OUR HERSTORY
New Voices for Reproductive Justice was founded by La’Tasha D. Mayes, Bekezela Mguni, Lois “Toni†McClendon and Maria Nicole (Smith) Dautruche on March 16, 2004 to mobilize women of color in Southwestern PA to attend the March for Women’s Lives in Washington, DC. Over 14 years later, New Voices has served 100,000+ Black women, femmes & girls, women of color and LGBTQ+ people of color through movement-building for Reproductive Justice.
OUR MISSION AND VISION
Our mission is to build a social change movement dedicated to the health and well-being of Black women and girls through leadership development, Human Rights and Reproductive Justice. Our vision is to achieve the complete health and well-being of Black women and girls, our families and communities.
WHO WE ARE
New Voices is a grassroots Human Rights organization based in Pittsburgh that is cultivating the leadership and unleashing the power and potential of Black women, femmes and girls. We utilize the Reproductive Justice framework as an innovative strategy to specifically engage Black women, femmes and girls in community organizing for lasting social change. New Voices is a groundbreaking organization, using a Human Rights and Reproductive Justice framework to organize and build a local movement with Black women, femmes and girls and allies in Pennsylvania and Ohio. New Voices is deeply committed to elevating the powerful voices of Black women, femmes and girls on Human Rights, reproductive oppression and the totality of our lived experience.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
New Voices promotes the complete health and well-being of Black women and girls in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Our definition includes eight dimensions of health: physical, emotional, spiritual, cultural, political, economic, environmental and social.