Health

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

U.S. Capitol

In today’s rundown: Help may be on the way for the unemployed whose benefits are running out.  |  Georgetown law students will help low-income D.C. residents.  |  The Washington Post calls a proposal that would restore voting rights to Virginia’s ex-cons a disgrace.

— Despite objections from conservative Republicans, the U.S. Senate has agreed to consider a temporary extension of unemployment benefits. The measure would mean that unemployed Americans who are exhausting their benefits would still receive checks and federal subsidies for health insurance. Click here for more details.

— Georgetown University law students will begin helping low-income residents with legal cases as part of a new program.  The Community Justice Project will take on cases ranging from helping homeless people find housing to obtaining medication for HIV patients.  To listen to a report on this story, click here.

— A northern Virginia woman has been charged with practicing dentistry without a license.  She and a business associate were arrested after a patient developed an infection after a root canal that was performed in a hidden office in a Fairfax County basement.  The patient was told she could get dental work performed there “for a much cheaper price than a regular dentist.”  Click here for more.

— An editorial in today’s Washington Post calls into question the fairness and “decency” of a plan by Virginia’s governor that would allow ex-cons to vote.  Governor Bob McDonnell has proposed that in addition to the current application process former felons must go through in order to vote, they also be required to write a letter explaining what they’ve contributed to society and outline why they should get their voting rights back.  To find out why the Post is calling this proposal a disgrace and tantamount to Jim Crow, click here.

You can get more information and news from The Women’s Foundation here:
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The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

DefeatPovertyDC LogoIn today’s rundown: A rising poverty rate has a negative impact on the entire District.  |  Funding for people with AIDS is held up in Prince George’s County.  |  One blogger feels that TANF doesn’t meet the needs of victims of domestic violence.  |  Was Nancy Pelosi the reason health-care reform was passed?

— A column in today’s Washington Post illustrates the current need for Defeat Poverty DC.  The Women’s Foundation is part of Defeat Poverty DC, a coalition of organizations that will focus the 2010 election season on the damaging effects of poverty in D.C.  Click here for more.

— According to a Washington Post editorial, having a woman Speaker of the House was the reason health-care reform was passed.  Click here to find out why.

— A bureaucratic contract review process is holding up federal funds in Prince George’s County, forcing some medical clinics and nonprofits to delay or cancel services for people with AIDS.  Click here for more info.

— A Change.org blogger points out the weaknesses of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) when it comes to supporting victims of domestic violence and calls for better resources to enable women to leave violent situations.  Click here to read more.

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

DefeatPovertyDC LogoIn today’s rundown: The launch of a new effort to focus the 2010 election season on the damaging effects of poverty in D.C. | Why doctors are teaming up with attorneys to help low-income patients | A new look at housing affordability

— Today marked the launch of Defeat Poverty DC, a new coalition of residents and organizations (including The Women’s Foundation) working to bring greater focus during the 2010 election season and beyond to the damaging effects of poverty on the entire city.  Click here to learn more about Defeat Poverty DC.  Click here to read a preview of the launch in the Washington Post.

— More doctors nationwide are starting to partner up with attorneys to provide patients with legal help if they need it. Doctors and social workers say that medical care alone is not enough to address the health issues of the poor, which are often related to diet, living conditions and stress.  Click here for more details.

— The Center for Housing Policy has released a new study that takes a look at the costs of renting and owning homes in cities around the country. According to the study, “in some high-priced communities, people who provide the bulk of vital services… cannot afford to live in the communities they serve.”  The study also found that residents in moderately-priced communities still pay an excessive portion of their income for housing.  The study found that Bethesda was the 19th most expensive city to buy a home in last year.  Washington, D.C. was the sixth most expensive rental market.  Click here for more information.

The Daily Rundown — The Latest News Affecting Women & Girls in Our Region

Posted on by Mariah Craven

SenateIn today’s rundown: The health care bill and you; a call to help single moms at welfare hearings; a new report on why there are so few women in science and math careers; and a Women’s Foundation’s Grantee Partner is losing its executive director to retirement.

— What does the health care bill mean for you, specifically?  The Washington Post has a tool you can personalize to find out how you might be impacted.  Click here to learn more.

— Women’s advocacy groups say the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is failing and needs to be repaired.  At welfare hearings last week, those advocates called for lawmakers to help single mothers, in particular.  Click here for more.

— A new report on the underrepresentation of women in science and math says that although women have made gains in those subject matters, stereotypes and cultural bias still impede their success.  Click here to read more about the report, titled “Why So Few?”

— After 26 years of serving as the executive director of The Child & Family Network Centers, Barbara Fox Mason is retiring.  The Child & Family Network Centers — a Women’s Foundation Grantee Partner — was founded in 1984 by Barbara and a group of women living in a housing project in Virginia.  Since then, it has become an award-winning agency serving more than 200 disadvantaged children every year.

Got something to say?  Please comment below, or join the conversation online at www.Facebook.com/TheWomensFoundation.

National Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day — Your Awareness Can Have an Impact

Posted on by Gwen Rubinstein

HIV Awareness Day

Are you aware that a woman tests positive for HIV every 35 minutes in the United States?

Are you aware that one in four Americans living with HIV is a woman?

Are you aware that HIV/AIDS is a growing problem for women and girls in our region, particularly African-American women and girls?  The District of Columbia and Maryland had the highest and second-highest women’s AIDS case rates in the country in 2007 (90.2 cases per 100,000 population for DC and 22.2 cases per 100,000 population for Maryland) (http://www.statehealthfacts.org/)?  For more on the specifics in D.C., you can read a previous blog of mine by clicking here.

Maybe you can you guess from my questions that today is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

I hope that increased awareness leads us to recognize that we must act – for ourselves and for others – because lives are literally on the line.  I hope we can act together to improve:

  • Prevention strategies that address the dominant ways women acquire HIV: sex with men who are infected and injection drug use (much more of an issue for women than for men).
  • The availability of routine HIV testing in places women already go for health and other services for themselves and their children. (By the way: Do you know your HIV status?)
  • Attention to treatment, including to AIDS drugs but also for the many health conditions that occur with HIV, such as alcohol and drug abuse and mental illness.
  • Women’s empowerment.  In D.C. this has started with a new effort — the first in the nation — to make the newly re-designed female condom widely available for free (thanks to the hard work of the Washington AIDS Partnership and support from the MAC AIDS Fund — and The Women’s Foundation’s own Julie Leibee).
  • Support for organizations that help individual women with HIV in our community, including The Women’s Collective and Our Place, DC (both Grantee Partners of The Women’s Foundation), as well as organizations that bring this issue and solutions to it to the attention of policy makers and the public, such as DC Appleseed (another Grantee Partner).

Wishing you act-ful awareness on March 10th – and every other day.

Gwen is a Program Officer at Washington Area Women’s Foundation.

D.C. Government Slashes Funding for Some of the City's Most Vulnerable Women

Posted on by Kris Thompson

Days after the District made the shocking announcement that $20 million had been cut from the homeless services budget for the 2010 fiscal year, advocates and organizations that provide shelter for the homeless are still reeling. One of The Women’s Foundation grantee partners is reaching out for help – as winter approaches and the organizations that assist the homeless face a crisis.

Calvary Women’s Services was notified Monday, September 28, by The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness (TCP) that contract funding for Calvary would be cut by nearly $75,000 beginning October 1st.  These funds support safe housing and other services for 150 homeless women each year.  TCP is an independent, non-profit corporation that coordinates DC’s Continuum of Care homeless services.

Calvary is one of many social service providers notified of cuts to their existing contracts. Emergency, transitional and supported permanent housing programs were all targeted as the city attempted to close an ever-widening budget gap.  The impact of these cuts on the overall homeless services system is going to be severe, with some housing programs reducing their services and others likely closing programs. 

Although these cuts may provide some immediate relief to the city’s budget problems, the real impact of the cuts will be felt by those in need of safe housing and support services.  Women who have already lost their jobs in this economic crisis will have fewer services and housing options available to them. These cuts will make women who are already at-risk much more likely to end up living on the streets or in unsafe situations.

The women who come to programs like Calvary are survivors of violence, women struggling with mental illness, and women working to overcome addictions.  At Calvary we make sure they have access to all of the services they need to address these challenges – in addition to providing a safe place to live.

We know that programs like ours work.  Every five days a woman moves out of Calvary and into her own home.

We have always relied on the support of both public funding and private donations to make our programs possible.  In the past, supporters have helped us close gaps like this one, and I am hopeful that the community will step up once again.  But I am also concerned that this gap may be too wide for our generous donors to close.

The coming months will be challenging ones for organizations like Calvary, as we try to find ways to continue to provide women in this community with critical, life changing services.  More so, they will be challenging months for women who need services like ours, as they face closed doors and reduced services at programs across the city.

 You can make a difference.  Support Calvary – or another agency facing these cuts – today. 

 Volunteer, donate or learn more at www.calvaryservices.org.

Kris Thompson is the Executive Director of Calvary Women’s Services, recognized as a 2009 Leadership Awardee by The Women’s Foundation.  Learn more about them on their Web site or on Facebook.

Stepping Stones Research Update – September 2009

Posted on by Mariah Craven

We’ve partnered with The Urban Institute to provide continuing information and resources related to the goals of Stepping Stones. Below you’ll find a summary of the latest research on issues of economic security and financial independence for women and their families. This research is summarized and compiled for The Women’s Foundation by Liza Getsinger of The Urban Institute, NeighborhoodInfo DC.

The following are excerpts of the research update.  For the full update, including summarized key findings, click here.

Financial Education and Wealth Creation News
The median household income in the District of Columbia rose from $56,400 in 2007 to $57,900 in 2008, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey; however, DC residents with the lowest levels of education saw their incomes fall significantly from 2007 to 2008. (Full text)

Jobs and Business Ownership News
One fifth of all families with children are headed by working single mothers. The families of single mothers have a high poverty rate – 28.3 percent. The persistent gender wage gap continues: in 2007, women who worked full-time, year-round earned only 78 cents for every dollar earned by full-time, year-round male workers. These findings suggest that a number of changes in policy and practice are needed to improve women’s earnings. You can read the details about these findings by clicking here.

Child Care and Early Education News
A new Child Trends research brief explores the issues that judges consider when making decisions about termination of parental rights (TPR) and adoption of foster children. Several judges reported that the absence of TPR limits the adoption recruitment efforts of the child welfare agency. Some judges report a need for more discussions with older children to explore and address their concerns about adoption. (Full text)

Health and Safety News
Today, there are about 1.1 million people with HIV/AIDS living in the U.S., including nearly 280,000 women. Women of color, particularly black women, are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. The impact of HIV on younger women is particularly notable – more than 6 in 10 new HIV infections among women were among those ages 13-39 in 2006. 76% of women with HIV/AIDS who were receiving medical care had children under 18 in their homes, which may complicate their ability to manage their illness. (Full text)

Other News and Research
The Urban Institute surveyed District permanent supportive housing (PSH) agencies and specific PSH projects. The research includes a look at how the District might move forward toward fulfilling its commitment to create 2,500 new units of PSH and eliminate chronic homelessness. (Full text)

Weekly Round-Up: News and Analysis on Women and Poverty (Week ending August 14, 2009)

Posted on by Lisa Kays

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with The Women’s Foundation to bring you the latest news and analysis on women and poverty.

Spotlight is the go-to site for news and ideas about fighting poverty.

For daily updates and links to past articles, check out “Women and Poverty.”  It’s a new section of our site with a comprehensive collection of recent news and analysis on women and poverty.

Along with these daily updates, continue to visit TheWomensFoundation.org for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty every week.

Here’s this week’s news:

To learn more about Spotlight, visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org.  To sign up for our weekly updates with the latest news, opinion and research from around the country, click here.

The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is a foundation-led, non-partisan initiative aimed at ensuring that our political leaders take significant actions to reduce poverty and increase opportunity in the United States. We bring together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to engage in an ongoing dialogue focused on finding genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans.

Weekly Round-Up: News and Analysis on Women and Poverty (Week ending August 7, 2009)

Posted on by The Spotlight and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with The Women’s Foundation to bring you the latest news and analysis on women and poverty.

Spotlight is the go-to site for news and ideas about fighting poverty.

For daily updates and links to past articles, check out “Women and Poverty.” It’s a new section of our site with a comprehensive collection of recent news and analysis on women and poverty.

Along with these daily updates, continue to visit TheWomensFoundation.org for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty every Friday.

Here’s this week’s news:

To learn more about Spotlight, visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org.  To sign up for our weekly updates with the latest news, opinion and research from around the country, click here.

The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is a foundation-led, non-partisan initiative aimed at ensuring that our political leaders take significant actions to reduce poverty and increase opportunity in the United States. We bring together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to engage in an ongoing dialogue focused on finding genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans.

Stepping Stones Research Update – July 2009

Posted on by Liza Getsinger

As part of our ongoing commitment – in partnership with The Urban Institute – to providing information and resources related to the goals of Stepping Stones, please find below a summary of recent research on issues of economic security and financial independence for women and their families. This research is summarized and complied for The Women’s Foundation by Liza Getsinger of The Urban Institute, NeighborhoodInfo DC.

Below are excerpts of the research update.  For the full research update, including summarized key findings, click here.

Financial Education and Wealth Creation News

The National Council of Negro Women conducts a study to identify potential lending disparities in gender and race among African-American, Hispanic, and Caucasian borrowers, particularly as the foreclosure crisis spreads.  (Full text) 

Jobs and Business Ownership News

The Brookings Institution publishes research on the extent to which the recession has affected urban and suburban communities across the country and looks looks within the nation’s 100 largest metro areas to examine recent unemployment trends in their cities and suburbs. (Abstract) (Full text)

Child Care and Early Education News

A new Child Trends study commissioned by the Council of Chief State School Officers finds disparities between poor, at-risk children and more advantaged children as early as 9 months of age–extending prior research that primarily focuses on disparities at kindergarten entry and beyond. (Abstract) (Full text)

Health and Safety News

The Urban Institute identifies ways to reduce obesity using many of the same strategies used in the war against tobacco.  (Introduction) (Full text)

Other News and Research

The Economic Mobility Project investigates neighborhoods and the black-white mobility gap, including whether neighborhood poverty in childhood impacts the ability of both black and white adults to move up or down the income ladder relative to the position their parents held and whether changes in neighborhood poverty rates experienced by black children affected their adult incomes, earnings, and wealth. (Abstract) (Full text)