The California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls (CCSWG) announced the recipients of a $5 million grant program that will fund organizations serving women and girls who have been disproportionately affected economically by COVID-19. CCSWG received over 6,000 grant applications for its first-of-its-kind grant opportunity and evaluated more than 630 proposals to support women and girls across various funding categories, totaling over $62 million in requests.
The City of Milpitas was chosen to receive $25,000 to help in the establishment of a community Task Force that will help implement the principles of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The period of performance will be 12 months, with an anticipated start date in March 2022. The Convention explicitly acknowledges that “extensive discrimination against women continues to exist” and emphasizes that such discrimination “violates the principles of equality of rights and respect for human dignity”.
On May 19, 2020, the City of Milpitas passed Resolution No. 8973 in support of CEDAW. On August 4, 2020, the Milpitas City Council adopted CEDAW principles through Ordinance 306. In implementing CEDAW, the City recognizes the connection between racial discrimination, as articulated in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and discrimination against women. As part of the adoption of Ordinance 306, the Milpitas City Council also directed the establishment of a community Task Force to implement the principles of CEDAW in the Milpitas community at large. The community Task Force will include at least six members, including a staff liaison (to be appointed by the City Manager), a City Council liaison (to be appointed by the Mayor with concurrence of the Council), a youth liaison from the club “Girl UP” from Milpitas High School (selected by members of the club to represent youth in the community), and members with subject matter expertise in the areas of Economic Development, Violence Against Women and Girls, and Healthcare.
Mayor Rich Tran said, “This $25,000 grant will allow us to move forward on a Task Force supported by the entire City Council. I am especially pleased that the Task Force will draw upon many community partners and benefit women and girls in the Milpitas community”.
With many ongoing challenges related to COVID-19 and other City priorities, the Task Force has not yet been established. The grant will be used to hire a part time staff person to conduct outreach, solicit applications and provide administrative support to the Task Force. The staff person will provide administrative support to the Task Force for the first six months after Task Force establishment. Funding for ongoing administrative support after the grant funding has been expended will be considered through the City’s annual budget process
“All women and girls are entitled to equal rights and access to education, job, healthcare, and safety. The grant funding will help the City of Milpitas engage in activities, action and collaboration that will help towards eliminating gender discrimination,” said Councilmember Dominguez.
The full list of grantees can be found here: https://women.ca.gov/womens-recovery-response/