Providing meaningful support and lifting up West Virginia women and children so that our state can thrive for generations to come.
West Virginia faces a multifaceted crisis, deepening socio-economic disparities in education, healthcare, family care, and workforce development. The opioid epidemic, with one of the highest overdose rates nationally, strains limited healthcare resources, raises demands on family services, and disrupts workforce participation, especially in rural areas.
Children in affected families often face instability, and individuals in recovery lack adequate support. Educators and childcare providers report increasing challenges in helping children from such environments, which impacts academic performance—recent state testing shows only 29% proficiency in science, 36% in math, and 45% in English.
The WVWA-EF Annual Forums will tackle these issues, focusing on community-centered strategies to improve education, healthcare, family care, and workforce development amidst the opioid crisis
The West Virginia Women’s Alliance Education Fund (WVWA-EF) seeks to identify areas of opportunity to meaningfully support West Virginia women and children, namely with access to quality education, child and family care, job opportunities, and healthcare.
The WVWA-EF prioritizes common-sense and evidence-based initiatives to ensure women are equal citizens under the law, and strives to keep women and kids safe in their communities. The WVWA-EF seeks to bridge the gap and build relationships to look at these opportunities through multiple perspectives to ensure it is investing in solutions that will have a positive long-term impact on these goals and West Virginia as a whole.
The WVWA-EF envisions a world in which women:
Are not discriminated against due to arbitrary classifications such as race, sexual orientation, or gender.
Are not held back by economic or educational barriers to success.
Have access to soft infrastructure such as quality and affordable childcare, elder care, and paid leave so they can choose to both raise their families and enter the workforce to support them.
Have access to quality and affordable healthcare to maintain their health.
Enjoy the fundamental right to make private decisions concerning their own bodies and the trajectory of their own lives.
Do not suffer from dismal maternal and infant mortality rates and challenged pre-term birth rates that disproportionately affect women of color.
Trust that children suffering from abuse or neglect or in the care of our challenged foster care system are afforded proper care, educational and emotional support, and are kept safe and healthy.
Feel safe along with their families in their communities, workplaces, and homes.
The WVWA-EF seeks to advance these goals with the following methods:
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Identify pragmatic, evidence-based policies and solutions that help women and families thrive.
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Share information and analysis with the public to raise awareness and inspire meaningful change in these areas of opportunity to improve outcomes for West Virginia women and children.
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Work collaboratively and in coalition with other subject matter experts and organizations to learn more about these areas of opportunity and to find common sense solutions to address other issues that West Virginia women, children, and families may identify as barriers to their success.
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Build relationships and spheres of influence throughout the state to communicate these areas of opportunity and educate policy makers and extra-governmental stakeholders so we can work together toward pragmatic solutions and long-lasting, impactful solutions.
Snag our first ever "2024 Men of the West Virginia Women's Alliance Calendar" to support women and kids in WV!
“The WVWA-EF is a result of mothers, friends, healthcare providers, educators, and professionals coming together to work toward meaningful support to lift up West Virginia women and children. We aim to build bridges and build relationships to find pragmatic, evidence-based solutions so that women and kids in our state have access to quality and affordable education, healthcare, child and family care and can feel safe in their communities, workplaces, and homes. We hope with trust, community-building, and compromise, we can return to a place where West Virginia women can be free and where our young people can stay here for generations to come.”
Meghan Moses, Founder of the WVWA-EF
