For the past 5 years, the Susan G. Komen foundation (responsible for breast cancer research and awareness) has provided funding to Planned Parenthood. The funding provided breast examinations to low-income patients. But because of pressure from conservative groups, the foundations decided suddenly to cut the funding from Planned Parenthood, where many low-income and uninsured people go to for family planning, HIV testing, and other important services.
The Susan G. Komen Foundation has since reversed their decision to defund Planned Parenthood, but those in support of Planned Parenthood and the services they provide have not forgotten about the damage this has caused.
I believe that the foundation’s decision to pull their funding was purely politics, and they just had fallen victim to conservative guilt tactics in attempt to gain their support. I think it is wrong for conservatives to defund something that helps plenty of people who need it.
However, though the foundation only provided funding for breast examinations, they were probably seen by conservatives as a foundation that “supports” abortion (which is a service that Planned Parenthood provides), and may have completely overlooked the reason why they helped with funding in the first place.
With that said, I feel bad for the people in charge at the Susan G. Komen foundation, because they were not strong enough to stand up to politically and morally conservative groups, though they knew they were funding a good cause.
I would love to hear from the people who depend on these services and the communities they impact; in the end politics shouldn’t get in the way of people being helped.
In 2006, over 25 youth began participating in weekly after-school writing workshops where they congregated in the hallway of a two-story building in West Fresno and learned the essentials of creating media and telling their stories. The group evolved over the next five years and is now proudly recognized as The kNOw Youth Media.
Through our program, we create opportunities for our youth participants, who in turn create long-term positive change in their communities. Our approach weaves youth development and youth media innovation to produce our biannual youth publication, multimedia projects, and community forums.
The kNOw began as a project of New America Media, which was the country’s first and largest national collaboration and advocate of 2000 ethnic news organizations. In 2018 The kNOw became a project of Youth Leadership Institute.
