WNGE Partners with Planned Parenthood for LGBT Advocacy

Fielding’s Worldwide Network for Gender Empowerment (WNGE) has partnered with Planned Parenthood of Santa Barbara, Ventura & San Luis Obispo Counties for a research project to determine how Planned Parenthood’s services and educational platforms can better meet the needs of LGBT communities.

The project received a $4,700 grant from the Santa Barbara Foundation to hold a research summit in June to determine scope, scalability, and research design, and to meet with grassroots community organizations like Pacific Pride, the Diversity Collective, P-FLAG, and the Santa Barbara Transgender Advocacy Network to ensure the project aligns with the communities served by those groups.

The research team—which includes Fielding faculty Anna DiStefano, Michele Harway and Lauren Mizock, and alums Kathy Kaya and Cheri Gurse—hopes to not only inform the cultural competency of local Planned Parenthood offices, but to ultimately benefit the organization as a whole, impacting its policy and advocacy work.

Interested in joining the team? Contact WNGE Director Anna DiStefano at annadis@fielding.edu.