The UAlbany community needs a professional place that supports, educates, and empowers women and men during their college journey. This Women's Resource Center would offer services and programming specifically for women, but would be a space that is open to anyone, including male ally individuals and groups (men who are against interpersonal violence, etc.). It would be a place to support intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual goals through a wide variety of services and programs, hosted or supported by the center. The Women's Resource Center would be open to all students, faculty, and staff, and would offer a comfortable atmosphere to seek  information, to find peer support, to participate in programming, and to meet others.

While the campus technically already has a Women's Resource Center, we are proposing something more extensive that is professionally staffed, and has a wider range of services. This can mean simply restructuring the program we currently have by finding a bigger space for the center, hiring professional staff, and redefining the Center’s purpose. We are proposing to hire professional staff and practicum student counselors that are easily accessible to students, creating a safe space for women. We need a place that has space for support groups and meetings so that women have a place to go regarding concerns that they would be hesitant to turn to the counseling or health center with, and peer support groups on various topics (for example: sexual assault survivors, eating disorders, etc.) Right now there is no place for women to go for support groups, health education, etc. on campus. This would also be a place where organizations interested in doing programs geared towards Women's issues, could go to unite and get support. We feel that this is something imperative to improving the community of our campus.

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