As an affiliate of Planned Parenthood’s Generation Action program, The Feminist Association of Wheaton (FAW) has been given a Campus Campaign Grant this year to enact change in the name of Reproductive Justice at Wheaton. Initially, FAW was asked by Planned Parenthood to brainstorm areas for improvement on campus. Through this process and conversations with other students, they became increasingly aware of the lack of access to comprehensive therapy services for the Wheaton community, especially for survivors of sexual violence, and quickly identified transportation as the root of the issue.

After presenting the idea to 200 other college students at the Planned Parenthood Power of Pink conference in July, FAW has spent the last seven months developing a plan to address Wheaton’s transportation for mental health services.

Their plan is to develop either a car credit program for students, especially those recovering from incidents of sexual violence, to access both Norton and Brockton hospitals (where SANE services are offered) and long-term therapy following the incident(s); or purchase a car only to be used by certified student drivers.

In collaboration with Eric Pfeiffer’19, another student and Resident Adviser who has been researching options of transportation, FAW intends to develop a committee for orchestrating selection and certification of Student Volunteer Drivers (SVDs).

FAW has already begun mobilizing to accomplish this. In early Feb. FAW met with several members of the Wheaton Administration and on Feb. 26 presented to SGA. The project is quickly gaining traction. FAW will be holding an info meeting about the grant at 5 p.m. Thursday, March 7 in Emerson Faculty Dining and encourages the Wheaton community to attend.

FAW also intends to collect student testimonials and survey results surrounding transportation to mental health and sexual violence recovery services at Wheaton. FAW plans to petition around the issue and host events later in the semester, so stay tuned!