The Southwest Partnership seeks to build local, regional and national support for activists and leaders in the Southwest.

This partnership, through trainings, providing ongoing technical assistance, resource leveraging, and networking is establishing the next generation of reproductive justice experts.

In 2004, two national organizations came together through the March for Women’s Lives: Choice USA and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH). Both organizations recognized the need to create a space for their voices to be heard and to help build a diverse and sustained base of young leaders in the reproductive justice movement in the Southwestern United States (CO, NV, AZ, and NM).

The Southwest had presented the perfect forum for real base-building and organizing to be done. In addition to the grassroots work already being done in the Southwest states, there is an opportunity to create a model for supporting regional work at the National level. Additionally, the Southwest truly represents the future of the United States—emerging and newer constituencies (including immigrant populations and youth populations) and real local politics are both reasons that these states will be major figures in the National Reproductive Justice movement soon.

In 2006, over 30 young leaders (ages 18-35) from the Southwest convened in Tucson, AZ to participate in the Southwest Regional Leadership Training. The purpose of this training was to link the young leaders’ diverse experiences to a broader vision of cross-movement change focusing on reproductive justice. In addition, activists from Nevada and Colorado organized reproductive justice roundtables and public education workshops throughout 2006. In April of 2007, Choice USA and NLIRH hosted a national convening in Washington, D.C. with young leaders from the Southwest, national reproductive health and rights organizations and donors.  Actions for 2008 included further leadership development, providing skill and issue based workshops and trainings, and a regional convening to discuss cross-movement campaigns.

Read more about the Southwest Partnership.