The Healing Circle team, a branch of the SDL collective, celebrated the launch of their Full Spectrum Doula / Birth Activist #SDLBirthSupport program on Saturday, June 23rd, 2018. The day began with a workshop, continued with a speaker series and culminated with a celebration. The event took place in Harlem.

SDL Birth Support partnered with Yokasta Tineo, LMT (Kasa Healing Massage Therapy & Reiki) to host “Birthing Ourselves / Conceiving Our Dreams,” a pre-conception workshop that encouraged participants to reevaluate, reconstruct and rebirth their goals and intentions through an exploration of their patterned thoughts, behaviors and resistances. The presenters facilitated a discussion on vibrational realignment and strengthening their commitment to self-discipline and self-love as a means towards personal and collective liberation.

Following the workshop, Maternal Justice Campaign Director, S. Nadia Hussain (MomsRising) addressed the ongoing efforts of the #MaternalJustice and Black Mamas Matter campaigns. Jazmin Chavez, Director of Digital for The Center for Popular Democracy drew a correlation between reproductive rights/justice and keeping families together. After the speaker series, SDL Birth Support gave homage to their mentors, supporters, and collaborators, who included Katie Grassle (Citizens Committee for New York City) and Mélat Seyoum a full-spectrum doula and freelance GIS Analyst/Developer. It was a warm, joyful and uplifting event, where healers, activists, and community leaders gathered to address the complexities and intersections that exist in birth work. for more pics, check out our facebook album!

Next steps and Resources:

• Family Separation at the US Border – What can you do?  &  14 Orgs  you can Donate
• Raising our Voices for Maternal Health – Resource & Story Book

(limited slots) RSVP here

On Saturday, May 12, 2018  SDL collaborated with Impacct Brooklyn to host its first financial empowerment workshop “Surviving Capitalism A Financial Literacy Workshop.”

It was an intimate workshop and a two hour event. The first hour was discussion and consciousness raising led by SDL. We discussed topics like “What does financial literacy and having a healthy relationship to money mean to you?  What did you learn about money growing up your household? What habits do you have because of this? What was the first time you interacted with a financial institution? What are the formal or informal ways dealing of dealing with money in your family, culture or your community?”

We had many women of color from different immigrant and religious background represented (e.g. Dominican, Nigerian, Jamaican, Indian, Vietnamese) and we found many commonalities regarding our relationship with money.

The second hour of the event was led by a financial counselor at Impacct Brooklyn who shared her own story of how she was asked by her son “aren’t you tired of being poor” before she changed her relationship to money and eventually became a financial counselor. Impact Brooklyn shared “how to make a budget” and “how to manage your debt” worksheets and held a general Q&A for the group. The important lessons the counselor shared was “make your money work for you, don’t work for you money,” “all money needs to have a purpose,” that “goals for money are worthless without dates.” One of her most important messages is that being financially empowered meanings being truthful about your financial goals and then reframing your relationship with money so that saving becomes an act of empowerment.

#SisterDiaspora #aLoveEthic

SDL is excited to be collaborate with IMPACCT Brooklyn and bringing a financial literacy workshop catered to women of color.

Over andover again we hear about the disparity in pay for womxn of color. The rates are alarming and we understand that as womxn of color the path to financial stability is stacked against us and we have historically been exploited for our labor and excluded from fully participating in the job market with fair wages and benefits. How do we understand our money and make fiscally safe decisions? This workshop aims to give us tools that we can use daily in achieving healthy financial habits that we can build and practice in our daily lives. #equalpayday ||#SisterDiaspora #aLoveEthic

According to a 2016 Pew Research Poll: “White and Asian women have narrowed the wage gap with white men to a much greater degree than black and Hispanic women. For example, white women narrowed the wage gap in median hourly earnings by 22 cents from 1980 (when they earned, on average, 60 cents for every dollar earned by a white man) to 2015 (when they earned 82 cents). By comparison, black women only narrowed that gap by 9 cents, from earning 56 cents for every dollar earned by a white man in 1980 to 65 cents today. Asian women followed roughly the trajectory of white women (but earned a slightly higher 87 cents per dollar earned by a white man in 2015), whereas Hispanic women fared even worse than black women, narrowing the gap by just 5 cents (earning 58 cents on the dollar in 2015).” Source: Huffington Post.

The workshop will cover topics such as:

• Budgeting
• Maintaining Good Credit
• Discretionary Money

You can RSVP Here

On December 10th, 2017, International Human Rights Day, SDL held a self defense workshop by and for womxn of color to close #16days of activism to end gender based violence.  Aside from learning important, possibly life saving defense skills, the event held a safe space to build community and sisterhood and empower survivors. Check out a 360 video below of the workshop.

November 25th marked the start of #16Days of Activism. This years theme was “Together we can end Gender Based Violence in education.”  Gender Based Violence occurs in many spaces and it  is our hope to continue to eradicate the systems that perpetuate the lack of investment in our girls.  In our world today GBV comes in many shapes and forms, whether it be cyberbullying, displacement of womxn and children because of home and war violence or a lack of access to quality schools that provide a gender equal curriculum.  Throughout the #16Days, Sister Diaspora  highlighted stories of womxn affected by Gender Based Violence. We held a vigil for our sisters murdered this year,  called  our local representatives to push for legislation protecting victims of domestic violence  and ended #16Days of Activism on  December 10th with a self-defense workshop for womxn of color.  #EndGBV

Below is a video of our ‘Remembering Our Sisters’ vigil held on November 30th.

Celebrating Womxn’s Day with WomenWerk in #NYC on March 10!

#SisterDiaspora is proud to be a sponsor.  It’s our time. Ain’t no stopping us.
#blackherstory #blackhistory 

In celebration of Women’s Day, NYU Wagner BSA partners with WomenWerk to host the 5th annual WomenWerk Conference celebrating Women’s Day. The 2018 theme is Reset: Bounce back from setbacks and will explore best practices for resilience to deal with unexpected challenges. Learn more about this year’s inspiring theme on the conference website.

The 2018 celebration will bring together leading professionals for insightful discussions and our 5th Annual award presentations.

Early Birdbird tickets and full details are available here :

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2018-womenwerk-conference-reset-bounce-back-from-setbacks-tickets-41909163436?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&aff=escb&utm-source=cp&utm-term=listing

For the coming holidays and future gifts, support these Womxn of Color owned businesses by making your purchases with them rather than large corporate chains.

1. BGLH Marketplace

Wrap your skin and hair in Leila’s whipped shea butter!

https://bglh-marketplace.com/

2. Hi Wildflower

Hi Wildflower offers fragrances and beauty products!

https://hiwildflower.com/

3. Kew & Willow Books

Get your read on at this new bookstore in Queens!

www.thequeensbookshop.com

4. CRWN Magazine

A new kind of print magazine for Black women. Beautifully photographed, brilliantly written, printed and perfect bound; CRWNMAG is 130 pages of your hair culture and lifestyle, published quarterly. Thumb through it and see the diversity of Black hair — and find yourself there.

http://crwnmag.com/

5. Castlefield Design

From custom invitations, to branding, packaging, and products of original design, shop Castlefield for some elegance!

https://castlefielddesign.com/

6. Adorned by Chi

For cute clothing and accessories!

https://adornedbychi.com/

 7. Brown Toy Box

Brown Toy Box was founded to help parents and community supporters of children of color find high-quality toys, books, classroom decor and other products that culturally affirm and empower them.

http://www.browntoybox.com

 8. Cha Cha Covers

Latina owned business based out of LA making non-toxic nail art!

https://cha-cha-covers-2.myshopify.com/

9. Harlem Haberdashery

Check out the clothing! Custom-made apparel company creating looks for celebrities, recording artists and sports stars for over 20 years. This uptown boutique Haberdashery draws inspiration from the rich cultural history and distinctive style of the Harlem Renaissance while adding a future-forward edge to thier exclusive designs.

https://www.harlemhaberdashery.com/

 10. Soko Glam

Learn about and purchase Korean skin and beauty products to give yourself and your skin a gift.

https://sokoglam.com/

 11. Roots Healing

Give the gift that keeps giving with these hand-made Ayurvedic gift baskets. Each one is made to order and uses all organic ingredients and eco-friendly materials. Gift one to your loved one, bring it to the white elephant gift exchange or buy one for yourself to indulge in some self-care post holiday season!

http://www.rootshealing.org/shop/ayurvedicgiftbasket

November 25th marks the start of #16Days of Activism. This years theme is “Together we can end Gender Based Violence in education.”  Gender Based Violence occurs in many spaces and it  is our hope to continue to eradicate the systems that perpetuate the lack of investment in our girls.  In our world today GBV comes in many shapes and forms, whether it be cyberbullying, displacement of womxn and children because of home and war violence or a lack of access to quality schools that provide a gender equal curriculum.  Throughout the #16Days, Sister Diaspora will be highlighting stories of womxn affected by Gender Based Violence. We will be holding vigils for our transgendered sisters murdered this year,  calling our local representatives to push for legislation protecting victims of domestic violence  and ending #16Days of Activism on  December 10th with a self-defense workshop for womxn of color. It is our goal to raise our voices &  lift the stories of womxn who have been impacted. #EndGBV

As the national media continues to ignore the rising murders of transgender womxn, we continue to make sure they are not forgotten. We will continue to push legislation that will stop the criminalizing of womxn who aim to be free of violence.   At our SDL  ‘Remembering our Sisters’  Vigil we honored our sisters  who were taken away from us too soon.

#16Days#EndGenderBasedViolence #EndGBV || #ALoveEthic #SisterDiaspora