Women

WJLA article highlights impact of local women's construction program.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

Many of our readers and community members remember the powerful story of Laceiy and Sharan, and how their lives were changed by a construction job training program, Washington Area Women in the Trades (WAWIT), that is supported by The Women’s Foundation’s Stepping Stones Initiative.

Now, you can learn even more about the program through a WJLA story, "Local Program Expands Career Choices for Women."  The article discusses the success stories of some recent graduates now with exciting careers in construction and other nontraditional fields.

Check it out and learn more about how nontraditional job training for women not only changes the lives of women and their families, but also our community as a whole!

View the WJLA article.
View the video about Laceiy and Sharan’s WAWIT success stories.
Learn more about WAWIT.
Learn more about Stepping Stones.
Learn more about Wider Opportunities for Women and the YWCA of the National Capital Area, two Grantee Partners of The Women’s Foundation who partner to implement WAWIT.

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

Weekly Round-Up: News and Analysis on Women and Poverty (Week ending April 10, 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.  And every Friday, look for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty.

Here’s this week’s news:

• The New York Times profiles a 28-year-old woman running a class that offers advice to low-income teens on avoiding dating violence.

• The Chicago Tribune covers a local group that helps teen mothers avoid poverty.

• The Indianapolis Star, in a story on local health coverage options, cites a clinic that provides free or low-cost mammograms to 2,000 women in the Indianapolis area each year.

• The Omaha World Herald notes that due to lack of funding, less than 30 percent of the 33,000 women eligible for a Nebraska cancer screening program receive services.

• The Anderson Independent Mail reports on a charity sponsoring healthcare services for low-income women.

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.

Vote against slavery: why you should vote for Polaris Project!

Posted on by Katherine Chon

“Good friend forgive me if I offend, I know I am not the only one with problems. I also understand that there are many people with greater problems than mines. But for you to take the time to consider mines, that I am most grateful. It is good that when one has climbed the ladder of success to the top, that he or she reaches down and help those that are not able to.” 
— YK

These are the opening lines of a letter I received earlier this week from a young women whose story is not unlike many of our own.  She came to Washington, DC seeking a better life with plans to get an advanced degree so that she could work with the poor and the oppressed, as she explained later in her letter.  She was excited to receive a job as a domestic worker, which would enable her to work towards her dreams.

What makes YK’s story different was that she was enslaved within the household, beaten, sexually assaulted, and prevented from leaving. 

YK is a survivor of human trafficking.

She was able to escape her situation through community support and currently is part of Polaris Project’s DC Trafficking Intervention Program (DC TIP).

Like YK, Janice* also had dreams that were exploited by a human trafficker.  When Janice was 12 years old, she should have been going to school and living the carefree life of other teenagers. However, after an older man offered to take care of her, Janice was forced into prostitution for five years and beaten each time she tried to leave.

Polaris Project was called in after a police investigation and began to provide Janice with food, clothing, and emotional support.  We also worked to reunite Janice with her family and she is enrolled in school.  Her trafficker was sentenced to prison and now Janice dreams of one day working in the criminal justice field.

While it is shocking that slavery can still exist in the 21st century, it is sobering to know that it is the third largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world.  The United Nations recently projected that human trafficking will only worsen with the state of the global economy.  Stories like YK’s and Janice’s show us that the face of human trafficking is often very personal and local, occurring in our own backyards. 

In fact, the FBI considers Washington, DC one of the top 14 sites in the country for the sex trafficking of American children.

When we started Polaris Project seven years ago, our mission was simple: find the victims, shape policy, and build a movement.

Interestingly, we began with a $5,000 seed grant from a local social entrepreneurship program and built an organization that has worked with more than 300 victims of human trafficking; testified before Congress four times to help pass landmark federal legislation (twice!); worked with legislators in D.C., VA, and MD to strengthen protections for victims; and, co-founded the DC Task Force on Human Trafficking in partnership with the D.C. U.S. Attorneys Office and D.C. Police with more than 30 other organizational members coordinating on cases and victim services.

Imagine what another $5,000 from winning this vote can do!  Click here to vote against slavery before 5 p.m. on Monday, March 30th!

*Names and details have been changed to protect the identity and anonymity of our clients.

Katherine Chon is the President and Co-founder of Polaris Project in Washington, D.C., a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.

Weekly Round-Up: Women and Poverty (Week ending March 27, 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. And every Friday, look for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty.

Here’s this week’s news:

• The Christian Science Monitor profiles a Boston-area theater troupe composed of marginalized women.

• In an op-ed in the Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Medical System President and CEO Jay Wolvovsky advocates for comprehensive prenatal care for low-income women.

• In a call for increased parental participation in children’s education, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist James E. Causey cites a program that offers assistance to low-income families, many led by single mothers.

• A Lowell Sun editorial argues that much of the current baby boom is attributable to teen pregnancy and single-mother homes, both of which are associated with poverty.

• In a Myrtle Beach Sun News op-ed calling on women to help empower one another, Sheryl McAlister, executive director of the South Carolina Alliance for Women, notes that women are more likely to live in poverty than men.

• The Cherry Hill Courier Post reports on a local effort to get prom clothes to girls who need financial assistance.

• The Norfolk Virginian Pilot covers a local branch of an international charity providing low-income women professional attire for job interviews.

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.

Why you should vote for Calvary Women's Services!

Posted on by Kristine Thompson

Your vote can empower women to move out of homelessness

Recently, Connie, a woman who lives at Calvary Women’s Shelter, wrote the following:

“What I mostly appreciate about Calvary is that they allow you to grow, attend meetings to keep you on the right path, teach you how to be responsible with daily, everyday living such as money management…Calvary has taught me responsibility, promptness, respect for myself and others, and how to be a team player.”

Connie is one of more than 1,300 homeless women in the District of Columbia.  In the current economic crisis, that number is growing, and it does not include all of the women who are doubled up with family or sleeping on a friend’s couch.

Women like Connie often have histories of violence and trauma.  They may be unemployed or working hard at low wage jobs.  They may live with mental illnesses, addictions, or chronic health problems.  Overcoming these challenges while living on the streets or in a large shelter with over 100 other women is nearly impossible.

Calvary Women’s Shelter serves 25 women each night.  Though the women who come to Calvary face great challenges, we believe that every woman has gifts and strengths she can build on to be successful.  We meet each woman as an individual, support her as she works to achieve her goals, and empower her to take control of her own life.

Each year, 60 percent of the women who come to Calvary move into their own homes.  Many others take positive steps to prepare for independent living.

We are honored and excited that the Washington Area Women’s Foundation has recognized our work with a Leadership Award.  An additional grant of $5,000, which we can win if we get the most votes in the 2009 Leadership Awards online vote, will make a big difference.

At Calvary, $5,000 can:

  • Purchase 6 months worth of food for our dinner and breakfast programs;
  • Support 2 months of life skills education programs; or,
  • Provide 22 women with a year’s worth of mental health services.

These services make a real difference in women’s lives.

Since moving to Calvary, Connie has worked hard to overcome the reasons she became homeless, completed her GED, secured employment, and begun her search for housing.

Addressing Calvary’s supporters, she wrote: “Let’s all come together as one and continue to help women like me with a new beginning.”

Your vote will do just that.  Vote now!

Kristine Thompson is the Executive Director of Calvary Women’s Services.

Why you should vote for Friends of Guest House in the online vote!

Posted on by Jocelyn McKinley

Friends of Guesthouse is the only program of its kind in all of Northern Virginia. 

We provide support and resources to formerly incarcerated women convicted of non-violent crimes, so that they may more successfully integrate back into their communities. The women work hard to progress through the program and work hard on improving themselves.

Guesthouse is a one-of-a-kind leader in the community, working with women that are on their  way to becoming leaders themselves.

You can learn more about our work at our Web site or our blog.

VOTE FOR US!!

Jocelyn McKinley is a case manager at Friends of Guest House, a 2009 Leadership Awardee and Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation since 2000, when they won their first Leadership Award.

Congratulations to Vera Mayer, Public Citizen of the Year!

Posted on by Lisa Kays

The Women’s Foundation is proud to congratulate Vera Mayer, senior advocate with Iona Senior Services and coalition coordinator with the DC Coalition on Long Term Care (a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation), on being named Public Citizen of the Year by the DC Metro Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

An article in Washington Jewish Week explains that Vera was recognized for her "years of work to improve the quality of life for seniors and disabled adults in the District of Columbia."  Vera is also "cited as one of the moving forces behind the District’s Aging and Disability Medicaid Waiver application to provide for community-based long term care rather than institutional placements for aging and disabled adults who need assistance."

Gwen Rubinstein, a program officer at The Women’s Foundation who has worked with Vera, echoed these statements, saying, "Vera is a force.  Getting the Medicaid Waiver passed was a big, big deal.  She is a true force."

Congratulations, Vera, from The Women’s Foundation, and many thanks for your devotion and service to the Washington metropolitan area and the well-being of its aging and disabled citizens.

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

Resources for homeless single women-headed families don't match need.

Posted on by Heather Thompson

According to an annual survey conducted by the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness in the District, the number of homeless people in the district has increased 3 percent over last year to 6,228.

What’s most alarming is the increase in homeless families, up nearly 25 percent, most of which are headed by single women. Serving this need is a limited number of resources that cater to women and children.

There is no turnkey solution to addressing homelessness. However, in a city where nearly one in five women is living below the poverty line, we all need to advocate for measures to aid this vulnerable population

Heather Thompson is a member of Soroptimist International of Washington DC, the local chapter of an international organization for professional women, with the aim of improving the lives of women and girls.

Weekly Round-Up: News and Analysis on Women and Poverty (Week ending March 13, 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. And every Friday, look for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty.

Here’s this week’s news:

• The New York Times editorializes on a small provision in the recent spending bill that will make contraception more affordable for low-income women.

• Chicago’s Columbia College includes classes that target some practical needs for low-income women, reports the Chicago Tribune.

• The New York Times writes that the age of steady annual decreases in unplanned pregnancies may be over.

• Cynthia Tucker argues in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it’s time to adapt public policy to support children born out-of-wedlock .

• Pennsylvania’s Girard College is about to have its first black woman president, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

• The Staten Island Advance reports that delinquent or failed child support payments have become a local epidemic.

• The Wichita Eagle notes a new Kansas program that helps men navigate the child welfare system.

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.

Link to The Women's Funding Network and The Women's Foundation on CNN!

Posted on by Lisa Kays

Earlier today, I wrote about how The Women’s Foundation and The Women’s Funding Network were featured on a story on CNN about how investing in women is one the best strategies for fostering economic recovery.

As promised, here is the link to the CNN clip of Linda’s Butler sharing her amazing story of how a jobs training program at Northern Virginia Family Services, which is supported by The Women’s Foundation, changed her life.

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