As I walked through our now vacant space one last time at 1411 K Street, it made me stop and think about what that space meant to our organization over the last seven years, and what our move to a new space means for us at this moment in our history. Without all of our furniture, cabinets, staff, and – for lack of a better word – stuff in it, the space at 1411 K Street suddenly felt huge, when just a few days before we could barely maneuver around the packing crates piled high. As I closed the door on our old office and walked the two blocks to our new one at 1331 H Street, I could understand what the founders of this organization must have felt when they opened the very first Washington Area Women’s Foundation office: new possibilities, a sense of excitement and optimism, and a big step forward.

In this week’s top stories: A new survey examines the lives of African American women.  The long-term benefits of a high-quality early education. An in-depth look at why DC residents leave high school before graduating.  Plus, one city in our area is named one of the best-paying cities for women.

The New Year is one of my favorite times of year.  It’s full of promise and potential — two things we value so much here at Washington Area Women’s Foundation.  Our belief in the promise and potential of every woman and girl in the DC region is what has fueled our work in the past, and what will drive it forward in the future.

I, like many in the region, sat down to watch the President’s State of the Union speech last night.  It’s an annual event that always engenders much anticipation (at least among the media pundits, political junkies, and those living in and around our nation’s capital), and this year was no exception.  Many called it “the” campaign speech, kicking off the 2012 election cycle.  Just a day before the speech, the White House said that the President would “outline his vision for an America where hard work and responsibility are rewarded, where everyone does their fair share, and where everyone is held accountable for what they do.”  Economic fairness was lauded as this year’s theme.

As I look at the calendar and realize that it’s nearly the end of January, I am once again asking myself an all too familiar question: Where has the time gone?  How is it possible that I’m four weeks into 2012 and have yet to really accomplish much on my to-do list?  The answer — time.

This month, we invited our Grantee Partners to share some of their New Year’s resolutions with us.  Their passion and commitment to transforming the lives of women and girls and improving our community are evident in the aspirational goals they’ve set for themselves this year.

Earlier this month, Women’s Foundation President Nicky Goren issued a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day call to action on this blog. Nearly 100 volunteers responded and joined The Women’s Foundation at A Wider Circle.  A Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation, A Wider Circle provides basic need items to local families.  The furniture, clothing, home goods and food items are donated and volunteers helped sort and prepare items for families in need.

When evaluating early learning and school readiness it is important to think holistically about children and their environment.  In a perfect world child advocates and educators would only need to focus on teacher quality, safe learning environments, and early learning standards, but we know that is simply not the case.  Children live in families and there is a highly disproportionate rate of low-income children in single, female-headed households.  With that being said, as the Early Care and Education Program Officer here at The Women’s Foundation, I am extremely concerned about how the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction’s (super committee) failure to come up with a solution will affect young children being ready to learn on the simplest micro level – their stomachs.

In this week’s roundup of news affecting women and girls in our community: We wonder what Dr. King might say about the high rate of poverty among women and girls in the DC area.  The top five findings of 2011 from the Institute of Women’s Policy Research.  The impact of Pre-K on the achievement gap.  Is it time for a poverty revolution?  Plus, a young, aspiring scientist is headed for a national competition as her family deals with homelessness.

This past weekend, my two boys and I had the opportunity to visit the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.  The visit was organized through our congregation, Temple Micah, as part of its celebration of Dr. King’s birthday.  Both the sermon, delivered by a guest speaker, Rabbi David Saperstein, and the visit to the stunning memorial site along the tidal basin, reinforced for me why I joined Washington Area Women’s Foundation and why the work of The Women’s Foundation and the non-profits we support is critical and relevant now more than ever.