Current Volunteer Opportunities

Last updated 2020-07-07

In-person volunteer opportunities are on hold due to COVID-19, but keep checking this page for new remote opportunities to support PPMM and make a difference in your community! 

OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION - AND RESOURCES/WAYS YOU CAN HELP 

"There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives." – Audre Lorde

Last month, we shared resources to support the Movement for Black Lives and the LGBTQ+ community. Some volunteers asked us why, so this month, we want to explain why it’s so important that we support many social justice issues at PPMM, and how they’re connected to reproductive health access, rights, and justice.

Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, Black feminist scholar and professor, coined the term “intersectionality” in 1989 as a way to understand how a person’s many identities combine to create different experiences of discrimination, inequality, and privilege. For example, Black women face both sexism and racism when trying to access reproductive health care, and Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes as compared to white women. This means that in order to provide health care and advocate for reproductive rights and justice, we have to fight against racism and support the Movement for Black Lives.

And it doesn’t stop there. If we want to achieve reproductive freedom, we need to fight against racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia, xenophobia, voter suppression, and more, and we have to center the voices and experiences of those most impacted by these oppressions and follow their leads.

We hope you’ll continue to stand with us in support of the Movement for Black Lives, the LGBTQ+ community, and many other incredibly important movements and social justice issues. See below for this month’s opportunities to get involved, and resources and links to take action.

P.S. If you’re interested in what the Volunteer Services team (Mel, Lee, and Erica) is reading to reflect on our work and make changes, check out this article about recognizing racism in volunteer engagement.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

TAKE ACTION ON YOUR OWN TIME WITH OUTVOTE!

Follow Planned Parenthood Mar Monte on the OutVote app to participate in quick volunteer actions, such as Census and Voter Engagement outreach. It gives YOU THE POWER to motivate your friends and family to take action. Download the OutVote app and enter the campaign code 949162 to learn about current actions, which include voter and census outreach.

Note: You will be asked to sync your phone contacts with OutVote. Please be aware that contact information is not stored or shared! Reach out to volunteer2@ppmarmonte.org if you have any questions or need support.

Not sure if you’re registered to vote? Need to register to vote? Go to vote.org!

PUBLICLY SHARE YOUR ABORTION STORY

Be trained to speak with a journalist about your personal abortion experience. A PPMM staff member will work with you to speak with the media. Powerful personal stories are often the best way to effect public policy and legislation. For more information, please email Volunteer3@ppmarmonte.org.

CLOTH FACE COVERINGS - DONATE!

Help us keep our staff and patients safe by making cloth face coverings for PPMM! Our staff need to wear cloth face coverings to enter health centers, before putting on their medical grade personal protection equipment (PPE) inside the building. We also need a supply of cloth face coverings for patients who don’t have their own. We’re asking for your help to fill this urgent need.

Go to this page for all the details. Here are 3 easy ways to help:

1. Make and donate face masks:

1. Make and donate cloth face coverings

Step 1: Complete this brief form with your information.

Step 2: Use these sew or no-sew instructions from the CDC to make the cloth face coverings.

Step 3: A PPMM staff member will call you with details about where to send them.

2. Not crafty? No worries! You can make a donation to provide personal protection equipment (PPE). Use this link to donate.

3. Spread the word! Share a post on Facebook and encourage others to make cloth face coverings.

RESOURCES AND LINKS TO TAKE ACTION

ANTI-RACISM RESOURCES

Do:

• Support the Movement for Black Lives by getting involved in their actions and events, and checking out their resources guides and policy info.
• Urge Congress to Take Action: Urge your Members of Congress to support Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, Barbara Lee, and Karen Bass’s resolution to condemn police brutality, racial profiling, and use of excessive force.
• Support local community bail funds throughout the country.
• Support Black Voters Matter and increase power in marginalized, predominantly Black communities: Support the voter registration efforts of Black Voters Matter and their Capacity Building Institute to help provide training and support for community based organizations.

Learn:

• Join Rachel Cargle’s The Great Unlearn for resources and classes to re-examine our history and present.
• The Obama Foundation provides a comprehensive list of resources to get informed, take action, get engaged, and stand together. Check them out here.
• If you're white, learn how you can take action by reading 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice via Medium and Anti-racism resources for white people via Alyssa Klein and Sarah Sophie Flicker
• The anti-racist starter pack: 40 TV Series, Documentaries, Movies, TED Talks, and Books to Add to Your List 
• Learn more about Reproductive Justice from the largest national multi-ethnic Reproductive Justice organization, SisterSong.
• Go to this History of Racial Injustice calendar to learn more about the history and scope of oppression and racism.
• Check out TIME’S UP Guide to Equity and Inclusion During a Crisis
• Read: 10 Steps to Non-Optical Allyship via Mireille Charper, Reparations – Has the Time Finally Come? via the ACLU, How to talk to your kids about race and racism via Pretty Good, How to Safely and Ethically Film Police Misconduct via Teen Vogue, 4 Ways to Center Trans Women in Reproductive Justice via Everyday Feminism and The Black Women Who Paved the Way for This Moment via The Atlantic, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Alexis McGill Johnson’s statement: Facebook, Twitter, and her Instagram here and here. 
• Watch: 13^th (Netflix, 2016), an incredible documentary by Ava Duvernay that explores the intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States.

SUPPORT THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY

Do:

• Support Family Equality, an organization working to advance legal and lived equality for LGBTQ families, the Transgender Law Center, the largest national trans-led organization advocating self-determination for all people, and its Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project, and Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, which works at local and national levels to achieve the collective liberation of trans, queer, and gender nonconforming Latinxs through building community, organizing, advocacy, and education.
• Sign the petition for Justice for Tony McDade, a transgender black man killed by police in Florida.
• Throughout the year, continue to support LGBTQ+ organizations and activists, educate yourself, and spread the word!

Learn:

• Read: LGBTQ people need queer spaces. The coronavirus has locked them out. via Vox, How to Raise a Child Without Imposing Gender via NY Times, How to raise kids without rigid gender stereotypes via Ted, and check out the Gender Spectrum Photo Collage: Stock photos beyond the binary.
• Watch: All in My Family (Netflix, 2019), The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (Netflix, 2017), I am Divine (Netflix, 2013), Moonlight (Netflix, 2016), The Half of It (Netflix, 2020), Gay & Proud (Library of Congress – footage of the first pride march by activist Lilli Vincenz).

RESILIENCY RESOURCES

• For self-care, read Tips for Self-Care: When Police Brutality Has You Questioning Humanity and Social Media is Enough via The Root, Self Care for People of Color after Psychological Trauma via Just Jasmine, Self-Care Tips for Black People Who Are Struggling With This Very Painful Week via Vice, How to take care of yourself in the wake of traumatic shootings via Mashable, Self Care in the Face of Racial Injustice via Therapy for Black Girls