1. Elimination of Racism
The YWCA supports policies that help us achieve our mission of eliminating racism. These policies include those that eliminate racial profiling, increase immigrant rights, retain and strengthen affirmative action, reduce hate crimes and educate the public about eliminating racism.

2. Affirmative Action
We support maintaining and strengthening affirmative action laws that protect people from discrimination on the basis of race or gender.

3. Hate Crimes
The YWCA supports the passage of hate crimes legislation that protects people from harassment, violence and other crimes on the basis of race, sex, gender, religion, ethnicity, age, disability or sexual orientation.

4. Violence Against Women
We advocate anti-violence policies that protect victims, hold perpetrators accountable and work to eradicate sexual assault and domestic violence, trafficking of women and dating violence.

Specifically, the YWCA supports the continuance and increased funding for the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) and Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). We also support legislation that ensures employment stability and economic security for victims of violence against women.

5. Increasing Women's Income
The YWCA supports initiatives to increase the income of women, including policies that raise the minimum wage, protect overtime, strengthen equal pay, maintain the earned income tax credit, oppose the privatization of social security and expand non-traditional training for women from all socioeconomic and racial backgrounds.

6. Welfare Reform
We support an anti-poverty approach to welfare reform that increases education and training opportunities, opposes marriage promotion/incentives, opposes religious discrimination in hiring, restores benefits to legal immigrants, addresses barriers to self-sufficiency, such as domestic violence and substance abuse, and provides affordable and accessible childcare.

7. Early Childhood Education
The YWCA supports quality, affordable and accessible early childhood education that assists adults in moving toward economic independence and provides children with culturally sensitive, developmentally appropriate activities that enable children to succeed in school.