One of the primary ways that Women's Voices tackles problems is through the use of Focus Groups. These are groups of members who are drawn together by their passionate concern about particular issues. They meet in members' homes to talk about the issues, identify problems, discern the key players in the community, and develop plans of actions for themselves and the entire group.

If you would like to be added to the mailing list of any of our Focus Groups, click on the link at the end of the Focus Group description to send a request to the Group leader.

Health Care Focus Group

Meetings - First Mondays

The 20 members of the Health Care Focus Group believe that quality, affordable health care should be available to all. We believe that health care is a right, not just a privilege. Recognizing the enormous gap between what should be and what is, we are working on many fronts and with many organizations to improve the accessibility and quality of care for all Missourians. As time allows, we are also supporting efforts to reform our national health care system.

Because health care is such a complicated issue, we are constantly looking for opportunities to learn. We invite experts to meet with us, we attend lectures and conferences, we read and study, and we share what we learn with each other.

During the past year we:

• Produced and distributed thousands of postcards highlighting the crisis in Missouri’s health care system to those leaving Michael Moore’s film “Sicko.”
• Raised our voices against President Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Hospital Insurance Program (SCHIP).
• Spoke in favor of adding coverage for 54,000 Missourians through “Insure Missouri.”
• Joined “Missouri Health Care for All” (MHCFA), a coalition of community- and faith-based organizations that is working together toward a health care system that meets the needs of all Missourians.
• Created a training program for MHCFA through which volunteers (including several members of the focus group) will be trained to make presentations about the coalition.
• Partnered with Grass Roots Organizing (GRO) to collect signatures for “Missouri Healthcare Restoration Act,” an initiative petition that we hope to get on the November ballot.

Environment Focus Group

Meetings - First Thursdays

As Members of Women’s Voices Raised for Social Justice:

• We support organizational and legislative initiatives that seek to guard and preserve the earth for our own and future generations. Our health and our children’s health, the wonders of biodiversity, and the beauty of our world demand concern, effort and corrective steps from each of us.
• We support efforts to save wilderness areas, ecosystems, wetlands, rivers, lakes, oceans, forests and parks for their inherent diversity and spiritual value as well as their practical purpose of sustaining life upon this earth.
• We support a concerted struggle to slow Global warming with all its accompanying effects. The catastrophic result of inaction mandates that individually and collectively we recognize and, in many cases, modify what and how much we consume, how we travel, and how we heat, cool and maintain our homes. We must be informed about conservation and energy issues, locally and nationally, and let our voices be heard.

The use of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) is an important energy conservation measure. We have compiled much of the info you need to purchase the right CFLs to meet your needs. In addition, we recommend the Environmental Defense Find a Bulb page which allows you to choose criteria, and they recommend bulbs that match.
We have received word from Ameren UE that they will give Women's Voices 600 compact fluorescent light bulbs, to be distributed in the low-income Hyde Park neighborhood through a program with North St. Louis Youth Build. This project was developed by Alice Serrano, who will train the members of YouthBuild to distribute and install the bulbs. Two hundred homes in the neighborhood will benefit from the energy-efficient, long-lasting bulbs...which will help both the environment and the home-dwellers.

We are working, individually and with area retailers, to encourage the use of reusable bags rather than the common single-use plastic bags which are so detrimental to the environment. Buy reusable bags at Environment Focus Group meetings and take them with you when you shop.

Reducing the wasteful and environmentally damaging consumption of bottled water and promoting the use of reusable water bottles made of safe plastics is high on our agenda. See the facts and learn which plastics are safe.

We are hard at work on several new projects. Meetings are on the first Thursday of the month. For more information on these issues or to suggest others, contact .

Media Watchdogs Focus Group

Diversity Focus Group