Read on to find out what some of our grantees will be doing for our region in 2012 and tell us in the comments below what you envision for women and girls this year.  Washington Area Women’s Foundation will be sharing our own list of resolutions later this month in a special e-mail message from Foundation President Nicky Goren.  Make sure you learn what we’re planning for 2012 by signing up to get monthly e-mails today!

IWPR’s 2012 Resolutions

• During this election year, get people talking about the issues that affect women, such as jobs and the economy, the gender wage gap and workplace discrimination, STEM education, Social Security and retirement, work/family balance, and maternal and child health.
• Celebrate our 25^th anniversary by marking the progress that women have made while highlighting areas where policy changes could make a huge difference in advancing women, families, and communities.
• Illustrate the current status of women displaced by Hurricane Katrina through an upcoming report that also identifies their specific needs.
• Improve success rates for student parents by sharing best practices and forging strong partnerships with administrators, practitioners, advocates, and policymakers within the worlds of higher education, youth development, and early care and education.
• Give young women opportunities to gain career experience while expanding their knowledge of research and policy issues through our internship and fellowship programs.

Goodwill of Greater Washington’s 2012 Resolutions

• In 2012, Goodwill of Greater Washington resolves to train, equip and place nearly 200 people into local jobs that support the local economy. We anticipate that these 200 jobs will come through the continued expansion of Goodwill’s retail stores, as well as the placement efforts from our intensive job training programs;
• Goodwill of Greater Washington also resolves to continue providing 600+ jobs to local residents through our retail stores, janitorial contracts, and administrative and support divisions, many of which are filled by people who face significant disabilities or other barriers to employment.

NOVACO’s 2012 Resolutions

At a client Life Skills meeting at NOVACO in January, several clients set goals and made resolutions.  They included:

• believing in themselves so that they could achieve their goals;
• being better parents; and
• setting small goals and telling themselves that they could accomplish those goals.

One mother, Kay, reflected on how much she’s achieved so far.  She earned her high school diploma through night classes, learned to drive and got her driver’s license, and worked with lawyers to get a work permit.  She also improved her parenting skills while she worked full-time at a restaurant and was offered a management position after just one year.  She volunteered her free time as a pen pal and greeter for the USO.

DCVLP’s 2012 Resolution

The DC Volunteer Lawyers Project resolution is that every victim of domestic violence in DC seeking a civil protection order who wants representation by an attorney will have one this year.

SMYAL’s Women’s Leadership Institute’s 2012 Resolutions

• Provide a much-needed free space for young women to gather and form community.
• Using that space, build our community of women and strengthen our bonds through discussion and shared service.
• Promote further discussion about maintaining healthy relationships, recognizing unhealthy relationships, and combating domestic violence.
• Develop connections to extend our diverse community deeper into the DC metro area and beyond.
• Seek out community partners and collaborate on at least four service projects.
• Connect more young women to mentorship opportunities with local volunteers.
• Long-term resolution: Create a community of confident, empowered women through opportunities for leadership development and civic engagement.

FAIR Girls’ 2012 Resolutions

We, FAIR Girls, resolve to work as hard as we can to make sure that by the end of 2012…

• 200 teen girl survivors of exploitation have received compassionate care, including counseling, emergency housing, assistance in finding legal and medical support, resume building and job placement, educational attainment support, and a sense of family and community at FAIR Girls.
• 1000 teen girls and boys in high schools and youth shelters have participated in our Tell Your Friends workshop and have learned how to keep themselves safe from sexual exploitation and trafficking.
• 1000 law enforcement officers, teachers, and social workers are better able to identify and assist victims of trafficking having attending a FAIR Girls training.
• A law, inspired by Daisy, will have passed in Washington, D.C. ensuring that all missing teenage girls are considered “critical missing” and have access to FAIR Girls and our partners’ services when they are found.
• 2000 hours of art therapy and economic empowerment workshops will have helped inspire and restore more than 125 girls.

Thank you to the Grantee Partners who shared their resolutions with us!  You can share your thoughts in the comments below and don’t forget to register for our e-newsletter to learn more about The Women’s Foundation’s plans for 2012.

Tags: 2012, resolutions, women, girls, unemployment, jobs, economy, trafficking, domestic, violence, education

– Ahead of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, Women’s Foundation President Nicky Goren visits the MLK Memorial and reflects on what Dr. King would think about more than 200,000 women and girls living in poverty in the DC region.

– The Women’s Foundation is inviting supporters to join us and volunteer at A Wider Circle on MLK Day.  Click here for details.

– The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) — a Women’s Foundation Grantee Partner — has posted a list of their top five findings of 2011. Topics on the list include how women have fared during the economic recovery, the unmet child care needs of student parents and how much paid sick days would save taxpayers.

– East of the River Magazine explores the innovative work of AppleTree Early Learning Public Charter School.  The article also takes a look at the impact a quality Pre-K education can have on the achievement gap.  AppleTree is a Women’s Foundation Grantee Partner.

– “In the fight against poverty, it’s time for a revolution,” David Bornstein writes in a commentary on The New York Times website. Bornstein calls for re-defining poverty, restructuring how social services are handled, and focusing on collaborative, long-term solutions.

– Here’s your feel great story of the week: a 17-year-old Long Island high school student whose family had to move into a homeless shelter a year ago is a semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search competition.  Samantha Garvey says she doesn’t have the best home life, but she hopes that she made her parents proud by being one of just 300 students nationwide to participate in the semifinals of the competition.  You can watch her story here:

Tags: women, girls, dc, poverty, homeless, education, intel, science, career, early care, children

The report found that our region is one of the most highly educated in the country – yet there’s a stark divide between those with high and low levels of education and that divide becomes even wider when race is taken into consideration.

Portrait Project 2010 looked into fourth graders’ proficiency in reading and math.  The report found that the District is far behind the rest of the region and the U.S. overall in both reading and math.  Girls are performing slightly better in reading and about the same as boys in math.  But taking race into account once again showed a greater divide, with fourth graders of color lagging far behind their white counterparts.

Portrait Project 2010 also found that 10 percent of the girls in our region don’t complete high school.  “Among girls of color, high school completion rates are especially low: African American and Asian girls are twice as likely (12 and 14 percent, respectively) as white girls (6 percent) to lack a high school diploma.  And almost four in ten (37 percent) Latinas in our region do not graduate from high school (US Department of Commerce 2008).”

The lack of a high school diploma or other degree greatly impacts future earnings.  Women with graduate or professional degrees have median annual earnings ($70,787) that are more than three times the earnings of those who do not graduate from high school ($18,283).

In spite of the obvious struggles that some students in our community face, women in the region have much higher-than-average educational levels; half have a bachelor’s or graduate degree, compared to a little more than a quarter of women in the U.S. overall.

So how do we bridge the gaps and ensure that all girls in our region are on a path to prosperity?  Portrait Project 2010 highlights the importance of starting early, pointing out that quality early care and education can prepare children for later grades and increase their chances of finishing high school.

Portrait Project 2010 also shows that 26 percent of girls who drop out of high school say pregnancy or parenting was behind their decision to leave school without a diploma.  Providing young parents with innovative opportunities to finish school while receiving child care supports may ensure that young mothers have better opportunities to provide for their families.

The report also points to community college and job training as additional ways to  help women earn the skills and credentials they need to improve their career and earnings prospects.

Portrait Project 2010 has some valuable lessons about ways we can use educational attainment to improve the lives of girls, women, their families and our entire community.  Here’s my back-to-school wish list for our region:

Do you have a back-to-school wish list for the girls in our community?  Tell us what’s on your list in the comments below.  And for more details you can read the full Portrait Project 2010 online by clicking here.

Tags: education, girls, washington, dc, maryland, schools, teens, high school, dropout, community college

– A new Century Foundation report finds that sending students from low-income families to schools in wealthier neighborhoods may be better for student performance. The report, “Housing Policy is School Policy,” looks at Montgomery County’s inclusionary zoning rule, which says that housing developers have to set aside units for public housing.

– Early voting begins today in D.C.  For details on how District resident can cast their ballots before November 2nd, please click here.

– A new Early Childhood Center in Alexandria will give preschoolers a chance to go to class in the same building where they’ll be in Kindergarten and first grade.  The center is being offered by the public school system in Alexandria and is supposed to eliminate the achievement gap that some students face when they enter Kindergarten.  Click here for details.

– The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that there was an 11 percent drop last year in donations to the country’s biggest charities.  It was the worst decline the Chronicle has reported since it began ranking the 400 organizations that raise the most from private sources.

– What role does “culture” play in poverty?  According to The New York Times, some “scholars are… conceding that culture and persistent poverty are enmeshed.”  It’s an idea that has provoked emotional debate in the past.

Tags: women, girls, low, income, education, preschool, school, montgomery, county, alexandria, d.c., early, voting, charity, donatin, philanthropy, poverty

Travis Wright is an assistant professor at The George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development.  If you attended our annual Stepping Stones Research Briefing back in May, you probably heard Travis talk about findings from a four year study he did in a presentation called “Mother Matters: Making It vs. Satisfaction in the Lives of Women Raising Children in Low-Income Environments.”  Travis came to The Women’s Foundation to tell us more about his study, some of the policy recommendations he had based on that study and plans he has to open a school that is both culturally and economically diverse.

The overview of Travis’s study was fascinating and unique for a number of reasons, but what I liked best about it were his suggestions that social service providers focus on what women want, instead of what they assume women need.  Travis started his study by asking the participants who they wanted to be.  He asked about what kind of lives these women wanted to have and what success looked like from their point of view.

Below are some clips of Travis’s presentation at The Women’s Foundation.

In this first clip Travis introduces his study and talks about the unique way in which he started his research:

In this clip Travis talks about “mother blaming” — social policy that views mothers as problematic:

In this third clip Travis discusses the major findings from the study, including how women define success and where happiness factors into their lives:

Doesn’t everyone have the right to be happy? In this clip Travis suggests that organizations need to take happiness into account when helping low-income women:

Clip 5 is about significant findings from the study, including the factors associated with life satisfaction and social policies:

And in clip 6 Travis suggests that social service providers as women what they want and need rather than making assumptions.  “Satisfaction,” he says, “has to matter.

If you’d like to read more about Travis Wright’s study, click here to see the Power Point presentation he made at the research briefing.

And feel free to leave a comment below about your feelings on the presentation.

Tags: women, mothers, low, income, assistance, service, providers, nonprofits, children, education

– The annual cost of infant care in D.C. is about $11,500, according to a new report out this week.  That’s more than twice the cost of tuition at a public college.  Click here to find out what one organization says the city can do to help struggling parents.

– The Washington Post takes a look at what Craigslist says they’re doing to keep ads for underage girls out of the website’s “adult services” section, and what’s actually going on in that section.  Last week FAIR Fund, a Women’s Foundation Grantee Partner, called Craigslist  the “Wal-mart of online sex trafficking.”

– Washington City Paper takes a look at homeless services in the District after money for needy families was spent to make up for a shortfall in a summer employment program.  And DC Fiscal Policy Institute, a Women’s Foundation Grantee Partner, has a list of lessons that city leaders can take away from the Summer Youth Employment Program.

– Over the weekend, Elena Kagan was sworn in as the 112th justice of the Supreme Court. She’s the fourth woman to be named justice in the history of the high court.

– The first woman to head a major U.S. intelligence agency is being instated today.  Letitia A. Long will be the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.  Click here for details.

Photo Credit: gabi_menashe via Creative Commons.

Tags: washington, dc, childcare, homeless, summer, employment, elena, kagan, fair fund, dc fiscal policy institute, letitia long

– Federal subsidies for child care are failing to keep up with rising demand, leaving an increasing number of low-income families struggling to balance work and parenting.  Click here to read how this is effecting parents, particularly low-income, single women.

– Later today, teenagers in Prince George’s County will attend Youth Explosion, a program that promotes safe activities and helps teens find summer jobs.  The program is for kids between 12 and 18 and is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Tabernacle Church in Laurel.

– Some local dads say they’re paying attention to parenting messages on bus shelter posters.  The posters say “Take time to be a dad today” and offer suggestions for activities parents and children can do together.  According to the National Fatherhood Initiative, one-third of kids in American grow up in a home without their biological fathers.  Click here to find out why some fathers say the ads are working.

In today’s rundown: Solutions for the high cost of child care.  |  Promising new legislation that will invest in community colleges.  |  The impact of women’s philanthropy.

– For some local parents, the cost of quality child care can account for up to 60 percent of their annual incomes.  While subsidies do exist to help offset the costs, they’re often not enough.  Hyesook Chung, executive director of D.C. Action for Children talks about options.  Click here to listen to what she has to say.

– President Obama spoke to students at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria where Jill Biden teaches English.  The president was there to discuss new legislation that will revamp the federal student loan program and invest billions of dollars into community colleges around the country.  Click here for details.

– The Women’s Foundation Grantee Partner Borromeo Housing Inc. is featured in this video story about women’s philanthropy and its impact worldwide.  Borromeo Housing operates Elizabeth House, the program featured in the piece.  Elizabeth House is an education-first residential program for homeless adolescent mothers.

Got something to say?  Leave a comment below.  Or join us at www.Facebook.com/TheWomensFoundation.

Photo credit: Editor B via Creative Commons

Tags: washington, maryland, virginia, child, care, costs, women, girls, children, subsidies, northern virginia community college, women moving millions, borromeo housing, elizabeth house, homeless, teen, mothers

– Hopkins House — a Women’s Foundation Grantee Partner — was recently awarded a giant check — both in size and amount.  The $250,000 check was presented by Rep. Jim Moran.  The money will fund Hopkins House’s Early Childhood Learning Institute, which will help 100 low-income adults earn a Child Development Associate credential and 31 credits toward a college degree.  Click here for more details.

– An overhaul of child support guidelines is on the jam-packed agenda of Maryland lawmakers, who have three weeks to wrap up the current legislative session.  If the bill is passed, it would be the first major change to the child support guidelines since 1989.  It would change the schedule used by courts to determine child support obligations and would be updated to reflect the realities of the current economy.  Many noncustodial parents would end up paying more.  Click here to read the details of the legislation.

– Three young, women journalists at Newsweek are taking a look at sexism in the workplace, comparing their experiences to those of a group of women who sued the magazine for gender discrimination in 1970.  Click here to find out what’s changed and what hasn’t.

Photo credit: Local Kicks

Tags: washington, dc, maryland, virginia, women, girls, gender, discrimination, newsweek, sexim, child, support, bill, hopkins house, jim moran, early, childcare, education

The following are excerpts of the research update.  For the full update, including summarized key findings, click here.

Financial Education and Wealth Creation News
The median household income in the District of Columbia rose from $56,400 in 2007 to $57,900 in 2008, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey; however, DC residents with the lowest levels of education saw their incomes fall significantly from 2007 to 2008. (Full text)

Jobs and Business Ownership News
One fifth of all families with children are headed by working single mothers. The families of single mothers have a high poverty rate – 28.3 percent. The persistent gender wage gap continues: in 2007, women who worked full-time, year-round earned only 78 cents for every dollar earned by full-time, year-round male workers. These findings suggest that a number of changes in policy and practice are needed to improve women’s earnings. You can read the details about these findings by clicking here.

Child Care and Early Education News
A new Child Trends research brief explores the issues that judges consider when making decisions about termination of parental rights (TPR) and adoption of foster children. Several judges reported that the absence of TPR limits the adoption recruitment efforts of the child welfare agency. Some judges report a need for more discussions with older children to explore and address their concerns about adoption. (Full text)

Health and Safety News
Today, there are about 1.1 million people with HIV/AIDS living in the U.S., including nearly 280,000 women. Women of color, particularly black women, are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. The impact of HIV on younger women is particularly notable – more than 6 in 10 new HIV infections among women were among those ages 13-39 in 2006. 76% of women with HIV/AIDS who were receiving medical care had children under 18 in their homes, which may complicate their ability to manage their illness. (Full text)

Other News and Research
The Urban Institute surveyed District permanent supportive housing (PSH) agencies and specific PSH projects. The research includes a look at how the District might move forward toward fulfilling its commitment to create 2,500 new units of PSH and eliminate chronic homelessness. (Full text)

Tags: Stepping Stones, Urban Institute