As Asian Pacific American Heritage Month draws to a close, I thought it was worth revisiting a few statistics from The Portrait Project about Asian women in the Washington region.  While these data are a few years old now, they still serve to remind us of the divide that exists in our region within all racial and ethnic groups—and of the need for an organization like The Women’s Foundation, which is attempting to be a bridge across the divide.

If you’re a low-income single mother, or, for that matter, a low-income married parent, one piece of bad news about trying to raise your kids in the U.S. is that our child care system is abysmally insufficient, and our pre-K programs are nearly as bad.  If you have money, you can bypass all of that by hiring a nanny or paying for private child care or pre-school.

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.

I thought I’d welcome summer this weekend with an afternoon stop in Dupont Circle to enjoy the weather and do some reading (i.e. people watching).

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!

As a donor supporting The Women’s Foundation, I am very heartened to know that my gift supports the foundation’s strategic and collaborative work to advance a social change agenda on behalf of women in our community. This work is largely embodied in Stepping Stones, an initiative to build financial independence and expand opportunities for women and their families.

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.

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. 

If Philanthropy 101 got to the heart of giving, and Research 101 is where the mind comes in, then Site Visits 101 got at the soul of philanthropy, where the heart and mind come together to get to the exciting moment of saying yes to making the grant, the decision, the gift.

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.