However you feel about Hillary, it’s hard to deny that she represents far more than a Democratic bid for the presidency at every possible level. 

In keeping with my promise last week, I’m back with more on the DC Women’s Agenda’s white paper, Voices and Choices for D.C. Women and Girls: Recommendations for City Leaders 2007–and action you can take to encourage city leaders to increase the economic security of our region’s women.

Well, I didn’t successfully complete the one-week D.C. Hunger Food Stamp Challenge, but, I did learn valuable lessons and new personal insights. 

But first, full disclosure.  Why didn’t I finish?  I pretty much gave up.  I tried, but it was pretty tough.

I did it! I made it through all seven full days of the Food Stamp Challenge without breaking!

As a co-chair of D.C.’s WIN’s Nonprofit Network, I was responsible for sharing responsibility for planning a dinner party for the annual Women Opening Doors for Women event.  The dinner parties are designed to provide young women in our area the opportunity to meet in an informal setting to discuss professional issues with women who are more advanced in their careers. 

In preparation for the Food Stamp Challenge next week, the policy wonk in me is coming out.  I wrote a paper with some colleagues at CLASP a few years back that framed food stamps as one of several work supports that can help low-income working families.

A few weeks ago, in response to my post inspired by Oxygen’s new series, Who cares about girls?," one of our readers left a comment, saying, "I have two young daughters so I worry as much as anyone about what the kids are going through these days–but there are problems and then there are PROBLEMS.  Fairfax ain’t India.  That said, maybe something on the importance of the father/daughter relationship?" 

David Broder’s recent column in the Washington Post made me flash back to the final days of the 103^rd Congress. I was working for the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues and there was a strong interest in demonstrating that the 22 women elected to Congress during 1992 or “Year of the Women” had made an important difference in the types of bills that were introduced and passed. The Women’s Caucus did some analysis and learned that there were an unprecedented number of bills – introduced as well as passed by the 103^rd Congress – focused on issues important to women and families.

We are in need of a complete shake-up and wake-up in terms of what we expect from our leaders and what we will accept. The recent news of Representative Foley is sickening and the response on Capitol Hill is beyond maddening. This is the guy that was in charge of setting the policy agenda for protecting all of our children.