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Resources

Welcome to NCNW's Resources Page!

Check out the links on our Health, Education and Economic Empowerment pages to find resources and organizations that can provide you with current information and the tools you need to make informed decisions to improve your quality of life.

We have also provided the links below to organizations and websites with great information on:

• Diaspora
• Black History
• Advocacy Groups
• Africa/International Issues
• Women's Issues & Organizations

Black History

• About.com has compiled a wonderful list of biographies and links to resources about important Black women in history.
• An online archival collection of scanned page images and transcriptions of the writings of African-American women can be found in the Archival Collections of Duke University.
  
• In depth coverage of Black history in mid-America is featured - including themed galleries, local history and original letters - thanks to Black Archives of Mid-America, Inc. and Kansas City Public Library.
  
• From the National Archives and Records Administration, here are a transcript of the Emancipation Proclamation, historical analysis of the Proclamation, images of the Proclamation, and more.
  
• From the Great Lakes Patent and Trademark Center and the Detroit Public Library, this database contains information from several published sources on notable African American inventors and their patents. Each record includes inventor name, title of invention, patent number, and patent issue date.
  
• The University of Minnesota has developed a collection of women writers of color in North America with contributions from students and scholars from across the nation. To view the entire list of African-American authors, select "ethnic/racial identity" from the home page and then "African-American."
  
• Thanks to a major gift from the Citigroup Foundation, The Library of Congress launched a five-year effort to add rare and unique items from the Library's vast African-American collections to the National Digital Library. Two robust exhibits, The African-American Mosaic and The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship can be found online.
  
• Black Facts Online is an online searchable database of Black history facts.
  
• If you weren't able to catch the PBS film The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords, which covered the history of Black journalism, then visit the website for information including a timeline, biographies, newspaper histories, and bibliographies of print and Web resources.

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Advocacy

• The Institute for Women's Policy Research conducts rigorous research and disseminates its findings to address the needs of women, promote public dialogue, and strengthen families, communities, and societies. IWPR focuses on issues of poverty and welfare, employment and earnings, work and family issues, health and safety, and women's civic and political participation.
• AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization for people age 50 and over dedicated to enhancing quality of life for all as we age. They lead positive social change and deliver value to members through information, advocacy and service and provide a wide range of unique benefits, special products, and services for our members.
  
• The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF), which was founded in 1987, is a cutting edge organization dedicated to women's equality, reproductive health, and non-violence. In all spheres, FMF utilizes research and action to empower women economically, socially, and politically. Our organization believes that feminists - both women and men, girls and boys - are the majority, but this majority must be empowered.
• National Organization for Women - NOW's goal has been to take action to bring about equality for all women. NOW works to eliminate discrimination and harassment in the workplace, schools, the justice system, and all other sectors of society; secure abortion, birth control and reproductive rights for all women; end all forms of violence against women; eradicate racism, sexism and homophobia; and promote equality and justice in our society.

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Women's Issues & Organizations

• NCNW's initiative, African American Women as We Age, explores (among other issues) Life Satisfaction & African American Women. View this article to learn about their findings and suggestions on how to begin to get the most out of your life today.
• As the only national grassroots membership organization to focus solely on issues unique to women as they age, OWL strives to improve the status and quality of life of midlife and older women. OWL is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that accomplishes its work through research, education, and advocacy activities conducted through a chapter network.
  
• The Links, Incorporated is an organization of accomplished, dedicated women who are active in your community. The Links members are newsmakers, role models, mentors, activists and volunteers who work toward the realization of making the name "Links" not only a chain of friendship, but also a chain of purposeful service.
  
• Women's eNews is the definitive source of substantive news - unavailable anywhere else - covering issues of particular concern to women and providing women's perspectives on public policy. It enhances women's ability to define their own lives and to participate fully in every sector of human endeavor.

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Africa/International Issues

• AllAfrica Global Media is a multi-media content service provider, systems technology developer and the largest electronic distributor of African news and information worldwide. Registered in Mauritius, with offices in Johannesburg, Dakar, Lagos and Washington, D.C., AllAfrica is one of a family of companies that aggregate, produce and distribute news from across Africa to tens of millions of end users.
• TransAfrica Forum serves as a major research, educational, and organizing institution for the African American community offering constructive analyses of issues concerning U.S. policy as it affects Africa and the Diaspora in the Caribbean and Latin America.
• USAID in agriculture, democracy & governance, economic growth, the environment, education, health, global partnerships, and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries to provide a better future for all.
• Africare address needs in the principal areas of food security and agriculture, as well as health and HIV/AIDS. Africare also supports water resource development, environmental management, basic education, microenterprise development, governance initiatives and emergency humanitarian aid.
  
• US Department of State's Background Notes are publications that include facts about the land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and foreign relations of independent states, some dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty. The Background Notes are updated/revised by the Office of Electronic Information and Publications of the Bureau of Public Affairs as they are received from the Department's regional bureaus and are added to the database of the Department of State website.
  
• Today, in partnership with activists and civil society organizations throughout the United States and in Africa, Africa Action is working to change U.S. foreign policy and the policies of international institutions in order to support African struggles for peace and development.

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Diaspora

• ABANTU for Development, established in London in 1991 by a group of concerned African women, is an international non-governmental organization with the aim of empowering African people, especially women, to participate at local, national, regional and international levels in making decisions that affect their lives and enabling action for change. ABANTU as an organization strives to eradicate the entrenched cultural, legal and political obstacles to women attaining economic independence and equality before the law. It aims to ensure the advancement of women's interests that will benefit men and women as equal partners.
• The African Diaspora Voices for Africa's Development (ADVAD) was formed in 2003 due to the growing need for a network that would speak with united voice on issues pertaining to Africans and Africa's development. ADVAD was launched on 3 July 2004 as a platform for members drawn from individuals and organizations. It offers, among others, an opportunity for Africans to support each other, create strong networks, and form effective lobbying on behalf of the Diaspora and African development. ADVAD's vision is to increase the ability and capacity of Africans in the Diaspora to enhance and influence the rate of Africa's development and well-being.
• AFFORD's mission is to engage Africans in the Diaspora directly with organizations involved in the processes of development on the continent and to develop the skills and abilities of African peoples away from Africa, in ways that will contribute to Africa's development.
• AfricaRecruit is a program plan of action taken to build robust and enduring productive capacity throughout the continent. It is an innovative service delivery vehicle with its focus on capacity building through human resources, using its various networks within and outside Africa.
  
• Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA) is an international, pan-African, non-governmental development organization for African women based in the UK with an Africa regional office in Kampala, Uganda. AMwA was set up in 1985 by women from different parts of Africa resident in the United Kingdom. Translated from Swahili, the name means 'solidarity among African women', signifying African sisterhood. AMwA was founded to create space for African women to organize, and to build links with African women active in the areas of their own development.
  
• The Centre for African Policy & Peace Strategy (CAPPS) is an Africa focused, independent applied policy research, advocacy and capacity building think tank. Its mission is to analyze, inform and facilitate the formulation and implementation of policies and strategies that enhance human security, socio-economic development and good governance in Africa. CAPPS pursues its goals by conducting research, providing analysis, options and strategies, implementing innovative capability building projects, building policy networks and initiating strategic advocacy initiatives.
  
• Justice Africa initiates and supports civil society activities for human rights, democracy and peace in Africa. It works with a network of organizations based in different countries in Africa.
  
• The Peri-Net is a network of institutions and researchers engaged in urban and peri-urban research and exchange of local, regional and global development experiences. In Africa, the network seeks to link and enhance young scholars who are committed to intellectual capacity building in African institutions and to produce knowledge for use by and in partnership with local authorities, central government departments and community groups.

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