SNYWC Year-End Celebration

Please join the Southern Nevada Young Women's Collaborative for art, refreshments and congratulations at our:

SNYWC Year-End Celebration

Saturday, June 20th
4:30-6:00pm

at the
Reed Whipple Cultural Center - 2nd Floor
821 Las Vegas Boulevard
North Las Vegas, NV 89101

As our year comes to a close we want to recognize and thank you for your efforts as a member of SNYWC. Whether you were at every summit or one summit, you are an important member of the SNYWC community! Let's take some time to look back on an incredible year and look forward to what lies ahead. We would like to extend this invitation to your family as well, so they can see firsthand what the SNYWC community is all about. Please feel free to bring family, friends, loved ones, and anyone else you want to share SNYWC with. Congratulations on all your accomplishments this year as part of the Southern Nevada Young Women's Collaborative!


Please RSVP for you and your loved ones by June 5^th to Sylvia Raskin at sylvia@snywc.org or by phone at

702-808-8775

Hope to see you there!

SNYWC activists = fantastic lobbyists

On Monday, March 23rd, 9 SNYWC activists and our three co-directors flew up to Carson City, Nevada to educate state legislators on the importance of comprehensive sex ed in Nevada. We had an awesome trip, and we made sure that Nevada's elected officials knew that young women in southern Nevada are NOT okay with living in a state that has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the country and NO plan for giving us the right to be responsible about sex.

Prior to our trip, SNYWC activists collected over 150 petition signatures, even while facing disapproval and refusal from high school teachers and administrators. Once we got to the legislators, we were able to convince the following awesome assembly members and senators to ask the Department of Health to reject federal funding for abstinence-only programs:

Senator Maggie Carlton

Assemblywoman Ellen Koivisto

Senator Spiegal

Senator Joyce Woodhouse

We're now working on getting other Nevada officials and organizations to sign-on to the letter. If you are from an organization that would like to sign the letter or get involved, please email erin@snywc.org for more information.

NEXT STOP: Department of Health!!

Take Action - follow-up from our Sex Ed Summit (11/22)

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to everyone who came out to our Sex Ed Policy summit last Friday - we had a great turnout and an informative event with speakers from Planned Parenthood here in Vegas and from Advocates For Youth (www.advocatesforyouth.org) in Washington, D.C!.

We talked about common myths about sex that we hear in high school, learned about comprehensive sexuality education vs. abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, and came up with a plan to get Clark County's attention! We deserve medically-accurate information about our bodies, and we're going to make sure our legislators and school board directors know we want it!

Watch out for an email regarding our next summit (January 17th!) and follow-up plans from the Summit. Hope to see you all in January!

~Erin M.

FIRST, FREE Bi-Monthly Summit: Environmental Justice in Las Vegas!

Come to our first, totally free (we'll even reimburse your mileage!) bi-monthly Issues & Action Summit on Saturday, September 20th from 10am - 3pm at the Springs Preserve (Valley View and the 95). Please email Erin at erin.schroeder@snywc.org for more information and a permission slip!

Learn about the environmental justice and protection movement in southern Nevada, meet other awesome young women interested in making Vegas a better place and find out what you can do to help the environment - a lot for one day, but we'll have fun doing it too!

In the meantime, check out the Sierra Club's Youth Action for the Environment Campaign for more ways to get involved and help the environment!

TIP Summer Conference starts next week!

The Talking Is Power Summer Conference starts next Wednesday, August 13th - if you haven't received your permission slip or contract, email sylvia@snywc.org for the forms you need!

If you can't make the TIP Summer Conference, we hope to see you at our first bi-monthly summit on September 20th. We'll talk about environmental justice in the Vegas area with activists from the Sierra Club, and the summit is completely FREE, with FREE lunch and snacks!

TIP Summer Conference - time change!

The completely FREE 2008 Talking Is Power Summer Conference will take place from August 13th-August 15th, 2008 at Nevada State College.

Email erin@snywc.org for an application!

Conference Agenda:

Day 1: Welcome, Introductions and Leadership
Wednesday, August 13th

12:00-1:00pm: Check-in and Group Lunch
1:00-2:00pm: Welcome, Orientation and Ground Rules
2:00-4:15pm: Exploring SNYWC, My Community and Myself
4:15-4:30pm: Closing

Day 2: Reproductive Health and Comprehensive Sexuality Education
Thursday, August 14th

9:00-9:30am: Welcome and Teambuilding Activity
9:30am-12:00pm: Reproductive Health Training
12:00-1:00pm: Group Lunch and Discussion
1:00-2:00pm: Reproductive Health Training
2:00-3:00pm: Sex Ed Policy in the US: Abstinence-only vs. Comprehensive
3:00-4:00pm: Community Organizing and Advocacy 101
4:00-4:15pm: Share – what’s your goal?
4:15-4:30pm: Closing

Day 3: Women, Las Vegas and the Environment
Friday, August 15th

9:00-9:30am: Welcome and Teambuilding Activity
9:30-11:00am: Sexuality and the Environment: Making the Connections
11:0 0-11:45am: Strategic Action Planning
11:45-12:00pm: Share – what’s your next step?
12:00-1:00pm: Group Lunch and Discussion
1:00-3:00pm: Women, Sexuality and Las Vegas
3:00-4:00pm: Closing Celebration

Talking Is Power Summer Conference - check it out!

The Talking Is Power Summer Conference will be held at Nevada State College in downtown Henderson from August 11th-15th, 2008. Our sessions will run from 9:30 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon, and we will provide lunch and snacks every day. Once accepted to participate in the conference, we expect you to arrive early and attend each day. If you need transportation to the conference, please let us know!

At the Talking Is Power Summer Conference, you will have the opportunity to meet other young women leaders, build your leadership and organizing skills and develop your own project for the southern Nevada community. You will be asked to explore yourself, examine your community, deepen your thought-process, exercise your creativity and speak up for what you believe. You will also get the chance to participate in honest and critical discussions about contemporary social and women’s issues, and you will interact with a network of active, powerful southern Nevadan young women.

If you're interested in attending the conference, please contact Erin (erin@snywc.org) asap!