BWF Spoke Updates - February 2025

In the Bolder Way Forward Framework, there are 18 specific areas of focus (spokes). Each spoke, a key topic area where change needs to occur, is also a movement with a strategy that functions to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Effective work within the spokes is needed to create more expansive and cohesive change overall. To learn more about each spoke’s leadership, bold vision and goals, thriving statements, partners, and ways to get involved, please click on the individual spoke webpages (linked below). The following are monthly updates on what is happening within each of the Spokes:

Childcare/Pre-K: The Childcare/Pre-K Spoke represented BWF at “Childcare Advocacy Day on the Hill” this month, continuing the focus of supporting the efforts of partner organizations and connecting individuals and groups. The Spoke is actively involved in promoting and supporting positive legislation impacting early childhood during the Utah legislative session.  With a new and growing Instagram page, the Spoke is sharing early childhood education research and news in an easy-to-digest, shareable format. The Spoke Coordinator met with childcare advocates on a weekly basis to collaborate on legislative efforts and initial meetings were held with Childcare/Pre-K County Spoke Reps as well. Stay apprised of statewide efforts from all partner organizations in early childhood education by signing up for the Spoke’s monthly newsletter.

Child Sexual Abuse: The Spoke is focusing efforts on creating and sharing resources that will help spread awareness on the prevention education opportunities (and the importance of them) in the state of Utah. This includes developing an email newsletter, engaging people on social media platforms, and utilizing the support and expertise of others within the BWF movement (the County Representative Community), Impact Teams, working group participants, and partners). There have been strategic discussions on how to turn feedback from the fall SAFE Symposium brainstorm session into clear action items to help move the Spoke’s goals forward. The Spoke is tracking several bills in the 2025 legislative session that will affect the ability to further protect children from sexual abuse as well as support survivors.

Domestic Violence: January was a busy month for the leaders of the Domestic Violence Spoke. The 2025 legislative session is underway, and UDVC is tracking bills focusing on safe and affordable housing, funding for lethality prevention, and child court improvements. You can follow read summaries of these bills on the BWF Public Policy webpage or follow the UDVC bill tracker to learn more. The Spoke is starting a quarterly newsletter, with the first issue in March. A link to sign up for the newsletter will soon be added to the Spoke webpage. Many new working groups are in the process of being formed, including Religiosity and Domestic Violence, Legal, and Healthcare. The Dear-Utah campaign to raise awareness about domestic violence is still running (read stories shared by domestic violence survivors in Utah here).

Entrepreneurship: The Spoke is creating talking points for women to speak with their families and networks about starting a business. These talking points are intended to help change the narrative about “letting” women start a business. The Entrepreneurship County Representative Community (CRC) will be meeting to connect the work of the Spoke within local counties and communities. This CRC, which currently includes six County Spoke Reps from counties across the state (Carbon, Emery, Grand, Toole, Washington, and Salt Lake counties), is seeking individuals from other counties who are passionate about entrepreneurship for women to represent their counties in these important discussions and initiatives. Individuals are invited to learn more about this opportunity by contacting the Spoke Coordinator (ajdk.hanks@gmail.com), or by reaching out to your County Coalition.

Finance:  Members of the Finance Spoke have been actively involved with community financial education efforts online and in-person throughout the state. The Spoke and their partners have actively been reaching out to bring in partner organizations that can help with financial intervention resources, employer financial wellness programs, and community financial education within Pacific Islander and Refugee communities across Utah. The Quarterly Spoke Meeting this month was focused on connecting with County Spoke Representatives, who will be key in bringing the statewide goals to the local level. Another key topic at this meeting was the need for finding and providing sharable resources for any woman in Utah who finds herself (and her family) in need of financial counsel and resources.

Gender Pay Gap: The Spoke connected with other data and research leaders and institutes in Utah to discuss potential collaboration. The Spoke is also establishing relationships with partner organizations and welcomed Davis Technical College as a new partner this month. All Working Groups within the spoke now have two co-leaders guiding pay gap efforts in key areas: Best Practices for Companies, Data/Research, Communications/Education, and Legislation. The Spoke is seeking individuals to join these Working Groups and invites those interested in getting involved to contact the Spoke Coordinator (Emily) at emily@martinprisbrey.com. A Spoke event is being planned for Equal Pay Day in Utah -save the date for March 25, 2025, and look for additional information to be shared soon!

Health Across the Lifespan: Spoke Leaders and Sub-Spoke Leaders represented BWF at several outreach events, including Dr. Audrey Jiricko participating in the panel discussion on The Impact of Women’s Health on Work and Life, Dr. Mike Woodruff and Laura Summers at the Business Women’s Forum: Why Health and Wellness Boost Business Success, and Stephanie Stokes at the Utah Association of Local Health Departments. The Spoke welcomed Dr. Elizabeth Fauth and KoShell Burnham-Miller as co-leads for the Older Adult Sub-Spoke and will be refining goals and metrics with the support of Utah Commission on Aging’s Rob Ence. Sub-Spokes are working to tie in the Spoke’s What Utahns Need to Know resource with on the ground actions/efforts around mammography, Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and adolescent conversation.

Higher Education Attainment: The Spoke’s current efforts include conducting qualitative research on overcoming barriers, planning a FAFSA push with student volunteers, and working on program suggestions that will benefit parenting students across Utah. The Spoke is also working on an upcoming marketing push to highlight the benefits of higher education for women and girls in all levels of society. The Spoke is currently undergoing some restructuring, and there are leadership opportunities for key advocates and others passionate about higher education attainment. To learn more and get involved, contact the Spoke Coordinator (Carly) at cjericks@gmail.com.

Home & Family: This month, the Spoke welcomed three new Growth Partners (Family Support Center of Ogden, Parenting Pathways, and PeakU), identified a second co-lead for the Sexual Wellness Working Group, and created a “Moms with Littles” Working Group. A new Single Mothers Sub-Spoke has also been created, which will have five working groups that address the unique and often overwhelming challenges that single parents face. Looking forward, the Spoke is excited to hold a virtual book club on March 20th at 7pm. They are reading Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) by Eve Rodsky. Anyone, including their partners, are encouraged to read the book and join a meaningful discussion at this upcoming event!

K-12 Initiatives: The Spoke is creating a collaborative early numeracy campaign titled “Making Everyday a Math Day”, which will focus on math games, counting, and other activities for young children doing early numeracy at home. This campaign will be strategically rolled out over the next few months. The K-12 County Representative Community (CRC) has launched, and representatives will meet quarterly to collaborate on statewide initiatives. An opportunity to share informative social media “reels” that relate to early numeracy learning will be shared in the upcoming Spoke newsletter. To subscribe and learn more, email the Spoke Coordinator (Laney) at laneysconnection@gmail.com.

Leadership Development: Spoke Leaders are seeking new co-leads for the Data Working Group. The Communications Working Group has been publishing monthly newsletters and sharing resources and opportunities on the Spoke’s social media accounts. The Spoke is still gathering nominations for their Utah Bold Leadership Spotlight, which recognizes Utah women who are leading in their spheres of influence by sharing their stories on the social media platforms. Nominate a Utah woman in a leadership role to be celebrated and recognized by completing this form!

Organizational Strategies & Workplace Culture: The Spoke is planning a C-suite executive roundtable meeting in March to discuss best practices. A list of potential attendees for this event has been created and invitations will be going out soon. Spoke Leaders met with the Sexual Harassment and Gender-based Discrimination Spoke to discuss collaborative efforts to bring awareness of sexual harassment and gender discrimination to the legislature, and to develop training for companies on these issues. A Spoke newsletter is being created and will be launched in February. To subscribe or get more information, please contact the Spoke Coordinator (Kristen) at klee.abwf@gmail.com.

Political & Civic Representation: This month, the Spoke has welcomed a new Spoke Co-Lead, Karina Brown, who brings both personal and professional expertise in political and civic engagement. A new Spoke Coordinator (Britney McCausland) was also welcomed this month. The Spoke published a metric dashboard, which includes the current data points for Spoke goals, as well as bold targets for 2026 and 2030. To get involved within a subspoke or working group, or to subscribe to the Spoke newsletter, please contact Britney at britneym.bwf@gmail.com.

Poverty & Homelessness: The Spoke’s County Rep Community (CRC) has been meeting monthly since November. Representatives from 13 counties across the state have reviewed Utah’s Annual Intergenerational Poverty Report and are discussing ideas on how to reach girls and women experiencing intergenerational poverty within their counties. We are seeking individuals who are interested in working on initiatives that address poverty and homelessness (and the impact on girls and women) to join the CRC as representatives for the following counties in Utah: Beaver, Box Elder, Daggett, Duchesne, Garfield, Juab, Millard, Morgan, Rich, San Juan, Sanpete, Summit, Uintah, Utah, Wasatch, and Weber. For more information or to get involved, contact the Spoke Coordinator (Nancy) at nancygriggs86@gmail.com.

Sexual Assault: Spoke Leaders engaged with partner organization UCASA’s annual Sexual Assault Prevention Advocacy Day on February 4^th. The Spoke has shared summaries of public policies that they are focused on and supporting during this legislative session on the BWF Public Policy webpage (under the “Sexual Assault” tab). You can view these summaries under the “Sexual Assault” tab on the BWF Public Policy webpage. A Spoke newsletter is being launched in February - contact the Spoke Coordinator (Danielle) at danielle.rosales30@gmail.com to subscribe and get engaged!

Sexual Harassment & Gender-based Discrimination: The Spoke met with the Organizational Strategies & Workplace Culture Spoke to discuss how they can work together to create new policies and trainings for companies. Both spokes will start collaborating on a resource list for victims of workplace sexual assault and discrimination. Spoke Leaders were also able to meet with the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition (BWF Leadership Partner) and are hoping to join their research efforts regarding how domestic violence might influence discrimination in the workplace. The Research Working Group is looking into beginning qualitative research that will include gathering anecdotes from women across Utah, which aligns with this Spoke’s first “call to action”: gather and share experiences.

STEM Fields: The Spoke is continuing to engage in outreach to identify potential co-leads for the Engineering, STEM Education (Higher Ed), and Mathematics Working Groups. Spoke members and leadership enjoyed participating in multiple events across Utah Tech Week, including a booth setup to share information at the “Celebrating Women in STEM Careers & Education” event held at the Capitol on January 27th. Spoke Co-Lead Cydni Tetro was recognized at this event as a Women in STEM Honoree. The Spoke is working closely with Women Tech Council (Spoke Partner) to prepare for the annual SheTech Explorer Day for high school girls from across the state (happening on February 25). The first edition of a STEM Fields Spoke newsletter was released (to subscribe, complete this short interest form). 

Workforce Development: The Spoke is continuing to monitor and support the wins of partner organizations in providing reskilling and apprenticeship opportunities for women in Utah. Tech-Moms and Intermountain Healthcare both launched cohorts for their training and leadership programs, respectively. Talent Ready Utah awarded Utah Women In Trades a grant to fund 3 additional apprenticeships. The Spoke’s Community Resources Working Group continues to gather information on all resources available to women entering the workforce. The Spoke Coordinator is reaching out to connect with partners throughout the state to help identify County Spoke Reps for Workforce Development (contact Angela at atrawlings1@gmail.com if you are interested in learning more).