Paycheck Fairness on Agenda for Women’s Economic Press Conference
As released in mid-July, ICAN and Main Street Alliance member ReShonda Young of Waterloo was invited to speak at a press conference on the US Capitol Steps in conjunction with Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic Women’s announcement of their economic agenda for women. ReShonda gave a woman’s perspective on the need for pay equity and a fair minimum wage.
Young was part of a delegation of small business owners from across the nation who was in Washington, D.C., to talk with their congressional representatives. Chief among the issues discussed were the importance of passing immigration reform with a roadmap to citizenship, which holds the potential to give a much needed boost to Main Streets throughout the United States.
ReShonda Young is a former ICAN Board member and a leader in our small business organizing project. She is a young African-American woman who is involved in her family business, Alpha Express. www.alphaexpressinc.com. ReShonda has been an active voice on small business issues in Iowa as a founding member of the Iowa Main Street Alliance. She implemented equal pay for the women in her company and spearheaded making sure employees had health insurance benefits because it was the “right thing to do”.
ReShonda has travelled to Washington, DC several times to represent Iowa and small business owners. She testified before the House Education and Labor Committee on the importance of health care reform to small business owners. She has been interviewed and/or had opinion pieces printed by National Public Radio, the New York Times, Politico, Huffington Post, and Black Enterprise to name a few, as well as numerous press in Iowa.
The Press Conference, which was held July 18, is available for viewing in a video on our homepage or in text format on Senator Nancy Pelosi’s website or Women’s Economic Agenda.