Funding Cut; Women’s Fund Refuses to See Women at Risk

This week I learned from Women's Fund that they are involved in trying to save a critical program in our community. Women's Fund stepped in after the Julian Center learned the Department of Justice is cutting funding for "The Grants to Encourage Arrests" program – a program credited with having a significant impact on saving lives and keeping women safe. Without this funding, six family violence advocates and officers who respond daily to domestic violence calls will lose their jobs. Without this funding, a partnership between IMPD and the Julian Center will cease to exist. Without this funding, women and children in our community are in danger. It's sad to know we are putting women and children at risk.

Last year alone, more than 2,000 women received help through this program. I hate to think what would happen if this program didn’t exist.

I think it's great to know that Women's Fund is committed to keeping women and children safe - and that their Advisory Board approved an emergency grant of $30,000 for the first month of support in order to prevent layoffs and help keep the program afloat.

The loss from this cut is nearly $360,000 ($30,000/month). Women’s Fund is now seeking others to join them in providing one month of support toward the Julian Center. If, as a community, we can secure a full-year of funding, the Julian Center can be strategic and thoughtful in their approach for finding replacement funds. I truly hope it happens, and I look forward to seeing who else will support this effort. Will it be you?

Domestic violence is too important for us to ignore. In fact, it's one of Women's Fund's focus areas. This is a timely topic too: October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. That's why we will dedicate much of October's blog to this issue.

Visit this blog throughout October to find out what happens to this program (let's hope for full funding) and other important topics related to Domestic Violence.

Bank on Indy

How did you first learn about managing money? As a child, you might have had an allowance and a piggy bank, and as you got older, perhaps you had a part time job and a checking account. At some point, you probably learned something about the value of money and keeping it safe. Through economic literacy programs at local Girls Inc. chapters, for example, many central Indiana girls are developing money management skills at an early age.

79,000 Marion County residents do not use bank accounts, according to today’s Indianapolis Star article “Indy to help 79,000 ‘unbanked’ open accounts.” Instead, these residents utilize cash or payday loan companies that charge a fee to cash a paycheck. “Bank on Indy” is a campaign to encourage these residents to obtain bank accounts. Twelve area banks participating in the program will forgive those who have made financial missteps in the past and allow them to establish free or low-cost bank accounts, as well as access support services provided by ten local community centers and five Centers for Working Families (click on the article and program titles to learn more).

"Bank on Indy" allows community members to gain access to a resource many of us take for granted. For a woman living paycheck to paycheck, utilizing a payday loan company that charges a fee of $8-$12 per paycheck she cashes, the ability to establish a bank account charging no more than $15 a year may help her stabilize herself and teach her children about money management. Coupled with support from other community resources, such as Making Connections and Business Ownership Initiative, “Bank on Indy” is an important part of a woman’s path to economic self-sufficiency. Women’s Fund applauds this new initiative!

Options and Opportunities

My grandmother graduated in 1949 with a Chemistry degree (pictured is the two of us in recent years). Her five hard-working daughters became a teacher, nurses, doctor, and a graphic designer/business owner. From a young age, my closest friends were education-focused, and they are now working in a variety of career fields. You might imagine one of the most important values to me is education, and I am fortunate this was modeled by many strong women in my life.

Still on Shaky Ground, Women’s Fund’s 2006 research document, shows, with equivalent education:

• The salary of a male high school graduate is 78% more than a female’s, and

• The salary of a male with a Bachelor's degree is 64% more than a female's.

This highlights clear economic disadvantages for women regardless of the education they have received, and, barriers to women achieving economic self-sufficiency without depending on the goodwill of others.

Concord Neighborhood Center is one of the many organizations Women’s Fund has funded in the area of insufficient income. Serving over 1,000 low-income women on the near south side of Indianapolis, Concord provides wide-ranging services, including affordable childcare, youth development, basic needs assistance (including GED classes), job coaching, and case management for senior women. Their services help women of all ages be economically self-sufficient and build a foundation for them, their families, and their neighborhood to achieve long-term success.

As a woman who has had many options and opportunities through education, I am proud Women’s Fund supports Concord and their efforts to help many women also have options and opportunities!

Are You Hungry?

I am feeling hungry as the day winds down and am eating an apple and trying not to drip the juice on the keyboard while I type. For my entire life, I have been fortunate to have never worried about having food for my next meal. My food worries center more around eating too much food and making healthy choices.

This past Saturday our GO: Give Back participants gathered for their GO educational sessions and in age-appropriate and gender divided groups, we discussed Food: Enough to Spare? Enough to Share? It was a challenging topic for children to think about people in our country and community who don't have enough to eat. The children were open, receptive, and left the session with a greater appreciation for food, nutrition, and hunger.

Here are some comments from GO participants about what they learned:

"We talked about world hunger and hunger in the U.S. and I learned that 1 out of nine people are hungry in the U.S. and a lot more people are hungry around the world."
--Maddie, sixth grade

"I learned about hunger and soup kitchens. We talked about how we can help people who don't have as much food as we do."
-- Joel, fourth grade

"I learned that one out of nine people in Indiana are hungry. I learned if we do not waste our food then less people will be hungry. I learned if you want to donate give some food to Second Helpings."
-- Catherine, fourth grade

Stay tuned for more later this week about what participants like best about GO. In the meantime, for more information about GO, see our website: http://www.womensfund.org/.

Thanks for reading! I have to go clean my sticky keyboard now.

More than Fun and Games

When you were young, I bet you liked to have fun and play games. I did too. There was always the fun of playing naturally with friends in the backyard and structured play times (like the 3rd grade lip sync performance). In hindsight, I most enjoyed learning when I didn't even know I was doing so. I was lucky enough to have opportunities like Girl Scouts and great programs at school to get involved in... so many good opportunities, it was sometimes hard to choose. I never imagined that these choices and opportunities did not exist for other girls.

In Shelby County, Girls Inc. of Shelbyville/Shelby County is one of the only girls-only programs in the area. They have a beautiful center located in the heart of Shelbyville and offer dynamic, affordable programs for girls. They are accessible to many girls and are working to reach girls living in the far reaches of their county. On a recent site visit, I was surprised to learn that they offer the only gymnastics program in Shelby County. They have an amazing facility and offer very reasonable rates so any girl who wants to participate is able to. The girls have the opportunity to compete, and some travel to do so.

In addition to their gymnastics program, Girls Inc. offers age-appropriate hands-on programs for girls, mainly in the summer and before and after school. Some of their offerings include gardening (in collaboration with a local gardening club), cooking, economic literacy, self esteem, and science programs.

Shelby County is lucky to have Girls Inc. to help girls discover they are strong, smart and bold. Women's Fund is proud to fund Girls Inc. because they help us fulfill our mission to provide options and opportunities for women and girls.

Everyday Leadership

Do you see yourself as a leader? Many of us are leaders by nature of our work or affiliations. Leadership opportunities occur at many moments each day. Sometimes we take advantage of them, sometimes we don't, and sometimes we exhibit leadership in unexpected ways.

Over the years, I have had several trainings on leadership. These opportunities have helped me define my own style of leadership, think differently as I approach many situations, and not to sit on the sidelines. One of my favorite leadership books shared with me is "The Leadership Moment," which outlines nine true stories and reminds me how each of us can be leaders in our everyday lives.

At a recent Women's Fund event, Ann Murtlow, Women's Fund Advisory Board Vice Chair and community leader, said something to the effect of "strong women make strong families, and strong families make strong communities." While our community needs leadership in board rooms, companies, and classrooms, we also need it in our homes and within our families. Women are often the pillar of their family, so it is necessary for us to see the issues women face as important to the success of our entire community.

Women's Fund is providing leadership for women and girls in our community not only by bringing to light the issues they face, but by providing funding to effective nonprofits addressing these issues. Women's Fund has granted to John H. Boner, Concord, and Hawthorne Community Centers, for example. This funding has helped with services such as high-quality childcare and job coaching primarily for low-income families in the neighborhoods they serve.

How are you using leadership opportunities each day? What are you teaching others? How are you using these opportunities to make our community a better place?

Dr. Emily Frank - Chef and Physician Extraordinaire

On Tuesday night, I had the honor of attending a dinner and talk given by Dr. Emily Frank at her lovely home in Carmel. For those of you who know Emily, you also know that she is a very gifted internal medicine physician, who has a passion for women's health issues. As if that wasn't enough, Emily is also a fantastic cook, and she is furthering that past time by attending culinary school. She also happens to be my older sister.

About twenty OPTIONS Class Nine members and OPTIONS Alumnae members attended. We enjoyed a menu of appetizers that Emily prepared, including blueberry and brie shortbread tarts, goat cheese, caramelized onion and candied walnut pizza, gazpacho with shrimp, tuna tartar, and dark chocolate, among other treats. Emily prepared all these delicious goodies from scratch with ingredients that were vitamin rich and contained healthful qualities such as antioxidants.

Emily's theme was wellness for women and she focused our conversation on the recommendations that we should all keep in mind as we take care of ourselves. We discussed everything from the amount of vitamin D we should all be taking to whether the BRCA testing is a reliable screening tool for the chances of developing breast cancer. One of the common themes from the evening was the question of whether we would alter our behavior knowing the out come of these types of diagnostic tools. Even if we knew we carried the gene to develop breast cancer, would we do anything differently? The recommendations for the general public are that BRCA testing is not a reasonable exam because of the cost balanced against the likelihood of preventing disease. That then begs the question should cost be a factor when determining who is entitled to good medical testing? What tests are excessive and may lead to unnecessary treatment, regardless of cost? In this climate of complex debate regarding health care, our discussion seems even more timely.

Another reoccurring theme throughout the evening was nutrition. Emily mentioned that the issue of nutrition, and more particularly weight loss has come up every time she speaks to women on the topic of wellness. In our discussion, we talked about nutrition and weight loss in the context of what diets Emily would recommend, what supplements were safe and effective, and how to balance our love of good food against our desires to be a size four.

It was interesting to contrast our questions against the questions posed to Emily when she spoke to the Professional Women's Group at Dress for Success. These women aren't any different than us in that they want to know more about their bodies, their diets, and improve and extend their lives and the lives of their families. What is different is that Emily had to tailor her recommendations to the PWG women because of their tight budgets and limited access to fresh produce and healthy food. Jennifer had a great recommendation that perhaps Emily would go to Double 8 or the downtown Kroger before she speaks to PWG again so that she can see the meager food options at the stores in which these women shop.

And that is what is so great about Women's Fund. On Tuesday night we had the opportunity to better ourselves by listening to a dynamic, engaging, and informed speaker who gave us specific recommendations on how to improve our health and wellness. However, Women's Fund's commitment to women and girls in need still found its way into our discussion, and we all paused to think about how lucky we are that we can afford those shiny Honey Crisp apples at Whole Foods. Women's Fund helps us balance the benefits of our lives against the responsibility to remember and understand women in need residing in Central Indiana.

Thanks you Emily for a fascinating (and delicious!) evening.

Go Girl!

Driving home from a meeting with Women’s Fund, I found myself comparing them to an event I participated in over the weekend. On Saturday, I was one of 500 women who participated in the Go Girl Triathlon, an event benefiting the Julian Center (I can't believe I'm actually posting a picture from the race, but there I am).

At the triathlon, women and girls cheered each other on. “Go Girl, Go” was a common chant throughout the race. Women of all ages enthusiastically supported and encouraged each other along the course. Women empowered one another and lifted each other up. The energy and excitement was an incredible experience.

So, how does that compare to Women’s Fund? Simple. Women’s Fund awards grants that encourage and inspire hope to women and girls in central Indiana. They are the support and encouragement that organizations need to ‘keep going’ and to ‘finish the race’.

As I sat in traffic, my mind wandered and I thought about some of the women in our community who inspire and empower women and girls with grants from Women’s Fund. I smiled as I thought about how they cheer for the women and girls in our community.

I can see:

• Sharon Pierce, president & CEO, The Villages, saying “Go Girl” to a teen who suffered abuse, yet overcame tragedy and graduated from high school.


• Pat Wachtel, executive director, Girls, Inc., high-fiving a young girl as she crossed the finish line driving the soap box derby car she made at camp.


• Niki Girls, executive director, Concord Neighborhood Center, cheering on a team of girls playing basketball, soccer or softball.

And the list goes on.

What women do you know who empower women and girls? I’d like to know so I can say “Go Girl” and Thanks!