Economy

Food Stamp Challenge: Mind over matter, or over food, for that matter.

Posted on by Sherell

The first night of the Food Stamp Challenge, I had the particularly odd experience of dreaming about food. I was thinking about it so much, about the taste and how I felt restrained from it.

The first day went fine.  I ate good things and wasn’t that hungry, it was just the thought of not having access to any food or drink I wanted.  Before I went to bed, I had the quick thought of going to Starbucks the next morning for a Double Chocolate Chip Frappacino, but then I quickly remembered that I couldn’t afford Starbucks. Even the smallest size costs over $3.00!

I also though about and wished for fresh fruit, the smell and taste, the colorful mix of pineapples and strawberries, and how I hadn’t had any. I guess these thoughts were precursors to the dream.

In my dream, I was so hungry that my stomach hurt, and I had the option of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or a pack of Ramen chicken noodles, and I didn’t care to eat either.

The second day was more challenging than the first. I ate my usual breakfast, two Quaker oatmeal packs left over from last week. For lunch, I packed one peanut butter and jelly sandwich because I didn’t want to eat the lunch I knew would be provided at the day’s work retreat. When the catering arrived, I tried to not think about the food, but it was as if my senses were doubly alert.  I heard people crunching on chips, getting soda, putting ice in their cup.

I finally got one bag of chips and two cookies, not too healthy. I forgot about the Nature Way granola bar I had packed in my purse, probably because I wasn’t too excited about the taste. (They taste fine, but pale in comparison to a sugar cookie.) 

I felt like a failure for breaking down and eating some of the food provided, so for dinner I ate my Ramen noodles and stayed away from the home cooked food.  It was filling, but not too healthy, and was a little disappointing as I watched my sister and nephew eating their food heartily.

My friend purchased one Krispy Kreme orginal glaze iced donut for me. At first, I refused, but then I reasoned that one donut is fairly cheap, and I ate it. I’m finding a motif here. I am thinking about food so much, and the taste, that whenever I come in contact with something tasty and unhealthy, I am very quick to eat it.  I had a pretty high amount of sugar and salt yesterday that it almost makes me embarrassed to think about. In addition to eating unhealthy free foods without a second thought, I eat them fast, as though someone is going to take it away from me and put yet another restraint on me.

It’s a good thing I have half a bottle of Odwalla “Mo Beta” fruit juice left over, a few sips of it a day will have to suffice as my fresh fruit supplement. I can’t wait to buy and eat real fresh fruit next week. Usually, I go to the nearby Soho or Sizzling Express and get a small take-out of strawberries, oranges, and pineapples, but the total runs between $3.50 and $5.00 so that will have to wait.

Scary to think that this is just one week, when in reality it’s months and months longer for many low-income women on food stamps.

For more insights into Sherell’s Food Stamp Challenge experience, check out her post on D.C. Hunger Solution’s blog.   

Food Stamp Challenge: Personal control nonexistent on $21/week…

Posted on by Sherell

It’s the first day of my Food Stamp Challenge, and for now, things are going smoothly. 

I must be honest and put out a disclaimer: Today, I have access to select free food from a relative’s house.  The rules state that we should try avoiding food at friends’ houses, so I guess one could say that while I’m not breaking a rule, I’m not following it, either.  I have snacks and homemade foods available to me, when this challenge is to put myself in the shoes of someone who doesn’t.

To counter this, I’m going to eat the available free food in smaller portions that I usually would, so I won’t have the luxury of devouring however much I want.

The food I have consists of:

  • macaroni and cheese–ingredients include pepper, Promise butter, varieties of Kraft cheeses, elbow macaroni, and several McCormick spices
  • Mahatma white rice; and,
  • baked chicken wings seasoned with several McCormick spices

I also have some leftover brand foods that I purchased last week before the challenge, such as Quaker oatmeal and Odwalla organic juice. I wanted to outline what food I do have to make a point that those ingredients are expensive, and I would not be eating this food on a $21/week budget without someone else providing it for me. The organic fruit juice cost nearly $4.00 alone at the nearby Whole Foods Market.

But, in an effort to adhere to the rules of challenge, I will not purchase any food that I can’t afford on the food stamp budget and last night, I got a taste of the difficult challenge grocery shopping poses.

First of all, I had to go to Wal-Mart, which I personally don’t shop at due to all the negative news I have continued to learn about the store over the last few years.  But, if I’m limiting myself to spending no more than $3.00 per day on food, how can I opt to visit Giant Food or CVS over Wal-Mart?

I don’t get newspapers that sometimes include coupons, so I don’t have coupons to benefit me at one of the more expensive stores.

In the food aisle, I started thinking, "Okay, these prices aren’t too bad, maybe I can do this,” but, as I started picking up products and calculating, I realized that this budget would be tougher than imagined. I didn’t have a pre-made list, I just knew I wanted products that were cheap and filling.  Ramen noodles, pasta noodles, pasta sauce, oatmeal, milk and bread were among the main things on my mental shopping list.  I didn’t plan on buying fresh fruit, because it would be too expensive.  Maybe I will price a few bananas this week at Giant. (No Wal-Mart is near my house, I just happened to be next to one yesterday).

I picked up some whole grain pasta noodles that were moderately priced (a little over $1.00) but the pasta sauce (Ragu) was too expensive, so I put the noodles back. I found the Ramen for 14 cents, and I was happy about that. Looking at the sodium (over 700 mg) on the nutrition facts didn’t make me so happy. My sister suggested cutting the seasoning pack in half to reduce some of the salt intake. That will help, but now it will be more bland than it already tastes.

As I stood in line with two packs of chicken noodles, I decided to go back for peanut butter and jelly, and wheat bread. It’s filling, easy, cheap, and tasty! The store brand white bread was the cheapest, a little over $1.00, but I just couldn’t bring myself to buy white. I bought the cheapest wheat bread pack at $2.34. The cheapest peanut butter was the store brand which cost $1.47. The household I am staying in already had jelly on hand, whew! (The rules allow for usage of condiments already in stock.)

At the register, I learned that I already went over my budget!  I didn’t want to spend more than $3.00, but that’s fine, I will have to adjust by spending under $3.00 the next time I buy food. The noodles, bread, and peanut butter came to $4.09, and actually, while writing this blog, I just realized that the cashier made the mistake of not charging me for tax.

Leaving Wal-Mart, I came to the conclusion that shopping on this amount of money leaves one with a not-too-colorful taste palette, and an unhealthy body. 

I think you can eat enough to survive, but I couldn’t pick any of the tasteful, more nutritious foods I would usually opt for. I had to bypass the Kellogg’s cereals (that were on sale), General Mills cereal bars, and pasta for spaghetti. Those items would have been almost $3.00 each with tax, and they aren’t filling by themselves.

All the spices I usually buy to season foods with in the kitchen are such a privilege, but I take them for granted as a regular part of my life.

At the beginning of the work week, I typically pay at least one visit to Au Bon Pain or Corner Bakery to get an iced cinnamon bun or cinnamon crumb muffin, but that will not be happening this week. No delicious treats like that are coming my way!

And I thought dieting seemed hard!

This time it’s not self-restraint for the sake of toning up, it’s real-life fiscal restraint.  Whereas there is some form of personal control in dieting, it is almost nonexistent on $21.00 a week.

Food Stamp Challenge: My math skills prevail!

Posted on by nisha

On Sunday, I went to the grocery store to prepare for my week of participation in the Food Stamp Challenge, where I’ll be eating this week on a budget of $21, the amount the average food stamp recipient receives in federal assistance. 

Having finished up at the grocery store, I felt proud of myself for having managed to purchase pretty much all the items on my original list and then some.

My original list:

  • Oatmeal
  • Milk
  • Whole grain bread
  • Cheese
  • Spinach
  • Pasta
  • Sauce
  • Canned beans
  • Onion

While at the grocery store, I decided it was too hot to eat oatmeal and replaced it with my usual weekday summer breakfast of yogurt and a Special K Bar.

What I actually bought:

5 8 oz. yogurts @ $.40 each = $2.00
Special K Bars (package of 6) = $2.50
Pint of 2% milk = $1.19
Store brand whole wheat bread = $1.50 (On sale–score!)
Sargento sliced cheese with chipotle peppers = $3.29 (My big splurge!)
Classico pasta sauce with spinach and romano and parmesan cheese already added = $1.64 (So, I crossed spinach off my list.)
Barilla Pasta Plus (multi-grain penne) = $2.29
Can of black beans = $.93
Onion = $.54
Boca Burgers (package of 4) = $3.00
Store brand canned tuna = $.66
Ellio’s frozen cheese pizza = $1.00 (There was also another brand on sale for the same price–10/$10–so I chose the brand without any trans fat.)

As the total was being rung up, I wondered if I got the math exactly right.  What if I had over spent?  Would I be embarrassed to tell the cashier I needed to put some items back because I didn’t have enough money?

The grand total came to $20.93. Phew!  I did it!

I won’t claim it’s the healthiest list of items ever assembled, but I think it’s not bad (And, to be honest, not that different from my normal weekly diet–except may be the frozen pizza).

Nisha prepares for D.C. Food Stamp Challenge…

Posted on by nisha

In preparation for the Food Stamp Challenge next week, the policy wonk in me is coming out.  I wrote a paper with some colleagues at CLASP a few years back that framed food stamps as one of several work supports that can help low-income working families.

Now, I am wondering if food stamps are one’s only source of income for food (because presumably any other income support or wages are going to pay for other basic needs), how much nutritious food can one actually afford to purchase that will help keep the mind and body energized on the job? Will my productivity decrease next week when I’m purchasing food limited to a $21 budget? 

I guess I’m about to find out.  (For more on my motivation for participating in the D.C. version of the Food Stamp Challenge, please see today’s News and View of Note post under "On Poverty.")

With the amount of money I often would spend on one meal out to serve as my weekly budget, I started to think about ways to economize. 

First, I was wondering whether I could save any money by purchasing food in D.C. versus Maryland or Virginia because of differential sales taxes on food. Then I recalled that most food stamp purchases are not taxable. I verified this on the Food and Nutrition Service Web site.  So, I am planning to purchase my food at the closest grocery store I can walk to from where I live.  While on the FNS Web site, I also discovered some interesting factoids:

Based on a study of data gathered in Fiscal Year 2005:

  • 50 percent of all participants are children (18 or younger), and 65 percent of them live in single-parent households.
  • 54 percent of food stamp households include children.
  • 8 percent of all participants are elderly (age 60 or over).
  • 77 percent of all benefits go to households with children, 16 percent go to households with disabled persons, and 9 percent go to households with elderly persons.
  • 34 percent of households with children were headed by a single parent, the overwhelming majority of whom were women.
  • The average household size is 2.3 persons.
  • The average gross monthly income per food stamp household is $648.
  • 46 percent of participants are white; 31 percent are African-American, non-Hispanic; 13 percent are Hispanic; 2 percent are Asian, 1 percent are Native American, and 7 percent are of unknown race or ethnicity.

Having taken all of this in, I then turned my attention to wondering what exactly I will and won’t be allowed to purchase, since I want to try and play by the rules. Also from the FNS Web site:  Households CAN use food stamp benefits to buy foods for the household to eat, such as: breads and cereals; fruits and vegetables; meats, fish and poultry; and, dairy products and seeds and plants which produce food for the household to eat.  Households CANNOT use food stamp benefits to buy: beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes or tobacco or any nonfood items, such as: pet foods; soaps, paper products; and, household supplies or vitamins and medicines, food that will be eaten in the store or hot foods.

Thinking back to points in my life when I’ve had a lot less income, I’ve started composing a grocery list in my head. I’m hoping to stay away from Ramen noodles and those blue boxes of macaroni and “cheese.”  I hoping to be able to buy: oatmeal, milk (probably won’t be able afford soy milk, so whatever kind is cheapest), an on-sale loaf of whole grain bread, some sort of cheese that isn’t processed, spinach (the generic frozen kind—I know I won’t be able to afford fresh), pasta, sauce, canned beans, and an onion.

I plan to report back with a list of my actual purchases next week. Stay tuned. . .

News and Views of Note: Week of May 28, 2007

Posted on by Lisa Kays

See below for a round-up of what was news this week in the world of philanthropy, social change and women and girls in the Washington metropolitan region and beyond:

The Women’s Foundation in the News!

On Sunday, May 27, 2007, Marjorie Sims, chief operating officer of The Women’s Foundation, and Telaekah Brooks, chair of the business management and public administration departments of Southeastern University, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation, joined Spectrum host Tom Grooms live in the studio at Smooth Jazz 105.9 FM to discuss workforce development opportunities for low-income women in our region, the power of women’s philanthropy and more!

On Philanthropy

The Washington Post reports this week that, "If It Feels Good to be Good, It Might Be Only Natural," citing scientific evidence that giving, morality, empathy, compassion and generosity may trigger the same "feel good" parts of the brain usually stimulated by food or sex.  The article explains, "Their 2006 finding that unselfishness can feel good lends scientific support to the admonitions of spiritual leaders such as Saint Francis of Assisi, who said, ‘For it is in giving that we receive.’…Altruism, the experiment suggested, was not a superior moral faculty that suppresses basic selfish urges but rather was basic to the brain, hard-wired and pleasurable."

Gift Hub this week asks about the implications of more and more wealth in our country being concentrated into the hands of fewer families and the implications of this on social change philanthropy in his post, "The New American Aristocracy and its #1 Fool."  Cubeta writes, "Unfortunately, though, America is more closely resembling an oligarchy in which ‘wealthy families throw their weight around through the funding of think tanks, lobbying, charitable donations, board seats, and business deals so that all of society is essentially rigged to their benefit,’ advocating more teaching and mentoring for the wealthy around social change issues.  In a similar vein, Mario Morino of Venture Philanthropy partners asks on Sharing Witness, "Should the People with the ‘Power and the Bucks’ Lead the Nonprofit Change?" and a conversation ensues between him and Paul Shoemaker of Social Venture Partners Seattle who wrote, "Calling on Funders to Lead Change." 

Give and Take this week also highlighted a Donor Power Blog post asserting that nonprofits should just be "Giving Up on Young Donors," saying, "Seriously, it’s time to give up on the under-30 group and move on!"  The post stirred up a good amount of dialogue on Give and Take…what are your thoughts on this? 

On Women and Social Change

AlterNet this week highlighted Ellen Bravo’s new book, Taking on the Big Boys: Why Feminism is Good for Families, Business and the Nation.  Emily Wilson writes that the book, which documents stories of ordinary women taking on activist roles in their communities, highlights that, "Many women aren’t accustomed to being listened to, especially by people in power. But Bravo shows that doesn’t have to be the case. She hopes her book will redefine people’s idea of what it means to be political, and let them know that ordinary women can effect change — because, when they do, everyone benefits."   

On Poverty

Recently, three members of Congress participated in a Congressional Food Stamp Challenge that has been documented on their blog, wherein they agreed to eat for one week on $21, the weekly food stamp allotment.  They have done this to raise awareness about a bill that would raise eligibility and funding for the Food Stamp Program.  Yesterday, George Jones, executive director of Washington, D.C.’s Bread for the City joined the challenge, documenting on a post on Sharing Witness how this issue impacts the clients Bread serves–and particularly single mothers–and the solutions they are advocating.  As a board member of Bread, The Women’s Foundation’s Program Officer Nisha Patel agreed to join the challenge starting next week, and will be joined by at least one other staff member, Sherell Fuller, who will be blogging about their experiences and reflections right here.  D.C. Hunger Solutions is spearheading the event locally–to learn more and to participate, visit their blog for the official rules and guildelines!

And that’s it for the news and views for this week…let us know your thoughts on these exciting topics, or drop us a line to share any news and views we may have missed!

Otherwise, have a great weekend!

Research Briefing Recap: How a research briefing was born…

Posted on by Peter Tatian

On May 11, The Urban Institute and Washington Area Women’s Foundation hosted the second annual Stepping Stones Research Briefing, an event bringing together researchers, supporters of The Women’s Foundation, Grantee Partners, and members of the community to discuss some of the latest research on issues facing women-headed families in the Washington region.

The idea of holding a research briefing grew out of a challenge from The Women’s Foundation to encourage and promote public policy research with a “gender lens.”

Since the very beginning, The Women’s Foundation has been committed to basing its strategies and grantmaking on solid information. Starting with The Portrait Project: A Portrait of Women and Girls in the Washington Metropolitan Area, and continuing with its commitment to informed grantmaking and results-based evaluation, The Women’s Foundation has sought out and used high quality data and research to inform its actions.

And so, the Stepping Stones Research Briefing was born! 

The first two briefings have been a great opportunity to showcase some of the outstanding research being done on issues of importance to women in the region.  But, doing research with a gender perspective means more than just comparing women with men.  As The Urban Institute’s Margery Turner put it in her welcoming remarks, "We did not want to simple-mindedly run everything separately on the basis of gender, but rather to think about the ways in which taking a gender perspective might generate new insights coming out of research and new ideas on the implications of research for policy and practice."

Over the next few weeks, some of the researchers who participated in the research briefing will be writing their own blog entries, sharing with you additional insights from their work.

Their presentations touched on three policy areas:

  • Financial education and wealth creation – Megan Gallagher and Oramenta F. Newsome discussed the opportunities and challenges for increasing wealth in women-headed families through homeownership.
  • Child care and early education – Jesse Bailey, Elaine Weiss, and Gina Adams presented both local and national perspectives on strategies to increase access to quality child care, a vital support for single women with children in the workforce.
  • Microenterprise development – Nancy M. Pindus, Telaekah Brooks, and Roxana Moayedi described the barriers to women trying to start their own businesses, including perspectives from local women entrepreneurs, and some of the assistance that is available to help them succeed in the business world.

Like you, I will be looking forward to hearing more about the exciting research that was presented at the research briefing. 

But, for those of you who can’t wait, you can listen to the entire set of presentations through a series of audio files available on the Urban Institute Web site.

Peter Tatian is a senior research associate in the Urban Institute’s Center on Metropolitan Housing and Communities.  (The views expressed here are his own and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.)  Peter plays a crucial role in the development and success of the Stepping Stones Research Briefing. 

For an additional perspective on the Stepping Stones Research Briefing, check out Lisa Claudy Fleischman’s post, "Learning Through a Gender Lens."

News and Views of Note: Week of May 21, 2007

Posted on by Lisa Kays

See below for a round-up of what was news this week in the world of philanthropy, social change and women and girls in the Washington metropolitan region and beyond:

The Women’s Foundation in the News!

On May 18, 2007, a Wall Street Journal article, "When Small Donors Get Together," discussed local giving circles, with a mention to The Women’s Foundation.  In response to the article, Tactical Philanthropy cited The Women’s Foundation as "cornering the market" on giving circles and gave a shout out to this very blog! 

On Philanthropy

This week, The Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers released a report acknowledging the tremendous growth and impact of giving circles–to the tune of more than $100 million in funds raised–over the last two years.  More Giving Together: The Growth and Impact of Shared Giving reveals key findings such as:

  • The number of existing giving circles has more than doubled in the last two years; there are now at least 400 giving circles nationwide.
  • In 2006 alone, giving circles surveyed donated $13 million for community needs.
  • Nearly 12,000 people participate in the 160 giving circles surveyed.
  • Giving circles are diversifying.  Nearly half of circles now have male members, and the popularity of giving circles is also growing among people of color and in the gay and lesbian community.
  • Giving circles have staying power. Nearly a third of circles surveyed have been through more than five rounds of grantmaking. 

"There’s never been a better time to start or join a giving circle because it multiplies the impact of your charitable donations," said Daria Teutonico, director of the New Ventures in Philanthropy Initiative at the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers. "With the same amount of money you’d use to write a check to a charity, you get to make more of a difference, spend more time with friends, and learn more about what your community needs."  To learn more about joining a giving circle in our region, visit TheWomensFoundation.org.

Earlier this week, the Maine Women’s Fund released news that they had received their first $1 million gift to advance women and girls in Maine!  The gift, from the five female trustees of the River Rock Foundation, is discussed in detail in fund’s press release.  Says the release, "According to Women & Philanthropy, less than ten percent of all overall funding is aimed at programs that directly impact women and girls. ‘The River Rock Foundation gift is newsworthy because of the amount and because it was given by women, for the specific purpose of helping women and girls. It recognizes a strategic shift in philanthropy – because women are the gateway to health, education, and economic decisions, when women thrive, whole communities will prosper,” said Elizabeth Stefanski, the newly hired executive director of the Maine Women’s Fund. ‘It’s a wonderful example of women using their wealth and philanthropy to dismantle poverty, violence and discrimination—issues that disproportionably harm women and girls,’ reported Stefanski." 

Tactical Philanthropy brings us news about The Case Foundation’s new plan for a pilot grantmaking program encouraging civic-centered participation.  The program is interesting, Sean reports, because, "The Foundation will not only be supporting citizen-centered efforts, but will be attempting to walk the talk of citizen-centered practice itself by involving the public in virtually every aspect of the process from creating guidelines to vetting proposals to making grant decisions."  Exciting indeed, and very much in line with the spirit of The Women’s Foundation’s own Leadership Awards Program, also a grassroots grantmaking program.   

Dr. Susan Raymond of Changing Our World Inc. asked on On Philanthropy last week if philanthropy has truly abandoned the needy, commenting on the recent study commissioned by Google.org that concluded that, "less than a third of tax-deductible donations are targeted at those in need."  Susan’s article salutes the study for its commitment to unearthing more empiracle knowledge about the philanthropic sector, but questions the study’s premise that, "The philanthropic expression of concern for the ‘needy’ is measured by dollars allocated to immediate services."  She writes, "And if we are to discourage people from funding complex, long-term problems with uncertain outcomes, then how will we ever innovate?  How will we ever come to fundamental understandings and fundamental solutions?  And how will the needy ever become anything but needy?"  

On Women and Girls in Our Region

The D.C. Women’s Agenda released its white paper, Voices and Choices for Women and Girls: Recommendations to City Leaders 2007.  The report outlines recommendations by District advocates for girls and women on programmatic and funding priorities in the following areas: economic security, housing, health, women and criminal justice, safety, leadership and accountability, and girls.

On Women in Nontraditional Jobs and Job Training

WAWIT classThe Wall Street Journal reported this week on "Finally, Women’s Wear for the Hard Hat Set," on the increasing trend of women working in construction and the need for clothing and attire to meet their needs.  This story hearkens back to our work here at The Women’s Foundation, where we fund programs such as the YWCA’s Washington Area Women in the Trades and Goodwill of Greater Washington’s Female Construction Employment Class to further the skills and confidence of women hoping to enter nontraditional careers such as construction. 

On Poverty and Economic Security

The Congressional Food Stamp Challenge wrapped up on Monday, with the participants, Congressman Jim McGovern, Congressman Tim Ryan and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky–as well as a few Hill staffers–blogging about their week buying food based on the average food-stamp benefit of about $3 per day to raise awareness about the challenges facing Americans living in poverty. 

And that’s it for this week! 

Enjoy catching up on the lastest news and views, and don’t forget to drop us–or the sites you visit–a comment or two about your thoughts! 

Enjoy your weekend! 

Help build economic security in an office near you!

Posted on by Jack Mahoney

Tenants in downtown Washington, D.C. office buildings won’t be surprised to learn that office rent in D.C. is virtually the highest in the United States, second only to midtown Manhattan.  Investors have called D.C.’s real estate market the most profitable in the world.

But most of the people who keep these buildings running – janitors, security officers, and parking workers – don’t benefit from the booming real estate market. 

The 2,000 private security officers in D.C. – mostly African American women – face low wages starting around $8 an hour and don’t have access to affordable healthcare or paid sick days.

Yesterday, in recognition of the low-income mothers who comprise the target population for its Stepping Stones initiative, Washington Area Women’s Foundation hosted a brown bag lunch discussion about the condition of building services workers to raise awareness among fellow tenants at 1411 K Street. 

The event was organized as part of the Building Benefits project – a local effort by office building tenants to support the janitors, security officers and parking workers in our own buildings.  During the meeting, security officers spoke about the realities of the low pay, lack of benefits, and job insecurity that are part of their industry.  They shared their stories about the difficulty of having wages vary from week to week depending upon building placement, lost wages due to time off for illness and the costs associated with the lack of affordable health insurance, among others. 

One woman discussed her difficulty in being able to continue her studies without having a predictable schedule each week and the flexibility to request hours around her class schedule. 

In addition, members of the Building Benefits network presented specific ways they are working to raise standards for building workers.  Currently, members of the network are supporting two ongoing campaigns.

The first includes efforts by security officers to win a citywide contract for better wages and working conditions.  This March, officers succeeded in pressuring employers to recognize their union, Service Employees International Union local 32BJ.  Now, they are preparing to negotiate a union contract for private security officers across the city. 
 
The second stream of focus is efforts to win legislation in the D.C. Council that would would ensure 10 paid sick days for most workers in the city to take care of their own illnesses, care for sick children or deal with domestic violence situations. 

Earlier this month, the D.C. Paid Sick & Safe Days Act was introduced to the city council with the support of all 11 councilmembers, thanks to the work of the DC Employment Justice Center (A Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation) and a coalition of other groups supporting the legislation. 

DC Jobs with Justice – a local coalition of labor unions, faith communities and community organizations that is part of the national Jobs with Justice campaign – first began organizing office building tenants during the summer of 2006 to support efforts by security officers to form a union.  After joining with the Center for Law and Social Policy and the DC Employment Justice Center, the Building Benefits project was launched with the goal of creating a permanent network of tenants who would support efforts to raise standards for building workers.

Since then it has grown to include tenants from two dozen downtown office buildings!

Tenants can support service workers in a variety of ways. Some tenants have handed out stickers supporting officers’ campaign, others have collected petitions encouraging the city council to support sick days legislation, and others still have organized a delegation to their building owner’s office to communicate tenants’ expectations for worker rights in their building.

Do you work in an office downtown? Then get involved!  We would love to help you host a brown bag lunch with tenants in your building, where tenants will learn more about these issues and decide on what actions to take to support workers in the building.

To get involved, please contact us to learn more:
DC Jobs with Justice:  Contact Mackenzie Baris (202-974-8224)
Center for Law and Social Policy: Contact Jodie (202-906-8003)
DC Employment Justice Center: Contact Jessica Goshow (202-828-9675 x20)

Jack Mahoney is a Solidarity Intern at DC Jobs with Justice and a student at Georgetown University. He has worked on the Building Benefits project since the fall of 2006.

News and Views of Note: Week of May 14, 2007

Posted on by Lisa Kays

See below for a round-up of what was news this week in the world of philanthropy, social change and women and girls in the Washington metropolitan region and beyond:

This month is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.  In celebration, Feministing has invited API women to offer their voices to the blog. 

Among them this week, Kiran Ahuja, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, reflected on being a young leader.  She writes, "That I am one of the youngest leaders in the national women’s movement is telling and highlights a serious challenge for the movement – where and when do we make room for new, young and diverse leaders, and when do we see that the inclusion of them determines the success of our movement?" 

Liezl Tomas Rebugio, also of NAPAWF, writes in "Connecting the Dots: Human Trafficking and Reproductive Justice," "The trafficking of women and girls is the quintessential example of reproductive oppression. ‘Get your laws off my body’ was a slogan used in the 1970’s during the women’s movement. But how does that apply to trafficked women and girls whose bodies are not treated as their own, but are treated as commodities?"

The Women’s Foundation in the News!

A May 11, 2007 Washington Times editorial, "Lasting security a Mother’s Day wish for many," by Adrienne Washington, advocates thinking in terms of long-term investments in women’s economic security for Mother’s Day, and not just in terms of long-stemmed roses–and she discusses Stepping Stones and Training Futures, a Grantee Partner, as examples of how to do just that!  

Stepping Stones Research Briefing Related News!
On May 11, 2007, The Women’s Foundation, in partnership with The Urban Institute, hosted the second annual Stepping Stones Research Briefing, featuring research on financial education and wealth creation, child care and early education and microenterprise development–with each topic examined from a gender lens.  To download the audio, or to check out the panelists’ presentations, click here!

Peter Tatian, a senior research associate with The Urban Institute, was quoted shortly thereafter in an article in the Examiner on subprime mortgages in our region, and their impact on increasing rates of foreclosures.  This topic was also explored at the briefing through Meghan Gallagher’s presentation, "Female Borrowers in the Washington Mortgage Market" and on The Huffington Post, where Jon Goldin-Dubois discussed how mortgage foreclosures are skyrocketing due to increasing sub-prime lending and a lack of regulation by the government.

Local Philanthropy and Activism

The Washington Post reports on more than 90,000 people–primarily women and mothers–throughout 37 states and Washington, D.C. who are "Pushing the Motherhood Cause," by meeting to mobilize around "six main issues: family leave, flex time, health insurance, child care, fair wages and children’s activities, such as better after-school programs. Their proposals are not new, but together they create a ‘motherhood’ agenda that has attracted a fresh enthusiasm."   

Women and Health and Safety
Health and safety is the focus of this year’s Leadership Awards Program and an issue area under Stepping Stones. See below for research and discussion that informs and impacts the health and safety of women and girls on a local and national level.

On Feministing, Jessica asks whether "Women-only hotel rooms"–designed to increase safety for women in hotels–are really a valid safety tactic, or whether it’s just a way of separating women instead of trying to improve the world they live in?  She asked a similar question about Brazil’s women-only train cars, designed to curb sexual harrassment. 

An article by Allison Stevens with Women’s eNews, "Bush May Veto Bill That Would Help Protect Hate Crime Victims," explains that, "Women’s rights groups are making a last-ditch push to enact legislation that would expand existing "hate crimes" laws to include gender and other categories such as sexual orientation, gender identity and disability."  Acvocates of the bill say that it would greatly benefit women and girls.  "Women could stand to gain substantially from the law," reports Stevens.  "The bill would add significant resources for prosecution of crimes in which the victims were targeted for their gender, as was the case in two high-profile shootings last fall in Pennsylvania and Colorado."

On Poverty and Economic Security

Education is a crucial component on the pathway to economic security for many.  In Give and Take, Peter Panepento discusses in, "Scholarships: What’s a Donor to Do?," the difficulty faced by those who want to fund college scholarships for those with the greatest need.  Citing research, Panepento writes, "The major problem…is many donors are operating under the false perception that students with the greatest needs are those coming out of high school.  But…many ‘needy’ students are adults returning to school, single parents, and students who hope to transfer from community colleges into four-year institutions."  In a similar cord, Siu Lang Panoke, a graduate student at American University, writes about her experience funding her education as a single mother in her blog post, "Economic Status Should Not Hinder Higher Education" on Real Women, Real Voices, the National Women’s Editorial Forum’s blog.

Riane Eisler in AlterNet discusses in, "What’s a Mother’s Worth?" how women over the age of 65 are twice as poor as their male peers.  She writes, "There’s a reason poverty so disproportionately hits women. Most of these elderly poor women were, or still are, caregivers — and according to most economists, the people who do the caring work in households, whether female or male, are ‘economically inactive.’ Of course, anyone who has a mother knows that most caregivers work from dawn to dusk. And we also know that without their work of caring for children, the sick, the elderly, and maintaining a clean home environment there would be no workforce, no economy, nothing. Yet current economic indicators and policies fail to include this work as ‘productive work.’"  On our blog, we also discuss the financial issues surrounding women and retirement.

On May 11, Washington Grantmakers’ Children, Youth, and Families, and Health Working Groups hosted a funders’ briefing on regional children’s issues.  The Washington Grantmakers’ blog reports in "Lines on a Map But Real Barriers for Children, "Some of the challenges facing area children stem from the fact that while families can move within the region, governments stop at the borders. There are gaps in funding and services because state governments’ scopes are too narrow to address certain problems.  Through regional collaboration, Washington Grantmakers members have an opportunity to leverage resources and coordinate in a way that has proven difficult for area governments, and to make a difference in the lives of our region’s children."

The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Give and Take reports that, "Congressmen Issue Food-Stamp Challenge," to raise awareness about poor Americans.  "From May 15-21," explains the article, "four lawmakers are buying food based on the average food-stamp benefit, which is about $3 a day."  They’re blogging about their experience at the Congressional Food-Stamp Challenge site.

On Philanthropy and Nonprofit Capacity

Just as our recent Philanthropy Forum discussed the legacy of giving across families, so too is the Community Foundations of America examining best practices in family philanthropy in an essay, "Giving as a Family."

Generation change and nonprofit leadership has been a significant topic of conversation recently, fueled largely by the release of research from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund indicating that leadership transitions from the Baby Boom generation to Generations X and Y will become more common within the nonprofit sector.  The report, Generation Change and the Leadership of Nonprofit Organizations, offers recommendations on how a variety of stakeholders can improve the hand-off from this generation of leaders to the next.  On a similar note, the Initiative for Nonprofit Sector Careers examines the "missed connections" between nonprofits and new recruits out of college in its report, The Next Generation of Nonprofit Sector Leadership.

And that’s it for this week.  Enjoy catching up on the lastest news and views, and don’t forget to drop us–or the sites you visit–a comment or two about your thoughts! 

Enjoy your weekend! 

For Mother's Day, think long-term, not just long-stemmed

Posted on by Lisa Kays

A May 11, 2007 Washington Times editorial, "Lasting security a Mother’s Day wish for many," by Adrienne Washington advocates thinking in terms of long-term investments in women’s economic security for Mother’s Day, and not just in terms of long-stemmed roses.

"Mothers need gifts that last longer than the blooms from long-stemmed roses," Washington writes, and supports her claim with the value of investments in women’s economic security such as The Women’s Foundation’s Stepping Stones initiative, and a Stepping Stones Grantee Partner, Training Futures. 

Writing about a Training Futures graduate, Linda Butler, whose life took a "360 degree turn" as a result of Training Futures and Stepping Stones, Washington explains, "For decades, she was a waitress earning $12,000 annually while her children were in school. Now she earns $50,000 as a due-diligence manager for Building Evaluations.  ‘Training Futures gave me all the tools that I needed; it made me feel hopeful instead of helpless, and that’s a big extreme,’ Ms. Butler said…She is also worried about what she views as the "epidemic proportions" of single mothers forced to leave their children without adequate care while they go to work.  ‘It’s a lot of single mothers struggling out there. … We need love and support from everybody,’ she said."

Nisha Patel, a program officer at The Women’s Foundation, explains in the column how Stepping Stones, and last week’s Stepping Stones Research Briefing, are providing this support and increasing the economic security of women throughout our region.  Writes Washington:  "The program will focus on ‘the lack of opportunities that keep low-income women trapped in poverty,’ Ms. Patel said. ‘And, we want the research community to have more of a focus on gender when considering these issues.’…For example, one panel will discuss how expanding child care and early education strengthens the economic security of single mothers in the District and the region."

To read more about how Stepping Stones is paving the pathway to economic security for women, click here to read the full article and then be sure to stop back by and us know what you think!