Health

Ahead of the curve in fighting human trafficking in D.C.

Posted on by Tayler Wilhelm

I wanted to share a story from a recent case of human trafficking in D.C. that Polaris Project handled to show the impact of the work we’re doing and how The Women’s Foundation plays a role in it. 

Like many others, Rosa* was struggling to find employment.  While at the mall, Rosa was handed a business card and told about the opportunity to become a waitress. Rosa called the number and set up an interview.  When she arrived, she was pulled into a vehicle and taken to a brothel.  Rosa was forced into prostitution and suffered horrific abuse and threats. Thankfully, she found a moment to escape, ran outside, and flagged down a moving bus.  The driver called 9-1-1. Once the police arrived and identified Rosa as a trafficking victim, they immediately contacted our on-call staff to provide emergency assistance.

We provided Rosa with her first meal in three days and clothing and accompanied her to the hospital for treatment.  Rosa is steadily recovering.  She secured safe housing and hopes to reconnect with her family members living outside of the United States.

The Women’s Foundation has been really ahead of the curve in recognizing human trafficking as a grave danger to women and girls in our community and across the country. 

I wish that the story I provided was a rare case, but we help people in similar situations on a regular basis.  With the support of The Women’s Foundation, Polaris Project has helped 50 trafficking victims locally in 2009 and provided more than 850 nights of shelter through our transitional housing program in D.C.

The support The Women’s Foundation has provided has been really important to our local efforts.

*Name was changed to protect the identity of the client.

Tayler Wilhelm is the Senior Development Officer with Polaris Project, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation and winner of the 2009 Leadership Awards online vote.

DCAF: Taking abortion activism to the Internet.

Posted on by Allison Mitchell

If there’s a time to tackle the virtual frontier, it’s now.

DC Abortion Fund is a grassroots nonprofit that is 100 percent volunteer-run that provides financial assistance to low-income women who are seeking abortions but cannot afford the full cost of the procedure.  The dedicated people that keep the confidential hotline running do it on their lunch breaks and at dinnertime. 

I sit at my desk each day and have one Twitter profile up for my job and another one up for DCAF.

With a budget of under $60,000 each year, I look for every free or low-cost option out there to raise DCAF’s profile in the community.  This keeps about 95 percent of our funds free to increase women’s access to reproductive healthcare.

Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are growing bigger every day and are now a major vehicle for 20 and 30-something people to get news and information.  But I don’t want to stop there. These social networking sites are easy-to-use and create a space for every person to be an advocate for DCAF – through a tweet, reposting a link, joining a Cause or RSVPing to an event.

Others see what you’re doing and join in – it’s the essence of grassroots organizing.

DCAF is plugged in and communicates with everyone through our Website, our E-news, and our Facebook page – everyone except our clients.  The women we serve have cut off their cable, pawned Christmas presents and skipped their electricity bills for months to keep a roof over their heads.  Our clients are not looking for DCAF in the online world; they hear about us from friends and family, or get referred to us by our partner clinics.

In years past, DCAF advised clients to sell things – a TV, a bike – anything that could give them an extra $20.  But in these tough economic times, they sold everything they could months ago.  They are in debt.  They are often out of work.  Many have kids and are struggling to keep food on the table.  They turn to us because the idea of increasing the size of their family during this recession is simply not a reality.

To those who have access to the Internet superhighway, join our networks and follow DCAF on Twitter and Facebook.  It’s the best way for nonprofits like us to have a conversation with you. 

And become an activist – an Internet activist – and harness the power you have through your computer or Blackberry.

It has never been clearer; we are only as strong as the community that supports us.  The opportunity to plug in is there for all of us reading this blog and we must open the door. 

It’s knocking!

Visit our Website and sign-up for the newsletter.
Join our Facebook Cause (DC Abortion Fund) or Fan Page (DCAF).
Follow us on Twitter.

Allison Mitchell is a member of DC Abortion Fund’s board of directors.  DC Abortion Fund is a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.

Stepping Stones Research Update – June 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.  

Financial Education and Wealth Creation News

The Urban Institute provides statistics on the work effort, earnings, health care access and other characteristics of low-income families. (Abstract) (Full Text)

 Jobs and Business Ownership News

The Brookings Institution investigates the accessibility of middle-wage jobs — good paying jobs for the less-educated workers — for those without bachelor’s degrees in 204 metropolitan areas. (Abstract) (Full Text)

Child Care and Early Education

The National Institute for Early Education Research examines the journeys of six states — Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, Illinois, New York, and West Virginia — in achieving a plan for preschool for all. (Intro) (Full Text)

Health and Safety News

The Urban Institute explores the unique experiences of women exiting prison, focusing on a representative sample of 142 women who were released from Texas prisons and state jails in 2005 and returned to Houston communities. (Intro) (Full Text)

Other News and Research

The Urban Institute provides comprehensive data indicators and analysis on the state of older youth (age 12-24) in the District and examines  the role of area nonprofits that work with young people, their families, and neighborhoods. (Abstract) (Full Text)

Girls' lack of access to sports often signals even greater disparities.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

The other day, Phyllis mentioned a New York Times article to me on how girls in New York weren’t able to participate in sports because they had to stay home to baby sit and do other chores within the family.

I looked it up immediately, because it seemed so impossible to me.  It sounded too much like the same dynamics at work that prevented girls from finishing school in Africa, which I’ve posted about before.

And yet there it was in the New York Times, the exact same dynamics at work preventing girls from accessing sports, which can and do play a critical role in the development of self-esteem, healthy habits, physical strength, friendships, and academic success.

The article explains, "Soledad’s after-school routine is different from that of her cousin Karl Pierre…who plays basketball nearly every day after school and says he dreams of earning a college basketball scholarship. Karl lives in an apartment with Soledad, her father, their grandmother and other relatives. But boys in the family are not asked to baby-sit.  ‘It’s not fair,’ said Soledad, who also hopes to play college basketball. But if she were to complain, she said, ‘They’d just make me stay home for a week.’"

In addition to the unequal chore divide, girls’ parents also tend to resist their participation in sports due to concerns about safety.

The article states, "Tiffany’s father had reason to be suspicious, Mr. Mariner said later, because she had previously used basketball as a cover when she wanted to leave the house. Mr. Binning said he relented that day because ‘the coach showed me she’s in good hands.’  Parents rarely question their sons’ whereabouts, Mr. Mariner said.  ‘I could take my boys to another state, and I wouldn’t get these calls,’ he said. ‘They’d probably say, ‘Oh, you’re back so soon?’”

As a teacher in West Africa, I used to hear these arguments all the time, only about how these were barriers to parents sending their girls to school.  "We need her at home to get water," they would say, or, "The school is too far, it’s not safe for her to walk."

Just like the girls in this article, the girls I taught in Benin didn’t have the ability to contradict or combat these challenges. 

And no one seemed very interested in considering making the route to school safer or having their sons share the duties of fetching water.

So their daughters stayed at home.  They dropped out of school.  They watched their brothers go on to complete school and compete in soccer games, when they could get away from their chores long enough to do that.

When I am reminded that these trends also exist here, I grow concerned that what we’re seeing in sports could soon be–or is already–reflected in the arts, in access to clubs and extra curricular activities, then in access to study time and, eventually, academic success.

In our work here at The Women’s Foundation, we see the impact of this as well, which is why we’re funding programs that provide access for girls to tennis and other sports and arts opportunities. 

For me, a true understanding of the importance of access to sports came when I was speaking with Sister Mary Bourdon, the head of one of our Grantee Partners, the Washington Middle School for Girls (WMSG). 

Like the schools described in the New York Times article, WMSG can’t afford fully funded sports teams for the girls.  They provide what they can, but it’s sporadic and not nearly at the level of what suburban schools provide.

As a woman who grew up in public schools where girls’ sports were funded and available (though I still regret that there was no girls’ soccer team once I hit high school), the impact of this had never fully hit home for me until Sister Mary explained that when her girls move on to high school, it’s challenging for them to relate to or build friendships with the girls they meet in their new high schools because they don’t have the athletic skills to be on the teams where so many of those bonds and friendships are formed.

And their peers have been playing these sports for years.

A few weeks later, I had the pleasure of meeting with Joey, a student at WMSG, who would speak at our Leadership Luncheon that year.  When I asked her what she’d do if her school had enough funds, one of her top priorities was sports.

"Some sports teams, " Joey told me, "Especially a track team!  I would love that because I love to run. I even run faster than all the boys in my neighborhood!"

As many are taking stock of the progress made from and the challenges still to come with Title IX, Joey’s words still ring in my ears as the most compelling case to make sure that girls have equal access to sports as boys.

Because given equal ground, girls can outrun, or at least run with, all the boys!

Lisa Kays is The Women’s Foundation’s Director of Communications.

DCAF honors the memory of Dr. Tiller, a trusted partner and ally in supporting women.

Posted on by Elisabeth Sowecke

The DC Abortion Fund (DCAF) is devastated and appalled to know that our most skilled and intensely dedicated late-term abortion provider, a beloved partner to DCAF, Dr. George Tiller, was fatally shot in the lobby of his church in Wichita, Kansas on Sunday morning, May 31, 2009.

In the past eight months, DCAF pledged financial assistance to four uniquely challenged women—from Maryland, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia, as well as in Omaha, NE, to obtain a third-trimester termination from Dr. Tiller at Women’s Health Care Services in Wichita.

Two of the women were taking medications considered harmful to fetal development.  One attempted to self-abort countless times before reaching out—terrified because she came from New Guinea, where abortion is illegal.  One spent 10 weeks trying to raise money to afford her abortion before finding DCAF.
One patient was a fifteen-year-old sexual assault survivor who didn’t know she was pregnant until the beginning of the third trimester.  One of the women had diabetes and a fetal anomaly.

While heartbroken for the women we assisted, we found solace in knowing Dr. Tiller was willing to provide comprehensive care when there was no other option.

DCAF is eternally indebted to the legacy of boundless courage and compassionate health care offered whole-heartedly by this man who gently and faithfully urged us to trust and support women.  He truly exemplified reproductive justice for all by working tirelessly to accommodate struggling families all over the country.

In accordance with our respect for Dr. Tiller’s profound service to women, DCAF is grateful for our partner clinics and heroic providers–true warriors on the front lines, ensuring access to quality abortion care in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

In memory of our angelic and wise doctor and beyond the shadows of opposition, we remain determined in our mission to provide our neighbors with dignified health care regardless of what’s in their wallet.

Elisabeth Sowecke is the lead case manager at the DC Abortion Fund, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.

Survivor blaming: South Africa and D.C. have more in common than you think.

Posted on by Stephanie Psaki

A woman accuses an older, politically powerful man of raping her.  He denies the charges, and offers to pay her off to drop them. When she persists, his defense lawyers put her sexual history on trial, including her experience of child sexual assault. They accuse her of lying about being a lesbian. They add that her behavior, including sending him text messages and wearing revealing clothing, were an invitation for sex. Supporters of the perpetrator stand outside the courthouse with signs saying, “How much did they pay you, bitch?” He is acquitted and returns to his everyday life. She and her family are forced to relocate due to death threats.  Source.

It could be a snapshot from anywhere in the U.S., but this particular scene unfolded in South Africa between 2004 and 2006, and the accused was Jacob Zuma, who was inaugurated last week as South Africa’s new President.

This trial had another unfortunate twist: the accuser, nicknamed Khwezi (star) by her supporters, was HIV positive.  Despite his previous role as head of South Africa’s National AIDS Council, when asked the (irrelevant) question of whether he was worried about contracting HIV, Mr. Zuma testified that, "Chances were very slim you could get the disease” from having unprotected sex with an HIV positive woman, and that he showered after having sex with her to "minimize the risk of contracting the disease," grossly misleading statements that have perpetuated myths and possibly cost lives.

Despite a persistent cloud of scandal, Jacob Zuma has remained popular in South Africa due to his ties to Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid movement, his role as the country’s first post-apartheid Zulu leader, and what many describe as his charisma.

Regardless of the verdict – or whether it was rendered after a fair trial – Mr. Zuma’s response to the charges provide alarming evidence of how he will approach South Africa’s women – and particularly the growing pandemic of violence against women – during his term. Also disturbing is the lack of attention in domestic and international media to the rape accusation, Zuma’s response, and its implications.

South Africa has been called the rape capital of the world, with an estimated half a million women raped every year. It is also home to the highest number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world – approximately six million.

So why hasn’t Zuma’s complicity in perpetuating these twin pandemics prevented him from assuming leadership?

The short answer is democracy, and by all accounts this was a fair election. In fact, the African National Congress – Zuma’s party – won by nearly 50 percentage points. But as advocates of women’s health and empowerment in Washington, D.C., we should be concerned about the more difficult answer.

Because the women of D.C. are also suffering from the twin pandemics of violence and HIV/AIDS.

Survivor blaming at home

Recent surveys indicate that between 10-15 percent of women in the U.S. are raped in their lifetimes, while an additional three percent of women report surviving attempted rape (stats here and here).  This amounts to a woman being raped every two minutes in the U.S.

The statistics on sexual assault in D.C. are much harder to come by. 

According to the DC Metropolitan Police Department, there were 375 reported cases of sexual assault in 2008. 

But Denise Snyder, Executive Director of the DC Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC), puts this statistic in perspective, explaining, “The general belief is that about 10 percent of rape survivors ever report the incident to police, so if you multiply this number by 10, you are probably getting closer to the truth in D.C.”

DCRCC’s rape crisis hotline received over 3,200 calls during the 2007-2008 fiscal year, but Snyder points out that crisis hotlines, “are not even the primary contact for most rape survivors, who are more likely to tell their family and friends after an incident occurs.”

There are many reasons for the overwhelming failure to prevent and address sexual violence globally, in the U.S., and in D.C. Unfortunately one of the most important reasons might be that policy-makers – and the public in general – just don’t believe its happening.

Survivor blaming is a term used by advocates and researchers working to combat sexual violence to describe the tendency – of law enforcement agencies, legal systems, and even family, friends and acquaintances – to doubt or blame the survivor of sexual violence.

In reality, it is very rare for a woman or man to lie about being raped. The Rape Crisis Federation of Europe estimates that false reports of rape occur at the same rate as other crimes – only about two percent of the time, which means that 98 out of 100 women and men are telling the truth when they say they were raped.  And it makes sense, given the continued re-traumatization that survivors must undergo when they do come forward, as evidenced by Jacob Zuma and his supporters’ treatment of Khwezi.

As a former volunteer hotline and hospital counselor for the DC Rape Crisis Center, I witnessed the devastating impact of survivor blaming on women and men in D.C. who were grappling with their experiences of sexual violence. The frequency with which I heard phrases such as, “Thank you for believing me”, or “Why did this happen to me?” underlined the all too common experience of disclosing an incident of sexual violence only to be met with doubt and blame.

A recent study conducted with U.S. college students found that negative social reactions (e.g. blame, stigmatization) of family members and friends toward a rape survivor reduced other people’s support, reduced blame for the perpetrator, and reduced sympathy for rape survivors in general.  The same study found that people were more likely to blame survivors of date rape than stranger rape, and that men were more likely to sympathize with the perpetrator than the rape survivor.

Another recent study, "Effects of Offender Motivation, Victim Gender, and Participant Gender on Perceptions of Rape Victims and Offenders"– also conducted with U.S. college students – found that participants were less likely to describe an event as rape and more likely to blame the victim when they were told the perpetrator’s motivation was sexual rather than violent.

Our tendency toward survivor blaming – often relieving the perpetrator of responsibility – goes a long way in explaining why so few incidents of sexual assault are ever reported to police.
As a rape crisis counselor, I was also responsible for having the difficult conversation with survivors about whether it was worth pressing charges, given the fact that only six percent of rapists ever spend a day in jail, and the inevitable negative impact on her or his life, including exposure of their sexual history and other destructive attempts by the perpetrator’s defenders to call their character into question.

Allowing this cycle of victimization to continue for survivors of sexual violence is unacceptable in itself.

More broadly, when survivors can’t come forward to a supportive and empowering environment, we as a community lose the opportunity to provide them with needed services, identify and convict rapists, and prevent sexual violence in the future.

So if we are serious about combating sexual violence, if we do not want to see one out of six women in the next generation spend their lives trying to recover from this trauma, then our first step must be to start believing the survivors.

Unfortunately, they are telling the truth.

As Khwezi insisted after (now President) Zuma was acquitted, “I am not mad. I am not incapable of understanding the difference between consensual and non-consensual sex. The fact that I have been raped multiple times does not make me mad.  It means there is something very wrong with our world and our society.

Stephanie Psaki has an MPh from the Harvard School of Public Health. In 2007, she spent two months in Durban, South Africa conducting research on women’s empowerment and sexual partnering behavior among university students. She also had the privilege of volunteering for the DC Rape Crisis Center, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation, as a hotline and hospital counselor from 2004 to 2006.

Stepping Stones Research Briefing sneak peek: Want to know more about how unions help women workers?

Posted on by John Schmitt

Over the last three decades, women have substantially increased their importance in the unionized workforce. Women currently make up about 45 percent of all unionized workers. If recent trends continue, women will be the majority of organized labor by 2020.

These increases have not only been good for unions – they have also been good for women workers.

In a recent report, the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) documents that unions substantially raise the pay and benefits of women workers. According to the report, all else being equal, unions boost the wages of the average woman by about 11 percent (about $2.00 per hour).

The effects of unionization are even bigger on health insurance and pension benefits. Women in unions are 19 percentage points more likely than their non-union counterparts to have health insurance and about 25 percentage points more likely to have a pension.

Want to learn more?

Then join me when I present and discuss the findings of this report at The Women’s Foundation’s 2009 Stepping Stones Research Briefing on Wednesday, May 20 from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Katharine Graham Conference Center of the Urban Institute at 2100 M Street, NW on the 5th Floor.

Please RSVP here.  

Then help us spread the word.  We have an Event, "2009 Stepping Stones Research Briefing," on Facebook.  We’re also on Twitter @TheWomensFndtn. 

John Schmitt is a senior economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C.

Sex trafficking continues to strike in our communities, as do solutions by local organizations.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

Last week, New York Times columnist Nicolas Kristoff published a column on sex trafficking of young, American girls, stating, "The business model of pimping is remarkably similar whether in Atlanta or Calcutta: take vulnerable, disposable girls whom nobody cares about, use a mix of “friendship,” humiliation, beatings, narcotics and threats to break the girls and induce 100 percent compliance, and then rent out their body parts."

Eerily similar to a piece we posted here a while back discussing the work of our Grantee Partners fighting trafficking here in Washington, D.C., often on K Street, where The Women’s Foundation’s office is.

Oddly, the same day Kristof’s article was published, a timely reminder of how closely this issue continues to strike in my community hit my inbox, when Taylor Wilhelm, senior development officer with Polaris Project–a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation with work focused on combatting human trafficking–wrote to let us know of the powerful impact of their work. 

"Recently, a trafficker was brought to justice in a case that began with a call to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) hotline, operated by Polaris Project," she wrote.  "On a Friday afternoon, a youth educator called the hotline when her local youth center experienced the unexplained disappearances of several children. We were able to work with the caller to identify a human trafficking network, to refer the case immediately to federal authorities, and to locate the lost children in a nearby State two weeks later. They were discovered to be part of a multi-state human trafficking ring."  (See the press release.) 

Tayler closed by saying, "We greatly appreciate the many ways you all support us to make successes like this more common!"

The Women’s Foundation is proud to partner with organizations like The Polaris Project, Fair Fund and Covenant House (mentioned in the Kristof piece), to combat sex trafficking and to be part of the solution. 

As Kristof writes, "Solutions are complicated and involve broader efforts to overcome urban poverty, including improving schools and attempting to shore up the family structure. But a first step is to stop treating these teenagers as criminals and focusing instead on arresting the pimps and the customers — and the corrupt cops."

Each of these organizations understands this and is effectively working to educate their communities about the realities of trafficking, to advocate for policies and safe houses to protect victims and to collaborate with school and law enforcement officials to prevent trafficking at the outset.

The Women’s Foundation is proud to support their efforts.

Lisa Kays is The Women’s Foundation’s Director of Communications.

DCAF: Recession nearly doubles requests for abortion assistance as resources dwindle.

Posted on by Elisabeth Sowecke

Less than four years ago, I considered myself pro-choice, but I couldn’t tell you where to obtain an abortion in my northwestern-Ohio, college town.  In fact, the Planned Parenthood in Toledo (the nearest city to offer abortion services) could not offer abortion-care in order to receive state funding.  I naively assumed a woman seeking an abortion could have one at her doctor’s office or community clinic because she had the right to choose.  Period.

Today, I live in Washington, D.C. I am a communications associate at a reproductive health nonprofit, an abortion counselor at a women’s health clinic in Maryland and a case-manager for a local, grassroots abortion fund.

I can discuss the real-life avenues, barriers, freeways and alleyways to abortion-care access throughout this country.  If you have hours, perhaps days, I can lament and exalt in-depth stories of women who have abortions to preserve their health, dignity and the goodness in this world.

Everything I do in the reproductive justice movement is equally a basic human service and an act of privilege.  The women and families I serve deserve more than I, or this movement, can provide. 

Currently, there is no time for condolences and ritualized mourning, for discussing or attempting to prove what I know because women are homeless and jobless and still have children to feed. 

Meanwhile, they are assaulted, abandoned, ignored, denied and judged.

The DC Abortion Fund (DCAF) dedicates explanation, education, emotional support and vital financial assistance to women in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.  A dozen case-managers volunteer their time to field about 60 telephone calls per week, tailoring resources to each individual caller.  While every woman’s situation is unique, the recurring trends among our neighbors are undeniable.

Overwhelmingly, a woman seeking financial assistance for her surgery has less than $0 to her name, at least one child, no employment or a part-time job, and an apathetic man involved.  If her family does support her decision, they are often equally destitute, but contribute about $100 collectively.  She has nothing to sell or already sold it all to buy diapers or baby food a few months ago.  She will need to acquire anywhere from $250 to $7000 to have an abortion in her region.  She may opt to travel to Pennsylvania, New York or Atlanta, Georgia, where significantly lower surgery fees may off-set travel expenses.

In the past year, the need of those who reach out to the abortion fund has nearly doubled, and a modest, dedicated donor-circle replenishes the dwindling bank. 

As a case manager, I have told a crying 17-year-old with no parental support that DCAF will pay for the majority of her $3600 surgery, but I have also told a crying 17-year-old with no parental support that she will have to adjust to having her baby because our funds have been stretched and we have asked our supportive donors too often.

I foresee the situations of our neighbors getting worse in this financial climate before they get better. 

I fear one day she will have $0 and DCAF will have $0 to give her, and her life will grow even more disproportionately complicated.

I believe that when you give to your local abortion fund regularly, you profoundly simplify a potential mother’s life, giving her even the slightest bit more room to breathe, to recognize her potential in this life. 

In recognizing complexity, ambiguity and downright basic rights, you honor life by making reproductive justice a reality for every woman regardless of what’s in her wallet.

Elisabeth Sowecke is the lead case manager at the DC Abortion Fund, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.

Congratulations to Polaris Project, winner of the online vote!

Posted on by Lisa Kays

Last night, The Women’s Foundation hosted what is my favorite event of the year–the Leadership Awards Reception–where we presented each of our 10 amazing awardees this year with their certificates and announced the winner of this year’s online vote.

This year’s vote–the second we’ve done–was incredible.  Last year, we brought in 1,187 votes total. 

This year, the vote’s winner, Polaris Project, brought in 2,715 votes themselves, with a total of 8,538 votes being cast overall.

Polaris Project was selected as a 2009 Leadership Awardee for their DC Trafficking Intervention Program (DC TIP), which has combatted human trafficking in the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, and Southern Maryland Launched since 2002 by working to create an effective community-based response to curb local human trafficking network activity.  DC TIP provides comprehensive services to foreign national and U.S. citizen victims in the Washington metro area and works towards long-term, systemic change.

At the reception last night, Amb. Mark P. Lagan, Executive Director of Polaris Project, explained that Polaris Project is named after the North Star, otherwise known as Polaris, which guided slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad.  Today, Polaris Project helps victims of all kinds of trafficking throughout the world to escape and rebuild their lives with dignity and hope. 

The Women’s Foundation congratulations Polaris Project for their outstanding work mobilizing support for the vote, and all of our 2009 Leadership Awardees for their awards and for the outstanding work they did to mobilize support for the vote and awareness of the transformational work they’re doing throughout our community to change the lives of women and girls. 

Lisa Kays is The Women’s Foundation’s Director of Communications.