Dear ACCESS community,
After a national search, we are thrilled to announce ACCESS has a new Executive Director, Jessica Pinckney!
The Board is delighted to welcome Jessica to help move ACCESS into a new era. She brings a wealth of previous experience most recently serving as Vice President of Government Affairs with In Our Own Voice – National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda. Jessica’s deep work with reproductive justice organizations nationwide impressed us, as did her extensive policy experience. ACCESS last had a permanent Executive Director in 2017 so we are very excited for the opportunities Jessica’s leadership will bring to move ACCESS forward.
Dear Supporter,
It is my great pleasure to address you for the first time in my new position as the Executive Director of ACCESS Women’s Health Justice! In my decade long experience in the Progressive Social Justice movement, including the past 5 years spent in Racial and Reproductive Justice organizations, I’ve been inspired and awed daily by the work of Reproductive Justice (RJ) organizations and Abortion Funds alike, as passionate advocates come together consistently to support callers in seeking the reproductive healthcare they deserve and need. As a born and raised Californian, I am thrilled to return to my home state from Washington, DC, and support this organization and community that I have admired from afar for so long.
I am looking forward to building upon all of the incredible work of the ACCESS Staff, Board, and their supporters who have been bold and unabashed in working to create and sustain an organization based on RJ values to its core. Their work has undoubtedly been integral to creating the thoughtful and powerful organization that exists today. We’ve made a name for ourselves by constantly showing up and speaking up, even when capacity did not necessarily allow, and supporting callers with the full range of support they require. We have always done our Movement Building and Healthline work with a clear understanding that the feelings and concerns expressed by our callers should intimately inform our outreach, organizing, and policy work and that one issue can not be separated from the other for the individuals.
At the center of ACCESS’s mission is to elevate the experiences of those who have been historically most marginalized: low-income communities of color, with many intersecting identities and experiences including being part of the LGBTQ community, being young parents, varied ability levels and beyond. In that vein, practicing our Reproductive Justice values at every moment possible will continue to be at the core of our work.
It is my goal to expand ACCESS’ work and influence in three ways:
By focusing deeply on organizational development to harness the power of our staff, volunteers, and board ensuring that:
- our systems and strategies are rooted in our RJ values,
- our staff feel valued and invested in
- our work is rooted in anti-racist values and behaviors in every instance.
By creating a creative and innovative fundraising strategy that allows us to:
- scale up our Healthline to support as many callers as possible and our movement building program to have the greatest impact possible on the lives of our callers, their families, and their communities. While the COVID pandemic presents us with unique challenges, the needs of our callers and our community have only increased and we must respond to this moment with renewed energy and creativity to create a “new normal” that is people-centered.
By continuing to reduce the stigma that exists around abortion care and promote the values and benefits of Reproductive Justice through bold and vibrant communication strategies.
I return home from our Nation’s Capital where I have long watched systems built to support and perpetuate white Supremacy do just that. I return home to support ACCESS in continuing to dismantle those same systems and provide the mutual aid and support our community needs from us directly. We currently face a global pandemic and an uprising for Black lives and, at this moment, nothing is more important to me than supporting our community in the explicit ways in which they say they need support. I look forward to meeting those needs with the help of every one of you.
Thank you for your support and I very much look forward to working alongside you!
In solidarity,
Jessica Pinckney, Executive Director