The Weekend Countdown Starts… NOW!

There’s only 5 days left to register for the SOI Advocacy Training & Brunch taking place this Sunday, FEB 19, from 1-4PM at the Troy Moore Library.

The SPARK Organizing Intensive (SOI) engages an intergenerational cohort of reproductive justice and sexual health advocates through collaborative intensive political skill development for comprehensive and sound reproductive justice policies in the Southeast.

As a lead up to the Legislate THIS! advocacy day, the SOI is geared towards supporting and empowering people of color, while centering the experiences of Black Women and queer & trans youth of color. The training will provide an opportunity for both new and experienced organizers and activists to dig deep on pressing issues that affect our communities across identities, gain concrete organizing and campaign building skills, and directly organize and support community events and projects throughout 2017.

Read our 2017 Legislative Brief.

As we prepare for a drastic shift in our political environment, it is increasingly important to focus on building our power and our voices as a community.

Register for the SOI Advocacy Training NOW!

Georgia Black Caucus Hearing

In observance of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, SPARK and the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus will be hosting a public hearing co-sponsored by SisterLove, Inc tomorrow, Thursday, February 9, 2017, at 1:30PM in Room 415 of the Paul Coverdell Legislative Office Building at the State Capitol.

Georgia is one of 32 states that place an undue criminal liability on people living with HIV and SPARK, along with our community partners, has been working as part of a national task force, THE GEORGIA COALITION TO END HIV CRIMINALIZATION, to address the HIV epidemic in the South and help modernize HIV laws.

Join us at the hearing and learn more about how you can lend your voice to the movement.

This is the first in a series of events for our Speak Justice Take Action programing.

Up next is The SOI Advocacy Training And Brunch, taking place on Sunday FEB. 19,

and our education day at the State Capitol, Legislate THIS!, slated for Thursday, FEB. 23.

Don’t Agonize. Brunch & Organize!

Whether you are looking for a role in your community or have been an active organizer for years, the SPARK ORGANIZING INTENSIVE ADVOCACY TRAINING (SOI) is a wonderful opportunity to engage an intergenerational cohort of reproductive justice advocates and dig deep on pressing issues that affect our communities across identities. You will also be able to gain concrete campaign building skills that will help you directly organize and support community events and projects throughout 2017.

Read our 2017 Legislative Brief.

SOI serves as a lead-up training to LegislateThis! our annual advocacy day at the state capitol and is geared towards supporting and empowering people of color, centering the experiences of queer & trans youth of color and black women. As we enter an increasingly disruptive political age, it is urgently important to focus on building our power as a community and uplifting the voices of those most marginalized in society.

This year, the SOI will take place on Sunday, February 19th, from 1-4PM, at the

TROY MOORE LIBRARY AT GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY.

Register for the 2017 SOI.

Doors open/brunch served at 12:45PM.

View and share the event on Facebook and Eventbrite.

For more information, e-mail our Programs Specialist, Shayla Robinson, at Shayla@sparkrj.org

Let’s Meet At The Crossroads Of Reproductive Justice

 

Legislate THIS! is our annual statewide day of action and advocacy, with this year’s session taking place on Thursday, February 23, 2017. You can expect to hear from key leaders about pertinent public policy issues and educate our policymakers at the GA Capitol about many of our obstacles that meet at the crossroads of reproductive justice.

Read our 2017 Legislative Brief.

In celebration of the momentous 10th annual session, SPARK invokes Kimberlee Crenshaw’s work on Intersectionality, and calls on YOU to carry on in the tradition of grassroots community leaders who believe that we can speak truth to power and hold our elected representatives accountable through the collective power of Reproductive Justice.

Doors open/breakfast served at 8:30AM at Trinity United Methodist Church.

Register for the 10th Annual Legislate This! here.

View and share the event on Facebook and EventBrite.

KICK IT WITH SPARK!

kijan44 years after the US Supreme Court made the landmark decision, ROE V WADE is under attack. This is the latest in an ongoing effort to disempower women and further criminalize those most marginalized in society with restrictive laws. What can we do to protect our rights?

Join SPARK for a Facebook LIVE chat with Kwajelyn Jackson of Feminist Women’s Health Center, as we discuss how a repeal of the Supreme Court decision would impact women’s health and the fight for universal reproductive justice.

RSVP HERE.

This event is part of a national series with our partners from All Above All. We Will Be BOLD.

We are not alone!

Spark Reads

Following a slew of aggressive executive orders that include a global gag rule that restricts abortion funding, we’ve collected some of articles written by our partners, allies and advocates that will help put it all in perspective.

Get informed.

Stay informed.

  • Black women are leading movement through the Trump administration. Read New Voices’ La’Tasha Mayes’ response to the 44th Anniversary of Roe V Wade here.

Continue reading

Help End BAD HIV Laws

1efcfc13-477f-4a39-9c7f-57d22772b2adAre you a resident of Georgia living with HIV?

Did you know that Georgia law punishes folks living with HIV for not disclosing their status to their partners?

Georgians living with HIV can face up to 10 years for lovers’ spats.

Have you been affected?

Would you like to tell your story, and be part of the movement to end HIV criminalization in Georgia?

If so, the Georgia Coalition to End HIV Criminalization would like to invite you to tell your own story, in your own words.

The opportunity to film or record audio will happen at the Phillip Rush Center Annex on January 26th from 5PM – 8PM. (Limited Slots Available)

RSVP here.

THE CROSSROADS OF REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE

Before it was a buzzword, intersectionality was a term that black women and queer and trans people of color used to identify shared experiences that are now largely recognized as part of a broad-scale system of domination used to subjugate our communities.

First coined in 1989 by American civil rights advocate and leading scholar of critical race theory, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, intersectionality not only gave a name to the systems of oppression, but also lit a path of resistance in its recognition of our collective power to demolish these systems and rebuild an inclusive model of governance.

Learn more about intersectionality here.

Spark Off! Roe v. Wade

January 2017 marks the 44th anniversary of the Roe v Wade verdict and this month we talk to two individuals who have had abortions about their experiences and the future of reproductive rights. Tune in and let us know what you think!