new signature programmatic initiative, Civic Matters, is a multi-tiered programmatic and policy approach for underserved women to learn about civic engagement and why it matters; access and use action-oriented tools and resources; gain practice and support for using advocacy skills; and engage directly in advocacy for themselves.
There are a large number of organizations already dedicated to serving women. What makes WCC necessary/different?
Women are uniquely positioned to be leaders in their homes, neighborhoods, and communities, but many, primarily women from low-income and immigrant backgrounds, face substantial barriers to participation in civic life. New York City needs an organization that leads the charge to expand opportunities for women from previously underserved communities to take a seat at the table and make their voices heard in civic life.
Who are your partners?
WCC is currently in the research and development phase of defining our programs, policies, and outcomes for all of our work. We are in advanced conversations with a dozen partners that will be announced as we roll out each of these programmatic and policy areas.
Why is WCC focused on women and not girls?
When women have the opportunities and resources to succeed and thrive, our society as a whole benefits, including the next generation of changemakers. Representation matters. Our city is undoubtedly better off when girls grow up seeing leaders who look like them creating change in their communities. For generations, women have created change for themselves and others, and WCC’s new name, mission, and vision captures the central focus of the organization—women leading change in their lives and communities. We are aware of many outstanding organizations that support civic engagement for girls and plan to collaborate with them to share resources, learn from each other, and support females at all stages of their lives.
Does WCC support all women?
Yes. Many of our programs, tools and resources will be available to all women and our online tools. However, we recognize that there have been many women who have been historically left out of civic process and we will target some of our resources directly to these underserved women.
Does WCC support men and boys?
We do. By supporting women, we support men and boys indirectly—the sons, partners, husbands, friends, fathers, uncles, and brothers of the women that we support will all benefit from our investment in supporting underserved women.
What, if anything, will remain the same throughout these changes?
Despite the change in name, mission, and vision, WCC remains faithful to its history and tradition of engaging in meaningful advocacy to improve the lives of New Yorkers. In order to be most impactful, the organization is narrowing its focus to women’s civic engagement. WCC will continue to engage supporters and community partners throughout the rebrand roll-out.
What is different at WCC?
The previous mission of WCC was that Women’s City Club of New York, established in 1915, was a non-partisan, multi-issue activist organization dedicated to improving the lives of all New Yorkers. The organization promoted civic engagement to affect 7 policy areas: (1) reduce income inequality; (2) improve public education; (3) improve government performance; (4) create safe, secure, and affordable housing; (5) increase access to quality health care; (6); bolster environmental sustainability; and (7) reduce the disproportionate impact of the criminal justice system on people of color and low-income families. While we still believe these are important areas and we are incredibly proud of the contributions WCC made over the years to address these issues, we are excited to narrow our focus and deepen our impact within civic engagement for women.
How can I get involved and support WCC?
It is important that WCC is an inclusive community of people from across the five boroughs of NYC. There are a number of ways to support our work–invest in our mission; become a supporter; participate in our events; sign up for our newsletter; join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube; and give us feedback so that we can continue to serve the women of NYC in meaningful ways.