Sacramento State’s Women’s Resource Center functions as a safe haven by empowering and affirming female-identified students and allies.

The center is located on the second floor of the University Union and aids Sac State’s campus by supporting students’ futures, combating sexism, domestic violence and bias through its various resources and open discussions.

Haley Myers-Dillon, the current director of the Women’s Resource Center, said that she wants the resource center to be the place that helps female-identified students achieve their dreams.

“I want to encourage people to talk about their dreams, to say it out loud, to feel ridiculous,” Myers-Dillon said.

The center serves in partnership with the Parents and Families program, which offers a variety of services for pregnant students and those who are already parents.

In addition to the provided services, Myers-Dillon said that the center is open to all female-identified students regardless of background.

“We have 56% female-identifying students on campus,” Myers-Dillon said. “We are investing in these students and these students are investing in themselves.”

The coordinator of the center Stephanie Alcala said she felt gratified in this space to help women feel brave, safe and unapologetically themselves.

Alcala said she is looking ahead toward a brighter future, a time for celebration and proud acknowledgement of one’s identity.

“It has been frustrating knowing that women before us fought so hard for just basic rights,” Alcala said. “Seeing how things have changed and haven’t always gotten better for us is a reason for us to continue to celebrate ourselves, unapologetically moving forward.

For Myers-Dillon and Alcala, the impact of the Women’s Resource Center lies in helping serve the future of female-identifying people: professionally, academically and personally.

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Over the last month, the center was able to showcase a vibrant student-made art wall, host discussions with campus police and feminist trailblazers, while providing a space for women-identifying students to feel uplifted.

They have done so by creating engaging events like discussions with the center’s founder Sally Roesch Wagner and the upcoming Women’s Leadership Summit.

Fourth-year business marketing major and Women’s Resource Center communications assistant Trinity Haynes, had her art work “Look in the Mirror: What Will Your Herstory Be?” displayed throughout the month of March in the Union Exhibit Lounge.

Haynes said the goal of her creating the piece was to empower women to be able to see themselves in every layer of their life.

“It is really just to give women encouragement, like you can be all of these things,” Haynes said.

The center is making strides to extend leadership and networking resources to women-identifying students and allies.

Haynes, Alcala, Myers-Dillon and all of the advocates at the Women’s Resource Center are the most excited for future-forward events. Their next event is the Women’s Leadership Summit, a professional networking and confidence building conference in the University Union on April 12.

If you are a female-identifying student or ally on campus, the Women’s Resource Center is in place to help you access the necessary materials to encourage success.

“You are creating your own history, investing in your life and your future,” Myers-Dillon said.