Event: Sixth Annual Young Women’s Day of Action Luncheon with Maria Poblet, director of Causa Justa::Just Cause
When: Thursday, Oct. 27, noon
Where: Student Activity Center Ballroom, The University of Texas at Austin
Background: Maria Poblet has more than a decade of experience in Latino community organizing, working with St. Peter’s Housing Committee, an organization defending tenants’ and immigrant rights and fighting gentrification in San Francisco’s Mission District. In 2009, Poblet helped lead the merger between St. Peter’s and Just Cause Oakland that created Causa Justa::Just Cause, bringing together the organizations’ work in the Latino community in San Francisco and the African American community in Oakland into a single, regional organization devoted to racial and economic justice. She has been a leader in building movements at the grass-roots level, including the U.S. Social Forum and the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance.
Poblet had the privilege of being mentored for many years by renowned poet and activist June Jordan and was the artistic director of Poetry for the People, a group that teaches empowerment through the artistic expression of writing and reading poetry, before she fell in love with community organizing.
National Young Women’s Day of Action is dedicated to the political activism of young women. It is organized for young women by young women to encourage local political involvement and provide a forum for raising awareness about issues such as reproductive rights and gender, sexual and racial equality. On The University of Texas at Austin campus, the event has been organized each year by the Women’s Programming Alliance, part of the Gender and Sexuality Center within the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement.
To RSVP for the luncheon, email gsc@austin.utexas.edu or call 512-232-1831.
