Women

What do I have in common with Shakira?

Posted on by HyeSook Chung

Shakira has made early childhood development a priority!

And I like to think I have helped make it a priority in the Washington metropolitan area.

Shakira has made policy a focus — policies that have long lasting impact on children’s well being such as nutrition, medical care and early education.

I like to think the Early Care and Education Funder’s Collaborative’s focus on advocacy will make long lasting impact on the well-being of children in low-income communities in the region!

Shakira believes in collaboration and thinks that private charities cannot do it alone!  She thinks public government implementing many of the early childhood programs should be partners in creating long-term change.

I like to think that the Early Care and Education Funders Collaborative is a model of collaboration working in partnership with the public government to make long-term systemic changes.

Shakira has made the least glamorous issue fashionable – how can early childhood development and teaching very young poor children be glamorous to those who have influence?

I like to think I helped make early childhood development “fashionable” here at The Women’s Foundation.  It has been an important issue for the region for many years, and now a priority for The Women’s Foundation!

Would you ever think that Shakira and I were kindred spirits — motivated by the same hope that every child, especially in desperate situations — receive quality early education to ensure they are prepared for school, but more importantly for life?

Well, think again!  When it comes to early care and education, Shakira and I are on the same page!

HyeSook Chung is The Women’s Foundation’s Program Officer for Early Care and Education.  (And from now on, her nickname at the office will be Shakira.)

I'm proud to be helping make sure young women don't inherit a "place by the window."

Posted on by Lauren Yothers

“She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn’t be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window.”

The above is from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.
 
I remember reading The House on Mango Street in high school.  It was required, but it turned out to be one of the books that has stuck with me over the years. I find Esperanza’s story to resonate with growing up as a women in the Washington D.C. metro area.  She describes many of the challenges that continue to face young women – discrimination, violence, isolation, and sexuality.

I think of this quote in particular because I, too, am looking out of the window.  Although it is a gray day, I’m neither sad nor anxious.

In fact, I am quite excited to be looking out this window here at Washington Area Women’s Foundation. My “place by the window” is actually a desk in an organization that is helping women overcome challenges and empower themselves.

As I think of Esperanza, a name which means “hope,” I read some of the stories of women who have been helped by The Women’s Foundation.  I read about SECRETS, a program run by DAARA that provides a safe place and counseling for young girls much like Esperanza.

I read about women who, thanks to programs that The Women’s Foundation helps fund, are able to become what they want to be.

I am a new intern at The Women’s Foundation and I am excited to be helping to ensure that young women do not inherit a “place by the window.”

Lauren Yothers is a summer intern at The Women’s Foundation.  A native of Alexandria, Virginia, Lauren is a senior at the University of Miami majoring in Latin American studies and minoring in Spanish, Portuguese and environmental science.  Her career interests include nongovernmental organizations, socio-environmental problems, and human rights issues.

Job training and creation should also be the solution for unemployed single mothers.

Posted on by Gwen Rubinstein

Thank you to the Joint Economic Committee for drawing attention to rising unemployment among women-headed families in its new report, “Women in the Recession: Working Mothers Face High Rates of Unemployment.”

With so much public attention being paid to job loss among men, which, don’t get me wrong, is and should be of deep concern, the challenges for women have too often been overlooked.

How many others – besides we at The Women’s Foundation and those who attended our May 2009 Stepping Stones Research Briefing– would know that the national unemployment rate for women who are heads of households was 11 percent in May – higher than the 9.8 percent rate among men?.

Our national response to rising men’s unemployment, particularly in the manufacturing and construction sectors, has been to increase funding for job training and education and engage in job creation.  In fact, this was a key focus of the stimulus package passed earlier this year – and the President has also been talking about this even more in the last few days.

Don’t get me wrong – I think it is always good public policy to fund job training and job creation.  But I can’t help but compare this response to “welfare reform” of the 1990s, where low-income women heads of households were forced into “work first” and “rapid labor market attachment” models that basically forced them to take a job, any job, and offered only barriers to education and training. (This “work first” approach was also a hallmark of the Workforce Investment Act, which reformed the public workforce training system.)

A recent paper demonstrates quite strongly just how counterproductive this approach is.  Research concluded that welfare reform decreased the probability of both high school and college attendance among young adult women by 20 to 25 percent.  In other words, welfare policies have kept women from the very education and training that would help lift them and their families out of poverty and, ironically, offer more protection against unemployment. (Unemployment among individual without a high school diploma is 14.8 percent, compared to 4.4 percent for college graduates.)

I hope that as the Administration and Congress turn their attention to programs serving primarily women and that they will continue to be solidly committed to job training and creation.

Gwen Rubinstein is a Program Officer at The Women’s Foundation.

Weekly Round-Up: News and Analysis on Women and Poverty (Week ending June 5, 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:

• As part of a call to reduce immigration, Christian Science Monitor op-ed contributor Lawrence Harrison cites cultural “problems” that he claims immigrants bring from Latin America, including high rates of teen pregnancy and single motherhood

• The Washington Post reports on a program (funded by The Women’s Foundation!) that offers at-risk girls mentors and healthy activities.

• The Los Angeles Times profiles two sisters who benefit from a program that sends low-income girls to summer camp.

• Chicago Sun Times columnist Mary Mitchell, who is currently battling breast cancer, asks for more assistance for low-income women struggling with the disease.

• A Philadelphia Daily News story on the difficulty of getting into a special charter school for children from foster homes interviews a mother desperate to get her daughter into the program.

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.

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.

Weekly Round-Up: News and Analysis on Women and Poverty (Week ending May 29, 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:

• The New York Times profiles a nonprofit that provides free clothing to assist low-income women entering the work force.

• A Chicago Sun Times column focuses on Mama Brenda, a Chicago spoken word poet who performs outreach to single mothers and others in need.

• A new program is encouraging healthy eating by increasing the value of food stamps for low-income mothers who shop at farmers markets, according to the Washington Post.

• The Los Angeles Times notes that among the proposed cuts from California’s budget are treatment for breast and cervical cancer for illegal immigrants and women older than 65.

• As reported by the Albuquerque Journal, the economic downturn has forced a local program for low-income girls to merge with a parallel program for boys.

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.

2009 Stepping Stones Research Briefing audio and presentations now available!

Posted on by Lisa Kays

We’re pleased to announce that the audio and presentations from the 2009 Stepping Stones Research Briefing are now available online, thanks to our partner and co-sponsor, The Urban Institute.

This year’s briefing focused on the realities facing low-income women and their families in the current recession, as well as strategies to help them cope. 

Speakers at this year’s briefing included Heather Boushey from the Center for American Progress, Ed Lazere with the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, Marty Schwartz with Vehicles for Change and more.

The briefing was also live-Tweeted @TheWomensFndtn with hashtag #SSRB.

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

Studies show that women continue to be philanthropic movers and shakers.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

Well, the Interwebs are certainly all abuzz this week with talk of women’s philanthropy.  And the talk is good.

First, a Fidelity study shows that women are shaping the future of philanthropy.

Okay, we knew that.

But still, the report shows a number of positive, exciting new trends, such as that women are growing more comfortable giving with their name attached now, are being increasingly innovative in their philanthropic choices and are increasingly making decisions for how their households will give.

Additionally, Tactical Philanthropy featured a post, "Six Principles of Women’s High Engagement Philanthropy," which outlines the six principles (well worth a read) and offers the following introductory insight from Alice Eagly of Northwestern University, who says, "Women are transformational leaders while men are more likely to be transactional leaders."

Just like we’ve known at The Women’s Foundation for years: women are all about giving "beyond the check." 

Give and Take summarizes these discussions well here.

These pieces are exciting because they confirm what those of us practicing women’s philanthropy have long known to be true, as well as demonstrating that the movement is growing rapidly and with energy, despite the economic downturn and the many challenges it brings with it.

Indeed, as the song says that is so often heard at graduation ceremonies of our Grantee Partners’ job training and other programs, "Ain’t no stoppin’ us now."

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

Weekly Round-Up: News and Analysis on Women and Poverty (Memorial Day 2009 Holiday Edition)

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 Friday.

Here’s this week’s news:

• A Chicago Tribune article profiling a program that sends kids from a troubled area to summer camp to provide both enrichment and safety quotes a mom who is concerned for her son’s safety in their Chicago neighborhood.

• In a report appearing in USA Today, a single mom who lost her job is among those who send their children to a school catering specifically to homeless children.

• As covered by the Chicago Tribune, a clinic for low-income women is among those being closed due to financial constraints.

• In an op-ed in the Centre Daily Times, the author argues for stronger pre-natal health coverage 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.

Weekly Round-Up: News and Analysis on Women and Poverty (Week ending April 15, 2009)

Posted on by The Spotlight and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with Washington Area 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:

• An editorial appearing in the Chicago Sun Times argues that more support for single moms will benefit the next generation.

• The Washington Times profiles a Washington, D.C. resident who is known for her charity work with low-income mothers.

• In an op-ed for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, a contributor in favor of Notre Dame’s controversial invitation to President Obama argues that he disapproves of bishops’ support of pro-life candidates, which he believes has led to a widening of the gap between rich and poor.

• As reported in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, several clinics for low-income patients, including a women and children’s center, are slated to close in Georgia.

• The Detroit News reports that Michigan’s cuts of certain programs may hurt its chances of receiving federal matching funds allocated to low-income mothers and pregnant women.

• A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel commentary on a low-income clinic struggling to stay open notes that most of its clientele is single mothers and their children.

• A USA Today piece on stimulus funds going to Indian tribes notes the benefits it will provide to people like Naomi Sitting Bear, a mother living with her family in dilapidated housing, as well its support for domestic violence programs.

• A Chicago Tribune piece on new housing for homeless and low-income residents interviews a woman, recently released from jail, who believes that the housing will provide her with new stability and opportunities.

• The Miami Herald reports on a disabled woman who was given housing from Habitat for Humanity on Mother’s Day.

• The Governor of Rhode Island has proposed a plan that would cut state aid to low-income pregnant women, as noted by the Associated Press.

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.