Jun 18, 2021
1000 Women Strong recently joined forces with the American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) to support the cancellation of student debt, especially for Black women in a new campaign, titled “Cancel Student Debt: Build Black Women’s Futures in five (Georgia, California, Michigan, Ohio and North Carolina) central states. During this campaign, the organization will urge the Biden administration to cancel up to $50,000 of student loan debt to help alleviate student loan debt especially for black women.
“Canceling student debt will liberate black women from the shackles of debt and onward to a future of generational wealth and economic freedom,” Shayka Cherry-Donaldson, Executive Director of 1000 Women Strong.
During this campaign the goal is to collect more than 50,000 signatures from now until the end of August. In addition to the petition drive, 1000 Women’s Strong Black Women’s Organizing Directory program is introducing a new endeavor to create and develop a national Black Women’s Organizing to showcase how Black women are organizing different efforts in their prospective communities to build Black thriving lives. The goal is to have 10,000 individuals and groups sign up through the organizing directory to develop long lasting relationships to meet a common goal.
Student Debt Town Hall
Every Thursday at 8pm EST, 1000 Women Strong will host a national virtual town hall to candidly discuss with everyday Black women and experts the best options for financing college today and how the elimination of $50K student loan debt will help them build financial wealth. During this campaign, the organizations will petition the Biden administration to cancel up to $50,000 of student loan debt to help alleviate student loan debt especially for black women.
Through the years, Black women have been in the forefront of continuing education and the ones being the most burden about student loans. In research studies, Black women carry the highest student loan debt of any racial or ethnic group. The average Black woman leaves college with at least $34,000 in debt. Canceling student debt can help solve those problems and close the racial wealth gap by more than 20 percent – securing financial stability and economic mobility for Black, Latinx, and other people of color who are disproportionately burdened by loans, while addressing the debt crisis for millions.