Women with a Vision is a left-of-center nonprofit that champions sexuality-related causes including the abortion access, the decriminalization of sex work, HIV/AIDS education, and LGBTQ issues. The nonprofit has garnered over $3,000,000 in funding from left-leaning organizations like the Ford Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

Background

Women with a Vision Inc (WWAV) is a community-based nonprofit, established in 1989 by a collective of 11 African American women in response to the spread of HIV/AIDS in communities of color. ¹

In January 2016, WWAV launched the Envision Change program as part of its integrated voter engagement efforts. The program is designed to boost voter education, voter turnout, and civic engagement among marginalized women and their families in Louisiana. ²

Under WWAV’s harm reduction initiative, the nonprofit provides syringes to those facing substance abuse challenges, in addition to distributing hygiene kits, condoms, and wound care supplies. ³ In 2017, Women with a vision became a partner organization of In Our Own Voice National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, a pro-abortion activist organization that asserts there are “systems of oppression that target black women.” ⁴

WWAV also advocates for LGBT interests, feminism, and less police surveillance. ⁵ In a tweet from March 2023, the nonprofit asserted, “the freedom feminism demands encompasses liberation from all manifestations of violence, encompassing surveillance, policing, punishment, borders, and war.” ⁶

Leadership

Danita Muses is one of the founding members of Women with a Vision. She also sits on the nonprofit’s board of directors. Danita has a background in distributing condoms, facilitating syringe exchange programs, and conducting HIV testing. ⁷

Deon Haywood has worked as the executive director of Women with a Vision since 2006. In 2018, she received an appointment to the New Orleans Human Relations Commission to enhance its efforts in Human Rights and Equity. ⁸

Lorraine Leslie holds the position of President at Women with Vision. In 2010, she assumed ownership of the organization. ⁹

Shaquita Borden is the nonprofit’s director of research and evaluation. Shaquita joined the organization in 2008. In 2013, she received the Billy R. Cox Endowed Scholarship in acknowledgment of her contributions to public health issues for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. ¹⁰

Catherine Haywood was one of the co-founders of Women with a Vision, she is also the community health promoter at the nonprofit. ¹¹

Nadia Eskildsen works as the harm reduction coordinator at Women with a Vision. Prior to joining WWAV, she managed the New Orleans Syringe Access Program. ¹²

Jenny Holl holds the position of the ending the epidemic program manager. Jenny has experience working on programs relating to maternal mortality, sex workers’ interests, and HIV/AIDS. ¹³

Advocacy

In November 2021, Women with a Vision partnered with a coalition of abortion advocacy organizations including Mississippi in Action and the In Our Own Voice National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda to challenge Mississippi’s petition to the Supreme Court aimed at reversing Roe v. Wade. ¹⁴

In May 2021, Women with a Vision supported over 100 sex workers who gathered at Louisiana’s state capitol to support a proposed bill ¹⁵ that would have repealed various prostitution-related offenses, including the purchase of commercial sexual activity, solicitation for prostitution, and the promotion of prostitution. ¹⁶

Then, in 2018, WWAV engaged in a digital storytelling project featuring sex workers to challenge the narrative that all sex workers are trafficked or deserve to be criminalized. ¹⁷

During the COVID-19 pandemic, WWAV distributed gift cards, ranging from $300 to $500, to sex workers, noting that “their profession often requires close interactions with clients, posing a heightened risk during the health crisis.” Emphasis was placed on prioritizing queer, transgender, and gender non-conforming individuals, people of color, and those facing financial hardship. ¹⁸

Funding

From 2015 through 2023, Women with a Vision received over $2,000,000 in donations from the Ford Foundation. ¹⁹ The nonprofit was also one of the six recipients of a Ford Foundation $75 million grant program focused on the southern United States in June 2021. ²⁰

Through the Transforming Movements Fund (TMF), Borealis Philanthropy awarded $421,000 in grants to eleven organizations including Women with a Vision in 2019. ²¹ From 2019 through 2023, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation donated at least $1,000,000 to the nonprofit. ²²

1. “Home.” Women with a Vision, November 6, 2023. https://wwav-no.org/.
2. “Integrated Voter Engagement (GOTV).” Women with a Vision, November 6, 2023. https://wwav-no.org/integrated-voter-engagement/.
3. “Harm Reduction & Drug Policy Reform.” Women with a Vision, November 6, 2023. https://wwav-no.org/harm-reduction-and-drug-policy-reform/.
4. “Making an Impact at Women with a Vision.” Making an Impact at Women With a Vision | Newcomb Institute. Accessed January 7, 2024. https://newcomb.tulane.edu/making-impact-women-vision.
5. “Home.” Women with a Vision, November 6, 2023. https://wwav-no.org/#:~:text=The%20Supreme%20Court%20has%20overturned,folks%2C%20and%20the%20LGBTQ+%20community.
6. Vision, Women With A. “‘for Us, the Freedom Feminism Demands Extends to Freedom from All Forms of Violence, Including Surveillance, Policing, Punishment, Borders, and War.’https://T.Co/Ciopdl9tdi.” Twitter, March 6, 2023. https://twitter.com/WWAVinc/status/1632886005618417666?s=20.
7. “Board of Directors.” Women with a Vision, November 6, 2023. https://wwav-no.org/board-of-directors/.
8. “Our Staff.” Women with a Vision, November 6, 2023. https://wwav-no.org/our-staff/.
9. “Lorraine Leslie – Women with Vision Inc.” LinkedIn. Accessed January 7, 2024. https://ca.linkedin.com/in/lorraine-leslie-a0a4889.
10.  “Our Staff.” Women with a Vision, November 6, 2023. https://wwav-no.org/our-staff/.
11. “ Our Staff.” Women with a Vision, November 6, 2023. https://wwav-no.org/our-staff/.
12. “Our Staff.” Women with a Vision, November 6, 2023. https://wwav-no.org/our-staff/.
13. Jennifer Holl – Program manager – women with a vision, Inc – LinkedIn. Accessed January 8, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-holl-51334243.
14. Diamondstein, Megan. “The Disproportionate Harm of Abortion Bans: Spotlight on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.” Center for Reproductive Rights, November 29, 2021. https://reproductiverights.org/supreme-court-case-mississippi-abortion-ban-disproportionate-harm/.
15. “Louisiana HB67: 2021: Regular Session.” LegiScan. Accessed January 7, 2024. https://legiscan.com/LA/text/HB67/id/2325009.
16. Ford Foundation. “Women with a Vision-and a Plan.” Ford Foundation, September 6, 2023. https://www.fordfoundation.org/news-and-stories/stories/women-with-a-vision-and-a-plan/.
17. “Women with a Vision, Inc. .” Facebook. Accessed January 7, 2024. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2070709759616460&set=a.400174053336714.
18. “Sex Worker Relief Fund! .” Instagram. Accessed January 7, 2024. https://www.instagram.com/p/B_C80w1DEpi/.
19. “Grants Database.” Ford Foundation. Accessed January 7, 2024. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/?grantee%5B%5D=women-with-a-vision-inc&search=women%2Bwith%2Ba%2Bvision.
20. “Ford Foundation Commits $75 Million to Advance Justice in U.S. South.” Candid. Accessed January 8, 2024. https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/ford-foundation-commits-75-million-to-advance-justice-in-u.s.-south.
21. “The Transforming Movements Fund Invests in U.S. South in Latest Round of Grantmaking.” Borealis Philanthropy. Accessed January 8, 2024. https://borealisphilanthropy.org/the-transforming-movements-fund-invests-in-u-s-south-in-latest-round-of-grantmaking/.
22. “Women with a Vision Inc.” The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Accessed January 8, 2024. https://www.packard.org/grants-and-investments/grants-database/women-with-a-vision-inc/.