Have you ever noticed that when someone wins a Grammy or an Oscar, they always thank the myriad of people who have supported them along the way?  Sometimes they go on a bit too long and the music begins to play, but they almost always utter, “I just want to thank my mom.”

As school lets out for the summer, there are many proud moments to celebrate, whether it’s a graduation milestone, a decent report card or the beginning of something new.

Every year, the Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington chooses our region’s best, brightest and most promising nonprofits to feature. 

The list is a prestigious one given that organizations are vetted by a diverse, knowledgeable group of stakeholders throughout the community who know our region, its issues and the organizations and work that is making a difference–much like the volunteer committees and giving circles that participate in The Women’s Foundation’s grantmaking processes.

As we wind down another school year and prepare for the summer, I’m reminded of the importance of mentoring and providing guidance to girls in all areas of life, especially financial literacy.  I feel encouraged to research and find information that is vital to the resources and images our girls and teen daughters receive and how they really feel about themselves and their financial future.

As unemployment in Washington, D.C. reaches nearly 10 percent, and once booming industries shut down, more and more people struggle to find new opportunities to earn a living wage. 

Many of these individuals lack the skills, education, or training necessary to attain jobs that will allow them to become self-sufficient. 

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.

Things like this make me just love my job.

A few weeks ago, staff from The Hatcher Group, who help out with The Women’s Foundation’s public relations, came in to do hourly one-on-one sessions with select Grantee Partners that we thought would benefit from some training and technical assistance in media relations. 

Over the last couple of weeks, there has been a lot of dialogue both on the regional and national level about what early care and education is. What should it be?  What should it focus on?

Thanks to the support and collaboration of Washington Area Women’s Foundation, the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) has moved quickly ahead in the area of communications capacity over the past year.

CARECEN provides direct housing counseling and legal services, as well as citizenship education and community economic development to 8,000 area Latino residents per year, while also reaching thousands more through outreach efforts.

Last week, New York Times columnist Nicolas Kristoff published a column on sex trafficking of young, American girls, stating, "The business model of pimping is remarkably similar whether in Atlanta or Calcutta: take vulnerable, disposable girls whom nobody cares about, use a mix of “friendship,” humiliation, beatings, narcotics and threats to break the girls and induce 100 percent compliance, and then rent out their body parts."