“We believe that the best way to bring about lasting social change for women and girls is to engage and empower community leaders to influence public policy and legislation.”

Women’s Fund of New Jersey established a women’s policy institute to help move our social change agenda forward. 

The goal is to enable more community leaders – through training, coalition-building, and financial resources – to work with policymakers to enact laws that eliminate the barriers to self-sufficiency for women and families in New Jersey.

And every dollar that is raised  for the policy institute in 2008 (up to $140,000) will be matched by the Catalyst Fund of the Tides Foundation in San Francisco.   Tides Foundation awarded grants to eight women’s funds/foundations and Women’s Fund of New Jersey was awarded the largest grant at $140,000. 

In 2008-2009, the institute (consistent with the Catalyst Fund’s goal) will bring more resources to women of color leaders in the community doing reproductive justice work, which involves issues such as:  access to reproductive health and prenatal care; reproductive health effects of environmental pollution;  HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment;  ending violence against women; teenage pregnancy prevention; and comprehensive sexuality education.

Women’s Fund of New Jersey’s women’s policy institute will be the second of its kind in the nation.   Modeling the best practices of the Women’s Foundation of California, the women’s policy institute training will include:

• how to craft bills, work with legislative staff, understand the budget and appropriations processes, advocate before legislators, and testify at hearings;
• hands-on teamwork during the year to advance self-selected policy projects; and
• guidance and counsel from a core faculty of policy experts and team mentors