Meaningful Policy Analysis at the Intersections

The Women of Color Policy Network of the Roundtable of Institutions of People of Color was established in 2000 to incorporate the needs, narratives and insights of women of color in the formulation of social, economic and welfare policy.

The Women of Color Policy Network conducts research and collects data on policies impacting women of color in the areas of employment, poverty, welfare, incarceration and health; uses the data and information to help educate community-based groups to hold policy-makers more accountable; works with policy-makers to help provide them with data to improve their decision-making; and mentors future generations of young women of color to enter the public policy and advocacy arena.

The Ford Foundation, New York Community Trust and the Wagner School are the Network's primary funders. The Manhattan Borough President's office has also provided grant support.

The Women of Color Policy Network grew out of the Roundtable of Institutions of People of Color - a collaboration of community-based organizations housed for the past six years at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service of New York University. The Roundtable was founded in 1992. It is comprised of 22 African American, Asian, Latino, and Native American nonprofit, community-based organizations that are dedicated to assisting in the development of policies designed to promote and foster equity among the government, voluntary and private sectors vis-a-vis communities of color.

Margarita Rosa, Executive Director of the Grand Street Settlement, chairs the Women of Color Policy Network.

Angelo Falcon, Senior Policy Executive and Director of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, and Suki Ports, Director of the Family Health Project, are co-chairpersons for the Roundtable.