What Will It Take To Save Our Rights?

MN NOW’s State Conference – April 09, 2022

MN NOW’S 2022 State Conference will be a virtual event filled with important business and programming. Join us from 9 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Saturday, April 09, 2022 for exciting speakers, awards, and more.

REGISTER NOW:

• Registration is free for MN NOW Members. Send an email with your name to [email protected] to register.
• For non-members, a $15 donation is requested.  A paid registration will include a year long MN NOW membership. Non-members can register here.

Special Guest Speakers

MN Legislative update with Senator Kunesh 

Minnesota State Senator Mary Kunesh will talk about bills currently in the MN legislature that impact women.

Educator, community builder and previous State Representative, Sen. Kunesh has fought and advocated for all Minnesotans and continues to pave the way for a more equitable and inclusive State.

Follow her work in the legislature at state.mn.

Rachel Guerra Lorenzo – Indigenous Women Rising

Rachel Guerra Lorenzo is one of the founders of Indigenous Women Rising, an organization committed to honoring Native & Indigenous People’s inherent right to equitable and culturally safe health options through accessible health education, resources, and advocacy.

Rachael Lorenzo (Mescalero Apache/Laguna Pueblo/Xicana) was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico to young parents and was raised on their father’s ancestral land in Laguna, New Mexico. Rachael graduated with a BA in political science and a Masters in public administration, focusing on public health; both degrees are from the University of New Mexico.  Rachael studied political campaigns, participated policy analyses, and has been consulted for their expertise in public health policies that could impact indigenous communities.

You can learn more about them at https://www.iwrising.org/.

Shayla Walker – Executive Director of Our Justice 

Shayla is a proud Black Dominican-American living on occupied Dakhóta + Anishinaabe land (aka Twin Cities, Minnesota). She’s an award winning Reproductive Justice advocate who’s dedicated 10 years to the reproductive freedom movement. She’s the Executive Director of Our Justice, an organization that advocates for reproductive justice and provides support to abortion-seekers in the Midwest. In 2019, she began shifting the internal orientation of Our Justice towards centering rest & healing, economic justice and mutual aid beyond abortion support. Shayla has expanded Our Justice’s scope of work to include lodging support, free emergency contraception and safer-sex kits.

In her free time she runs Cocoa Butta Futures’ You Are People’s Too Fund (URPPLS2). A fund that offers direct cash to QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and BIPOC single parent/fam/guardian/caretaker of vulnerable adults and/or child(ren). In true Gemini spirit she enjoys Minneapolis just as much as she does Saint Paul. Shayla feels most fulfilled when she’s getting Black people reparations, performing spoken word and napping under the sun.

2022 Agenda

The 2022 Agenda can be found here:  2022 MN NOW State Conf Agenda.

Award Winners

Nominations are open until March 25th!

The Feminist of the Year Award – open to strong MN NOW leaders who are working to build a more equitable society and move forward the core mission of MN NOW.

The Charlotte Striebel: Long Distance Runner Award – open to a person who has demonstrated persistence, initiative, cooperation and dedication on behalf of women’s rights.

You can find descriptions of these awards and past award recipients here: Award Recipients MN NOW 2021