The 2010 American Community Survey has just been released and The Women’s Foundation has already identified grim statistics related to women, girls and poverty in our region. Unfortunately, the number of women and girls living below the poverty line continues to rise: more than 202,000 live in poverty, up from 177,000 the previous year. Click here for a pdf copy of the fact sheet.
Today is Day of the Girl, the kick-off of a year-long celebration of girls and the recognition of a movement to make girls’ worlds bigger and better. To recognize the day, we’re taking a look at the barriers to success faced by girls in the Washington metro area, and we’re listening to what they have to say about their lives.
The following infographic highlights some of the statistics found in The Women’s Foundation report 2010 Portrait of Women & Girls in the Washington Metropolitan Area.
Girls in our community face many challenges, but at a recent community listening session, we learned that they are fierce, upbeat and have big plans for the future. We sat down with a group of young women in Montgomery County who shared the following with us:
Click here for more details about the Day of the Girl initiative. Plus, let us know what you think about this information. Are these the barriers to success that you see for girls in your own neighborhood? What are girls in our community most hopeful about? What do they like most about school? What do they want to do in the future? Tell us in the comments below!
Washington Area Women’s Foundation announces the appointment of four new members to its board of directors:
The four new directors bring decades of experience in the highest levels of government, business and philanthropy.
Together with the existing 15-member board, they will oversee the Foundation’s mission to mobilize the community to ensure that economically vulnerable women and girls in the Washington region have the resources they need to thrive.
“The diverse talents that these directors bring will be a tremendous asset to our organization and will add a different perspective to our deeply dedicated board,” said Rachel Kronowitz, chair of the board of The Women’s Foundation.
“We are excited to be joined by national leaders who believe in the promise and value of every woman and girl in the Washington area,” said Nicky Goren, president of The Women’s Foundation. “There are more than 177,000 women and girls living in poverty in our community and the experience and expertise of these new board members will enhance our ability to support programs that benefit women, girls and our entire region.”
The new board members:
Audrey Bracey Deegan is the managing director of OMG Center for Collaborative Learning. At OMG, she is responsible for directing the growing portfolio of strategy development initiatives and heads the Washington, D.C. office. Prior to joining OMG, Bracey Deegan held leadership positions at Plan International USA, Deloitte, JPMorgan, McKinsey, Textron, Hudson Chesapeake and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. She has worked collaboratively with leaders in global relief, arts education, volunteerism, community engagement and international development.
She currently sits on the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service Board of Visitors and the MSFS Program’s advisory board. She has also been a board member of several national and global organizations that protect and advocate for women and girls.
Bracey Deegan is an honors graduate of Princeton University with a bachelor’s degree in international politics and a joint JD/master’s in Foreign Service from Georgetown University Law Center.
Alex P. Orfinger is the publisher of Washington Business Journal. The weekly journal and its accompanying website washingtonbusinessjournal.com remain the primary sources of local business information in greater Washington.
Orfinger is active in the local business community and has a long history of service to community boards. He currently serves on the boards of the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the United Way of the National Capital Region. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including Washingtonian of the Year byWashingtonian magazine, Business Person of the Year by the DC Chamber of Commerce, and Leadership Greater Washington’s Regional Leadership Award in recognition of his efforts to bring the region together.
Julie L. Rogers is president and CEO of the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation. The Foundation is nationally recognized for its programs that strengthen the leadership and management of its grantees and for a deep commitment to strengthening philanthropy and the nonprofit sector.
A leader in national and regional philanthropy, Rogers works to find innovative and collaborative ways to support The Meyer Foundation’s grantees and meet community needs. She founded the Washington AIDS Partnership and was the founding chair of Washington Grantmakers. Among others, she currently serves on the board of the Greater Washington Board of Trade and is a member of the Federal City Council and its Executive Committee and the Washington Women’s Forum.
Before joining the Meyer Foundation in 1986, Rogers served as staff director of the Council of the District of Columbia’s Committee on Human Services and taught in the Montgomery County, Maryland public school system. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a master’s degree in teaching from George Washington University.
Sonal Shah recently stepped down from her position as deputy assistant to the President and director of the White House Office on Social Innovation and Civic Participation. She also served on President Obama’s Transition team overseeing the Technology, Innovation, Government Reform working group.
Before joining the White House, Shah led Google’s global development initiatives for its philanthropy initiative, Google.org. Prior to Google, Shah served as vice president at Goldman Sachs, Inc., where she developed and implemented the firm’s environmental strategy. At the same time, she co-founded a nonprofit, Indicorps, which offers fellowships for Indian-Americans to work on development projects in India.
Shah received her MA in economics from Duke University and a BA in economics from the University of Chicago. She is an Aspen Crown Fellow and a Next Generation Fellow.
In today’s rundown: A local media giant offers help to local nonprofits. Will a jobs czar improve the unemployment rate in D.C.? And why women are the key to economic growth.
— Discovery Impact is now taking applications from nonprofits interested in receiving pro bono advertising and marketing materials as part of their Creating Change 2011 program. Nonprofits are encouraged to apply by clicking here.
— Later today, DC Council member Vincent Orange will propose hiring a jobs czar to help combat the city’s nearly record high unemployment rate, reports DCentric. One of the czar’s roles would be to ensure that DC residents have first dibs on certain jobs.
— Women are a vital source to global economic expansion, according to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Women’s eNews reports on Clinton’s comments made at an economic summit in California last week.
Yesterday, the U.S. Census Bureau released the new report Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010. The report found that in 2010, the median household income declined 2.3 percent to $49,445; the poverty rate rose to 15.1 percent, with 46.2 million people living in poverty; and the percentage of people without health insurance remained steady from 2009.
Since its release, The Women’s Foundation staff has been combing through the 87 page report, looking at the local impact, particularly on women-headed families.
“The big takeaway is that the number of female-headed households with related children under 18 living in poverty rose to 40.7 percent,” says Gwen Rubinstein, program officer at The Women’s Foundation. “That’s compared to an 8.8 percent poverty rate for married-couple households.”
The median income for women-headed families decreased by 3.3 percent, from $33,135 to $32,031.
Rubinstein also notes that:
Washington Area Women’s Foundation will be working with Grantee Partner The Urban Institute to continue to review and interpret data from the new report and provide updates on the ways in which these statistics impact our community and what they mean for our work. Stay tuned for more… and to review the report yourself, please click here.
In today’s rundown: How homeless families handle a new school year in Northern Virginia. A new executive director at a Women’s Foundation Grantee Partner. Plus, the cost of creating a large number of new jobs that keep families in poverty.
— Students in Virginia return to school today and The Washington Post looks into how the school year is different for children whose families are homeless. The article covers how families become homeless and how shelters help kids find stability at school.
— The Maryland Gazette has a profile on Ronnie Galvin, the new executive director of IMPACT Silver Spring, a Women’s Foundation Grantee Partner. “Galvin is looking to help the group evolve by focusing on sports programs for families, workforce development for low-income residents and small-business development for residents.”
— Ahead of President Obama’s jobs speech on Thursday, an M.I.T economist asks if we have to choose “between job quality and quantity.” Paul Osterman’s op-ed in The New York Times says that creating a lot of jobs that pay low wages and keep families in poverty negatively impacts housing, education, marriage and health.
In today’s rundown: Are low-income families not a priority for D.C. Public Schools? Local organizations — including this one — urge the president to ensure women have good jobs. And how words may be preventing women from finding a satisfying work/life balance.
— Critics of a recent decision to shut down three Parent and Family Resource Centers in Wards 1, 7 and 8 say the move is proof that low-income families are not being engaged enough by D.C. schools, reports The Washington Post. Superintendent Kaya Henderson says the centers were underutilized and will eventually be reopened.
— Washington Area Women’s Foundation is one organization that is signing on to a letter urging President Obama to ensure that women can access good jobs. Wider Opportunities for Women (a Foundation Grantee Partner) is spearheading the campaign. Click here to read the letter.
— A new study could change the way companies talk about — and treat — women with children, according to The Huffington Post. “‘Opting Out or Denying Discrimination? How the Framework of Free Choice in American Society Influences Perceptions of Gender Inequality,’ suggest[s] the assumption that behavior is based on personal choice can lead to a frequently mistaken belief that gender barriers no longer exist in the modern workplace.”
In today’s rundown: The changing demographics of our region and the impact on future employment. Philanthropy isn’t just the wealthy giving to the poor. And pretty, dumb: why JC Penney is no longer selling a controversial shirt for girls.
— The D.C. area is one of eight metro regions where minorities have become a majority in the past decade, according to The Washington Post. Recent Census figures show that racial and ethnic minorities make up more than half the residents in our region. The numbers have implications on future employment. One expert predicts that in 10 years, half of the jobs openings in the region will need to be filled by people with college educations.
— George McCully, president of the Catalogue for Philanthropy, explores the modern idea of philanthropy and also takes a look at its history on TacticalPhilanthropy.com. When Alexander Hamilton mentioned philanthropy in the first Federalist Paper, McCully writes, “he was saying that the United States of America was intended to be a philanthropic nation, a gift to mankind, to improve the human condition.”
— JC Penney has pulled a controversial girls’ shirt off of their website, reports The Hairpin. The text on the shirt read “I’m too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me.” After hearing outrage from various corners of the internet, JC Penney pulled the item, saying “We agree that the ‘Too pretty’ t-shirt does not deliver an appropriate message, and we have immediately discontinued its sale.” Who designs these things? And then approves them? And then makes them? And markets them….
In today’s rundown: Remembering Nadine Winter…. Many uninsured Americans know little about new federal health benefits…. And what it takes for a stay-at-home mom of 11 to finish undergrad and go on to Harvard grad school.
— Nadine Winter, an original member of the first elected D.C. Council after the District gained home rule, has died after a bout of pneumonia, The Washington Post reports. In addition to serving on the City Council for 16 years, Winter was an advocate for affordable housing for low-income residents. She was 87.
— Many uninsured Americans aren’t aware of the benefits they’ll be receiving under the new federal health care reform law, according to DCentric. About 11 percent of D.C. residents don’t have health insurance.
— Jezebel.com has the story of a mother of 11 who is headed to grad school at Harvard University. Allyson Reneau left undergrad in 1981 to start a family. “After having 11 children, spending 20 years as a stay-at-home mom, then opening a successful gymnastics school, Reneau was finally able to return to school.”
In today’s rundown: Why women still need to push for economic equality. One writer asks what has the president done for women lately. And why welfare is no match for unemployment.
— “A woman’s work on economic equality is never done,” writes Kristin Maschka on the Ms. Magazine blog. Maschka writes about a janitor who was fired from the job she’d had for nearly three decades because her childcare provider called in sick. Maschka says that stories like this are proof that the feminist movement is still needed in the U.S.
— How much has President Obama done for women since he took office? asks Allison Gaudet Yarrow in The Huffington Post. She takes a look at three areas where the president has (or has not) made an impact.
— Today’s welfare is no match for this country’s high unemployment rate, according to The Urban Institute (a Women’s Foundation Grantee Partner). Even though unemployment has risen by 88 percent since the start of the recession, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families caseloads have increased by just 14 percent. Urban Institute’s MetroTrends blog has the details.