As a woman centered, intersectional feminist association we believe that by working at the individual and collective levels we can create the necessary changes that will offer women and girls a sense of empowerment, choice and greater control over their lives.
TCWC embraces an intersectional feminist philosophy central to our work together. A feminist believes in social equality of the sexes.
Feminism is not a single ideology, but rather is characterized by a diverse set of perspectives and movements dedicated to promoting women’s rights and choices.
Vision
To live in a peaceful world where women are free from all forms of oppression and we, the human species, are living in harmony with our environment and all other forms of life.
Mission Statement
We believe that women’s economic and social independence is central to women’s equality. To that end, we work with all people to achieve an equitable and equal world for women and their families.
Mandate
TCWC has two mandates:
The core services of TCWC are provided in:
TCWC embraces an intersectional feminist philosophy central to our work together. A feminist believes in social equality of the sexes.
Feminism is not a single ideology, but rather is characterized by a diverse set of perspectives and movements dedicated to promoting women’s rights and choices.
Vision
To live in a peaceful world where women are free from all forms of oppression and we, the human species, are living in harmony with our environment and all other forms of life.
Mission Statement
We believe that women’s economic and social independence is central to women’s equality. To that end, we work with all people to achieve an equitable and equal world for women and their families.
Mandate
TCWC has two mandates:
- Direct Service
- Social Change
- Direct service: We offer women and girls in the Tri Counties supportive counseling, referrals, information, advocacy, and programs on a wide range of issues. The main focus of our programs is personal empowerment, sexual violence interventions and women’s economic independence.
- Social Change: We work to create social change by responding to public policy as it pertains to women’s equality. We work to unite women, community and government to achieve equality for women. We use the community development model and work with other community partners to address gaps in services for women and girls.
The core services of TCWC are provided in:
- A safe and accessible space, which is open, welcoming and non-judgmental.
- An environment where activities, programs and services are developed by and for women.
- A place that offers feminist research, resources, referrals, information and programs.
Herstory of the Tri-County Women’s Centre (TCWC)
The Tri-County Women’s Centre was established in 2002 through the efforts of Women for Community Economic Development in Southwest Nova.
TCWC is a community based feminist organization that understands both the need to offer direct services and programs as well as carry out community development and social advocacy as a means of achieving equality for women.
Our first physical locations were Milton School on Brunswick Street from 2003- 2007. The school had been closed and converted to a community centre and we had one of the formed classrooms. We then moved to Main Street in the summer of 2007. We remained there until July 2010 when we bought our house at 12 Cumberland Street. In 2009 we established our Outreach Offices in Shelburne and Digby.
To the best of our ability we respond to the direct needs of women and their families in the three counties of Digby, Shelburne, and Yarmouth.
Our Centre is an intersectional feminist, community-based, anti-racist service that is open to all women. We work with our culturally diverse communities across the tri counties, and the province, to ensure our services are accessible to all women and their families.
Our core services remain the same but the specific services and programs we offer and community development initiatives we are part of may change from year to year, reflecting the needs in the community.
Our core services are:
- Individual Support Counselling and Crisis Intervention
- Advocacy and Accompaniment
- Information and Referral
- Programs
- Community Education
- Community Development Initiatives and Networks
In 2009 we were successful in acquiring Charitable Status, enabling us to issue tax receipts for donations to the Centre.
Since 2003 we have been an active member of Women’s Centres Connect - the Nova Scotia Association of Women’s Centre.
Guiding Principles:
- Inclusive: We believe that all women have the right to equal access, opportunity and full and equal participation in society. We include women of different abilities, ages, cultures, economics, language, and sexual orientation. We reflect these principles in aiding all women to achieve equality and in inviting all women involved with the organization (board, staff, membership, and the community) to fully participate.
- Diverse: We believe that the composition of our Board, staff, the women who use our services, and the community development work carried out, needs to reflect the diversity in our community, including; age, culture, language, sexual orientation, and social economic backgrounds.
- Respectful / Supportive: We believe that all women have the right to be treated with respect and to have their voices heard. We practice providing a safe place for women’s voices to be heard.
- Passionate: Through our involvement, we demonstrate our passion toward equality for all, and for the principles of feminism. We envision a more equal and just community / world for the next generations, so that all our daughters and granddaughters will be able to participate fully in society.
- Challenge & Conflict Resolution: We are committed to the feminist principle of challenge and conflict. We accept conflict as inevitable while embracing challenge as the practice of calling into account, questioning, provoking thought, and reflecting. The diverse opinions brought into the group provide us all with an opportunity for learning and broadening our understanding of an issue.
- Openness, Transparency & Honesty: Our activities are based on a democratic, inclusive and transparent process - internally among our board, staff and membership, and externally with identified allies in both community and government sectors. Our process supports clear communication, meaningful collaboration, and strategic action across all levels.
- Power Sharing (non-hierarchical) and opportunity for participation: We are committed to creating balanced power relationships through democratic practices of shared leadership, decision-making, authority, and responsibility. We nurture an environment that is peaceful, empowering, and respectful. We share power through inclusion, consensus building, and skills development, thereby contributing to a healthy environment where all members feel engaged, empowered, respected, and validated.
- Leadership: We embrace and share the skills and knowledge of individual women, and provide opportunities for all women to develop their leadership potential. We invest power and trust in our leaders (those we appoint to represent us) with the expectation they will draw upon feminist practices and processes in their service toward equality and inclusion. We take every opportunity to build links with other women and women’s organizations that share our agenda for equality and inclusion.
- Accountability: In our pursuit of equality and inclusion, we hold ourselves responsible to the women we work for and with. We are accountable through our practice of feminist principles and our commitment to feminism as our basis of unity. We are accountable to our members, service users, funders, and communities.
- Education & Mentoring: We create opportunities to guide, counsel, coach, tutor, and teach each other. Constantly sharing our skills, knowledge, history and understanding makes our organization healthier and more effective in our pursuit of equality and inclusion. We validate all our ways of knowing, for it is through our Board knowledge, skills, and abilities that we are empowered to make real progress in our community. We are responsible to provide women with the opportunities, skills, and knowledge they need to participate in our work in a meaningful way.
- Analysis / Evaluation / Reflection: We collect and analyze information, stories and experiences that inform our principles, practices, processes, advocacy and services, and draw conclusions about how well they are working. We take time to reflect upon whether we are achieving what we set out to do as well as the process we use in achieving these outcomes. We acknowledge our individual and collective challenges and successes in respectful and non-judgmental ways. We reflect on lessons learned from the past to prepare and build for the future.
- Evolution: As we evolve as a feminist organization, we are committed to learning and growing in our work toward equality and inclusion. We are committed to respectful ways of challenging and evolving. We grow by validating women’s experiences, anticipating challenge and conflict, including diverse voices, creating safe spaces, evaluating our work, and sharing roles and responsibilities.
- Advocacy / Action: Advocacy is central in our efforts toward an equitable and inclusive world for women and their families. Through advocacy, we apply our understanding and analysis of the issues affecting women, as a call to action for improving our social, legal, political, economic, and cultural status. We take every opportunity to advocate for equality and inclusion
- Celebration / Appreciation: We honour each other and our work through sharing and celebrating our commitment to woman-centered, feminist principles, practices, and processes. All women’s contributions to our collective movement for equality are reasons to celebrate.
Definition of intersectional feminism:
The terms intersectionality and intersectional feminism have expanded to encompass overlapping impacts of discrimination based on gender, race, physical ability, ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, socio-economic status, and more.8 Kimberlé Crenshaw herself addressed “The Urgency of Intersectionality” in a 2016 TED talk. Reference: https://canadianwomen.org/the-facts/intersectional-feminism/
The terms intersectionality and intersectional feminism have expanded to encompass overlapping impacts of discrimination based on gender, race, physical ability, ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, socio-economic status, and more.8 Kimberlé Crenshaw herself addressed “The Urgency of Intersectionality” in a 2016 TED talk. Reference: https://canadianwomen.org/the-facts/intersectional-feminism/