Thanks to the generosity of
Gayle Tauber, a group of founding members from
Women Give San Diego headed north on the morning of Friday, May 7 to attend the
Women's Foundation of California Momentum Awards. We took the carpool lane, of course, and enjoyed getting to know each other better on the ride up to LA and throughout the event. The hotel was elegant and the food delicious, but it was the speakers that wowed!
The honorees accomplishments are, indeed, momentous, but they weren't the only ones who left you awestruck - the women who introduced the award recipients were well-spoken, charismatic, and living reflections of the Women's Foundation of California’s vision.
Lateefah Simon was one such presenter; she was 15 and just released from juvenile hall when she became part of the Women's Foundation of California lifecycle. She entered one of the Foundation's grant partner programs, 4 years later was named the organization's Executive Director, and is now a recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" award and one of Oprah's "20 Most Powerful Women." Coming full circle, she's also a former board member of the Women's Foundation of California.
Lateefah was presenting her mentor, Aileen Adams, with a Momentum Award and she thanked Aileen for her contribution to Lateefah’s life path. As I looked around the table, Lateefah's words rang true for me as well, for we young women have wide open opportunities because of women like Aileen Adams and the women sitting around us at Gayle Tauber's Women Give San Diego table.
The other two Momentum Awards went to Connie Rice and Laura Chick. Connie, who admitted to being biased as a female chauvinist, reminded us that "we have to argue against our own [self] interests to defend the children who can't even safely walk to school." And Laura Chick insisted that "if you are not indignant then you are not paying attention ... and if you are not paying attention nothing changes." We were all rapt with attention absorbing the inspiring stories of women making a difference in their communities, and we did our part as well, helping with scholarships for women ready to turn education and experience into economic security and life change.
This was a unique opportunity for all of us who joined Gayle and I, as I am sure we all were, am thankful for the experience. It is a testimonial to the power of women joining together to affect change and elevate women’s lives in our community.
Many thanks to Megan Lim for this contribution to the Women Give San Diego blog! If you are interested in contributing a blog post please contact Emily Davis at edaconsulting@gmail.com.
Much more effective than a single lobby group, the Women’s Policy Institute (WPI) amplifies the voices of many women who are leading grassroots social justice work, training them on how legislation is made and connecting them to those in power. Through the Women's Policy Institute, a yearlong program of training retreats in Sacramento, we teach women activists and grassroots organizations how to successfully negotiate the labyrinth of Sacramento.
