The Dr. Laura Banks-Reed Center
for Gender & Racial Equity
Dr. Laura Banks-Reed is one of the mothers of our movement, and served as President of the YWCA Southern Arizona board from 1963 to 1965. In 1965 she was the first Black woman elected to the YWCA USA National Board, where she served until 1976. Along with a group of other Black women representing YWCAs from across the nation, Dr. Banks-Reed successfully advocated for the adoption of “eliminating racism” as the priority central to YWCA’s mission. At that convening, YWCA adopted the following as its “One Imperative”: To thrust our collective power toward the elimination of racism wherever it exists.
In honor of Dr. Laura Banks-Reed, and thanks to the David & Lura Lovell Foundation, the Dr. Laura Banks-Reed Center for Gender and Racial Equity launched in 2024, which has allowed us to expand our Racial Justice Center to include gender equity. The Center increases our impact in three key areas – Training & Education, Policy & Advocacy, and Community Engagement. This allows us to make real strides towards our mission of eliminating racism and empowering women while acknowledging what Dr. Banks-Reed has seen all along: the intersectionality of race and gender, along with so many other identities that can create, uphold, or eliminate systems of oppression, and the impossibility of achieving equity for one group without working on behalf of equity for all.
Programs:
A youth-led diversion and restorative justice program, in which teens serve as jurors, attorneys, bailiffs, and clerks in hearings for their peers who have admitted guilt for an arrestable offense.
An annual 21-Day challenge to learn more about and reflect on racial justice. Each week focuses on a new topic intersecting with racism and racialization, and folks who register will get an email each day with new podcasts, videos and articles to engage with.
