Jen Valles, 25, is a trainer for the YWCA Chicago Rape Crisis Hotline, where she organizes the 40-hour Sexual Assault Crisis Intervention Training. She also has designed and implemented an additional 12-hour course for incoming volunteers and professionals. As trainer for the hotline, she has increased queer-oriented sessions by 300 percent and has started new queer-focused sessions including a Transgender specific session.
Jen was one of the main Chicago organizers for the March for Women’s Lives in 2004 and is a March for Women’s Lives Chicago Coalition Board member. In addition, she helped lead the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago’s delegation and helped organize the YWCA’s Great Lakes Alliance’s delegation, procuring $500 in scholarships for those needing monetary assistance to attend; and has published two articles to bring awareness to issues surrounding reproductive rights other than abortion. In addition, she is a member of the Lickity Split Radical Cheerleaders, the Mobtown Moxie Revue and is the newest member of the Hellcat Hussies. Currently, Jen is designing an Alternative Health for Activists Conference in Chicago in order to bring all of the different activist communities in Chicago together. She is also in the process of forming a new queer radical dance troupe.
DID YOU KNOW? Jen lived in Australia for seven months and plays the digeridoo.