New Voices Pittsburgh: Women of Color for Reproductive Justice is competing for funding from the "Women and Girls Foundation. The group is led by badass young women of color and they are being considered for a 10,000 dollar grant if they get enough votes through the web. New Voices is also a member of SisterSong, which folks may remember from the post on Loretta Ross last week. Here is a brief description of the project New Voices wants to take on:

The "FOCUS on Women" Campaign, a grassroots community organizing initiative, will redress the current conditions of non-violent female offenders housed in Allegheny County Jail (ACJ), including reproductive and general healthcare, nutrition and as well as trauma-informed care in human services delivery. Our campaign centralizes the experiences of women who are currently or have been previously incarcerated in ACJ, organizes women/communities of color through Human Rights and Reproductive Justice and develops new voices for leadership in Pittsburgh.

Here are some facts about incarcerated women, most of whom are single moms, from recent coverage:

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the number of women behind bars has increased 843 percent in the last three decades, growing from 12,279 in 1977 to 115,779 last year.

As University of Pittsburgh is my alma mater, I have worked with New Voices personally. Their organization was one of the many orgs that were conceived during the 2004 March for Women's Lives. I can tell you that they are some of the most organized, dedicated young women in the feminist movement right now. Voting ends at 5pm today. Support badass young women of color who are advocating for justice for women.