The Younger Women’s Task Force is a nationwide, grassroots movement dedicated to organizing younger women and their allies to take action on issues that matter most to them. The YWTF-Tuscaloosa Chapter was started so that the many passionate, young professional women in Tuscaloosa and surrounding areas could have a place to meet, get involved in local issues that affect the lives of women, and make a difference in their own community. To accomplish this mission YWTF-Tuscaloosa will be hosting happy hours at local restaurants and venues — with an emphasis on supporting women and others in our community — lining up speakers for brown bag talks, planning outreach and advocacy events related to important political and legislative issues, and volunteering with organizations in the neighborhood. We are interested in hearing about the ways we can best serve our members and women in our community. If you have any questions, comment or suggestions please feel free to message the YWTF-Tuscaloosa board at ywtf.tuscaloosa@gmail.com or leave a message through our Contact page!
Our History
Back in 2004, Alison Stein sat down with her boss to talk about how young women needed a space for activism. Not only did Stein’s boss want to help, as the chair of the National Council of Women’s Organizations (NCWO) she could. Within weeks, Stein found 25 other women leaders who wanted to join her. Together they became the National Coordinating Committee for the Younger Women’s Task Force. The movement grew the following year when 130 women from 42 different states came to Washington, D.C., to draft a Younger Women’s issues agenda. The group also established YWTF chapters across the country and officially commenced the work of the Task Force.
Message from Alison Stein
founder of the Younger Women’s Task Force
Thank you for your interest in YWTF! The idea of YWTF came to me when I graduated from college and discovered that women like me — women in their 20s and 30s — were aging out of college-based and youth-based women’s organizations, but, at the same time, feeling removed from the organized women’s movement. It quickly became apparent to me that women in their 20s and 30s had fallen through the cracks of the women’s movement and of progressive organizing more generally.
YWTF was officially launched in January 2005 through a meet-up that brought together more than 100 younger women from more than 45 different states to define the issues that mattered most to them. Since that time, YWTF has served as a unique space to allow women in their 20s and 30s to work on issues of importance to them, including political engagement, leadership development, economic empowerment, women’s health, reproductive rights, and work-life balance. YWTF has also served as an incredibly powerful networking platform for women in their 20s and 30s.
I am very proud of what YWTF has become, and I am thrilled that it now has a home at AAUW. The marriage between YWTF and AAUW is a natural one, as YWTF provides a next home for AAUW’s college-based women.
I look forward to seeing YWTF grow and thrive under all of your leadership.
Our Relationship with AAUW
In 2013, YWTF found a new home with AAUW, and we now operate as an affiliated entity of the organization. So if you’re a member of YWTF, you’re also a member of AAUW. This affiliation is a great match, since AAUW has been empowering women for years longer than we have. And AAUW provides a huge group of allies and advocates of all ages to help us with our work!