The Our Cycles, Ourselves Scholarship Fund
Teaching FAM at the Womyn in Permaculture Convergence at Omega Institute (Rhinebeck, NY), 2014
When I first announced Our Cycles, Ourselves, I was thrilled about the amount of interest I received. But what surprised me was how many of the people who expressed interest in the course told me that financially, they wouldn't be able to afford it.
We still live in a society where women in their childbearing years are paid way less then men, though expenses continue to skyrocket for both. I recently read that women in their millennial years hold the least amount of wealth in our society, which made total sense to me.
Because I so strongly believe that people should have access to information about all of their options for contraceptive care and how their own bodies work, especially given the political climate we are currently in, I wanted to ensure everyone who wanted to take the course would be able to, turning no one away for lack of funds. So I ensured each person who said "I really want to do this, but I just can't afford it..." that whatever and whenever they could pay as an exchange would be just fine with me. By doing so, a full group of women signed up for the course. Each one had financial constraints that would have made it impossible to sign up for the course if I hadn't been flexible about the exchange. Read that again. I provided $840 worth of scholarships to make the course as accessible as possible for all desiring to participate.
Saying "yes" to this incredible group of women learning and growing together by offering sliding scale and payment plan options for this course felt great! But it slowly dawned on me soon after that I, in fact, am one of these women- those millennial women in their childbearing years who are experiencing financial hardship. There was a reason why I priced the course the way I did: because I actually needed to in order to account for the incredible amount of effort and energy it takes to run the course, which will account for a lot of my work time over these next two months. I tend to forget that reality in attempts to make my work accessible for others.
Though I REALLY wish I could live in a world where I could offer my services for free, that's just not the world we live in. Though my rates are modest, they are still inaccessible to many folks desiring the kind of care I provide through Selkie Medicinals. There were a few individuals who said that they couldn't pay anything right now for Our Cycles, Ourselves, that a sliding scale option wouldn't do much for them given their present circumstances. I feel deeply for these women, and I can relate. I want to envision another way to make my offerings both accessible and sustainable, so I can keep doing my work in the world and be properly compensated for it.
And so, here is my ask of you. If any of you reading this have the means to contribute to a scholarship fund, it would contribute to covering the full cost of each program participant for Our Cycles, Ourselves. If I receive over the $528 (updated 1/26/24) needed to cover currently outstanding course fees, it will go into a scholarship fund so that when I offer this workshop series again, I can pull from the fund when sliding scale options are needed.
If you are able and would like to contribute to this fund, you can make a one time donation of any amount through any of the following means. Please write "Our Cycles, Ourselves Scholarship Fund" in the payment notes section.
Venmo: @selkiemedicinals
PayPal: Via this link
Here is information about Our Cycles, Ourselves if you would like to learn more about the upcoming course.
If you want to learn more about sliding scale models of care, please read this article on the topic.
I believe in this work, and I know I have a community of care (that's you!) that is available for me to ask for help from when needed. I greatly appreciate you being here, and your care and attention to making holistic healthcare accessible to our local community, and sustainable for me to continue onward with. Thank you.
Peace,
Elizabeth