The Women’s Resource and Advocacy Center celebrated its grand opening on March. 4.

In addition to a ribbon-cutting ceremony, faculty also held two drum circles led by M. Zamora — adjunct faculty of ethnic and women’s studies — a land acknowledgement, keynote presentation from Mia Hernandez, racial equity and policy analyst for the city of San Jose and a “fireside chat” with California Community Colleges Deputy Chancellor Rowena Tomaneng.

The new center was preceded by the Jean Miller Resource Room for Women, Gender and Sexuality (later renamed to the Women, Gender and Sexuality Center) which, upon receipt of a grant, gave way for the Pride Center.

With the Pride Center encompassing gender and sexuality, students and faculty called for a dedicated center to discuss women’s issues.

For the time being, the Women’s Resource and Advocacy Center will be open to all students weekly on Wednesdays in room L73A from 11 a.m. to noon and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Transcript:

0:00
SANGO LEVONIAN – LA VOZ MULTIMEDIA EDITOR: The Women’s Resource and Advocacy Center celebrated its grand opening on Wednesday, March 4.

0:07
FRANCESCA CAPARAS – FACULTY COORDINATOR, WOMEN’S RESOURCE AND ADVOCACY CENTER: It means that there is a space, a safer space for folks to learn about and support women’s issues, and also just to hang out.

Honestly, after COVID, I feel like there’s so few opportunities to gather in-person around issues that matter to us. A lot of it is now done with liking stuff online or reposting, but the real work of being in-person and organizing around women’s issues and issues that we care about, I think is why it’s important to have this space.

0:40:
ARINA IZADI – ALUM: We’re in a time that a lot of people may not feel comfortable speaking about certain issues, especially personal. I think having a center like that, it’s good to have it as a support for women to be able to share or realize there are resources for them available.

0:53
LEVONIAN: Following a ribbon cutting ceremony held outside the center, M. Zamora, adjunct faculty of Ethnic and Women’s Studies led a drum circle as a blessing for the new space.

Later, audience members also attended a keynote presentation from Mia Hernandez, racial Equity and Policy Analyst for the City of San Jose, and a fireside chat with California Community Colleges Deputy Chancellor Rowena Tomaneng.

1:17
CAPARAS: Decades ago, it started as the Advocacy for Women Center, and then that also was like, well, we should include LGBTQ+. And so then it became the Center for Women Gender and Sexuality.

When we got a grant to fund a Pride Center. Then we had the Pride Center, which is an amazing resource on campus, but then people were like, well, what about the women part of it? And so we had amazing folks like Dr. Roseanne Giannini Quinn, who’s faculty here, and the Women’s Advisory Council. We got approved for funding thanks to the work of a lot of organizers and senior leaders like Lydia Hearn, and it’s been a community effort of furnishing, decorating, and staffing the place.

Getting to where we are right now has been a lot of work, and not just for myself, but for everybody involved. And I think that that’s one of the things I want to honor with this space, is that how many people do the work that is often invisible, that goes without acknowledgement, without recognition, without compensation a lot of the time.

2:19
JULIETTE LEYVA – 21 ANIMATION AND ENGLISH MAJOR: One of the things that I care most about is actually contributing to safety towards women. During my time at De Anza, there’s been at least two incidents of women being assaulted on campus, and it’s difficult when the only place that you have to go is the Campus Police. Sometimes what you want is to be heard and to have space and community with people who either understand your struggles or who can support you more emotionally.

2:45
MIA HERNANDEZ – RACIAL EQUITY POLICY ANALYST FOR THE CITY OF SAN JOSE, ALUM: Right now, with so much going on in the world, it’s hard to find places where you can exist without feeling defensive. And I just think that that’s so needed right now: spaces where you already know you’re walking into the room with community or with a connection, even if you don’t know their name.

And so that could look like different events. It could look like workshops, study sessions, but just a space to gather. And that can’t happen unless you’re opening up spaces for students to connect.

3:22
CAPARAS: Honestly, the campaign is going to be how to get whoever runs the space, that position to be funded more. Because right now it’s only a quarter release time, which means if you kind of think about it, a 40 hour work week, it’s only 10 hours a week that is given to the space. And this is a space that clearly a lot of people feel is important.

The turnout was great, and so now that we’ve shown that there’s demand for this kind of work and for programming that supports these kind of issues. I think that behooves the campus to provide more institutional support, funding resources, a full-time position, maybe more staffing for the center.

3:59
LEVONIAN: In the meantime, the center is open to all students every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to noon and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.