Vanessa Volz has made an incredible impact on Rhode Island, improving the lives of women. She received her B.A. in gender studies and literature from Bard College. She completed her J.D. from the University of Georgia, where, as a student, she helped establish a public interest law conference, “Working in the Public Interest,” that has continued annually and was recognized by the Georgia Bar Association with an Excellence in Access to Justice award in 2016. In 2009 she be-came co-director of Healthy Kids Rhode Island, partnering with local organizations to promote medically accurate and age-appropriate sexual education in Rhode Island public schools. She is an adjunct professor at Rhode Island College, where her courses include Women and Madness, Introduction to Gender and Society and Violence Against Women. Vanessa was past board president of the Women’s Health and Education Fund, a nonprofit that raises funds for low-income women to access reproductive health care. Currently, as executive director of Sojourner House, a Providence-based nonprofit that provides service to those experiencing domestic violence, she has expanded the agency’s programming and organizational mission, more than tripled its budget and established an endowment. “The work we do at Sojourner House with victims and survivors allows them not only to tell their story and have it validated, but we’re often able to help them start a new chapter in their life,” Vanessa said.
