Engage and Be Engaged: Membership Recruitment Event

On Wednesday, October 5, 2001, the Women Give San Diego members gathered at Barbara Bry’s beautiful home on Mount Soledad. Despite the rainy evening, we had 82 women attend the gathering.

Linda Katz opened the evening up with a history and overview of Women Give. She gave an update on our co-Founder, the Brain Warrior, “June” Tuttleman who is inspiring us all with her strength and determination.

Bunmi Esho, Membership Team Chair, was our official mistress of ceremonies and commanded the room with the tinkle of her bell. Each attendee was assigned to a small group and rotated through five stations with the help of their “shepherds”.

Three of the stations had roundtable discussions with our grantees:

· Dress for Success

· Supportive Parents Information Network

· Just in Time

The other two stations engaged attendees in discussion:

· At the membership station, Gayle and Linda informed women of the benefits of membership and how the ladies could get involved.

· At the networking station, attendees were provided an opportunity to engage and speak with other guests. There were question prompts to help the women engage in conversation with one another.

After each group rotated through the stations, Gayle Tauber wrapped up the evening with some final comments and thoughts encouraging attendees to join our incredible and dynamic members to raise the economic status of women and girls in San Diego.

If you or a friend is interested in joining, there are two ways:

Online

1. Visit: http://www.womensfoundca.org

2. Scroll down a bit, and on the left side you will see a "Donate Now" option.

3. Select that and fill out the form accordingly.

4. Under "Special Options" in the "Special Instructions" box near the bottom, please make sure you state that this donation is for “Women Give San Diego”.

Mail/Check

1. Fill out this gift form.

2. Send gift form and a check directly to the Women's Foundation of CA. Please write on the check memo that it's for Women Give San Diego.

3. The address is:

Women's Foundation of CA, 340 Pine Street, Suite 302, San Francisco, CA 94104

WGSD: Membership Quarterly Meeting

Girl Effect: A presentation by Planned Parenthood at the WGSD Quarterly Membership Meeting

A collaborative written piece by WGSD members:

Morgan Justice-Black, Director of Development & Marketing, I Love a Clean San Diego

Kersten Wehde, Associate Director of Major Gifts, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest

On September 12^th, the members of Women Give San Diego were treated to an informative meeting hosted by Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest’s (PPPSW) Rebecca Karpinski, Vice President of Strategy and Organizational Effectiveness, and Nora Vargas, Vice President of Community Engagement. The venue and presenters were graciously arranged by Women Give San Diego member and PPPSW Board Chair, Jennifer Dreyer. She led us in a fun and thoughtful activity.

Planned Parenthood and Women Give are very similar in their desire to empower women and girls and close the economic gap that exists among many women. The meeting opened with a short but powerful video entitled “Girl Effect”. This powerful 3-minute video addressed the relationship between unintended pregnancy and poverty among women. (See video here: http://www.girleffect.org/video)

Rebecca noted some interesting statistics and challenges specific to San Diego County:

- 250,000 women are living at 125% of the federal poverty level. For a single woman, that means $13,000 in annual income, and $28,000 for a family of four.

- 80,000 women live in extreme poverty. For a single woman, that means $5,000 in annual income, and $11,000 for a family of four.

- Women are more likely to live in poverty because they work part time or sporadically; have children, are single parents or care for others; and may suffer from pay and health inequity.

- 25% of women in SD are foreign born, many with limited English proficiency, which limits their employment opportunities or traps them in lower-wage fields that lack benefits (i.e., domestic workers and childcare).

- 6% of all women are undocumented or unauthorized residents

Being poor increases one’s likelihood of unintended pregnancy. Women living in poverty are less likely to have insurance, access to services, and funds to afford services. They are also less likely to fill prescriptions. Planned Parenthood’s role is to provide women with access to affordable reproductive health services and accurate information so they can plan their pregnancies and continue on their path to economic self-sufficiency.

Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest includes 19 health centers across three counties (San Diego, Riverside and Imperial), and serves 300,000 patient visits each year. Significant funding for PPPSW comes through the state’s Family PACT (Planning Access Care Treatment) program, conceived by Governor Pete Wilson. Because income is so inextricably tied to unintended pregnancy, FPACT has become a crucial program for women living in poverty, allowing them to access free services including testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infection, cancer screening and birth control. It makes economic sense, too: For every $1 we invest in family planning, the state saves $5.33 in future Medi-Cal and other social service costs, and that’s just in the first year.

Nora Vargas spoke after Rebecca, citing Planned Parenthood’s multiple community engagement activities in the agency’s three-county service area. Among the more recent endeavors are efforts targeting monolingual communities such as the Somali refugee population, as well as the successful Teen Success program for pregnant and parenting teens. Participants in this program are expected to maintain their family size, complete their high school/vocational/GED education, and develop life skills that lead to self-sufficiency. This is considered an especially at-risk population, as teen mothers are more likely to drop out of high school and be and remain single parents. One-fourth of adolescent mothers will have a second child within 24 months of the first.

PPPSW has a variety of programs including:

· Classroom education in partnership with many local school districts in San Diego, Riverside and Imperial Counties.

· Faith-based programs collaborating with spiritual institutions.

· A Promotoras program which trains a motivated individual from disenfranchised communities to speak to her community members about family planning and other issues in their native language.

· Teen Success, focused on young women who have carried “unintended” pregnancies to term, and is intended to help these young women find jobs, finish school and better manage motherhood.

Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest is committed to closing the economic gap through reducing unintended pregnancy. See for yourself at: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/pacific-southwest/

Note: you may have seen Jennifer profiled last month in a few local publications: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/pacific-southwest/files/Pacific-Southwest/RanchoSantaFeReview_08-11-2011.pdf

Engage & Be Engaged: October 5th

Dear WGSD members,

Please invite your friends and colleagues to join us for a membership recruitment evening. This is a great opportunity to show women in our community the good work we do by meeting our grantees in person.

See you on the 5th!

Good Deeds

Letter from Jan, our "Brain Warrior"

Read by Linda Katz at the WGSD Membership Meeting on September 12, 2011

Dear Women Give San Diego Members,

What can I say, I feel like I fell into a deep space worm hole! I'm actually getting an MRI as Linda reads this so it feels like a worm Hole!

I am actually doing very well, Linda heard my voice today and she can attest to my strength.

I so appreciate all your cards, prayers and good wishes. Recovery from brain surgery has been remarkable. Besides having trouble with numbers and getting headaches and tired I almost feel like normal (well sort of!!). I even got a side benefit from the surgery! A brow lift so I look better than ever! More important I am keeping a very positive attitude, I'm eating very healthy, getting special ayurvedic treatments, accupuncture, and massage and I meditate 2 hr a day and go on daily walks by the ocean. I start radiation and Chemo on Thurs. for 6 weeks and if I handle it well, which I should, I'd love some company so I'll set up a visitation schedule if you'd like to visit.

Mainly I want to thank all of you for your support and belief in our work together to improve the lives of women and girls in San Diego. I so believe in our organization and so appreciate all of you stepping up to take on new roles, stretch yourselves, learn and help where needed. When I am better, which will be awhile, I am quitting ALL (wow! that feels good to say!) my other responsibilities but will return to Women Give to help in any way needed to further our cause.

Thank you again for your support and thoughts and love and good wishes and prayers.

Lots of love,

Jan

A Note about Mitzvah: Acts of Kindness on behalf of our "Brain Warrior"

Recently, WGSD sent a notice about a “mitzvah calendar” we set up in honor of our beloved Jan Tuttleman. The premise: for those who care about Jan to engage in acts of kindness in her name and merit. The word mitzvah is technically translated as commandment. However, the word is often used in a more broad way to refer to any good deed.

According to Jewish tradition, there are three acts that can change a person’s fate. These are all types of mitzvot (the plural of mitzvah):

· Torah (study)

· Tefilah (prayer)

· Tzedakah (charity and acts of loving kindness)

As we enter the High Holiday season, we ramp up our pursuit of these activities so that we may ensure a sweet new year not only for ourselves but also for our loved ones. There is a powerful sense of connectedness in Judaism, and it is believed that prayer or acts of loving kindness on behalf of others can heal and restore.

Jan’s good deeds bless the entire community. Now it is our turn to bless her with our good deeds. We wish her and all who are sick or in pain a speedy and complete recovery and for our friends of all faiths, we wish you a sweet and healthy new year. Shana Tova! A good year!

If you would like to add a mitzvah to the calendar you may do so at:

http://brainwarriorjan.keepandshare.com and click on Jan’s Mitzvah Calendar

Thank you to Charlene Seidle from the San Diego Jewish Community Foundation for this beautiful piece on mitzvah.

Meet the Education Committee

Meet the Education Committee

Our recent membership survey revealed that 54% of the membership would like an education component to be a part of the experience of Women Give.

The objective of the committee is to share the findings our of research study, and other relevant publications, to ensure members:

· Understand the issues and barriers facing women in our region

· Make informed decisions about how resources should be allocated based on this information

But also:

· Be prepared to share concise and accurate information with anyone that is interested in Women’s issues in San Diego

· Continually be reminded and reaffirmed of the need in the region based on the reiteration of the information we all found so compelling when we joined the group

To do this, the Education Committee will present information to members in a way that can be easily understood, remembered and repeated. We have broken the work down by focusing information on specific populations and will present relevant information about each population when we have the opportunity to share with the group.

Erin E. Spiewak, Chair,is the Executive Director of the Gary and Mary West Foundation, where she manages all day-to day operations of the Foundation. Ms. Spiewak is chair of the San Diego Workforce Funders Collaborative and a founding board member and Treasurer of Downtown Charter High, a new public high school. Prior to joining the Gary and Mary West Foundation in 2008, Ms. Spiewak was with the WebMD Health Foundation and the Rose Foundation. She was compelled to join Women Give after learning the information comprised in the research report commissioned the group. The Education Committee is an avenue to share this compelling information with current and prospective members.

Lenise Andrade is a Southern Californian native who has always been concerned about issues affecting women and girls. She has over 9 years experience fundraising for nonprofit organizations, specializing in conservation organizations and recently joined the team at WiLDCOAST, as their Director of Development. She worked for Heal the Bay in Los Angeles and moved to San Diego in 2007 to join the fundraising team at the San Diego Zoo, where she was part of their Major Gifts team for over 3 years. Lenise has a degree in English from the University of Southern California and spent several years as a teacher before entering the nonprofit sector. She is a former board member of and very active in the local chapter of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN) and is also part of the Education committee at Women Give San Diego. She is excited that she can use her educational and professional experience to benefit women and girls throughout San Diego County.

Sasha Clines is the Director of the Annual Giving at Francis Parker School. She received her bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Communications from San Diego State University. Sasha spends her time outside of the office performing with her mother as a vocal/piano duo and as a mentor for young women at the Jenna Druck Center, a member of Women Give San Diego as well as a facilitator, public speaker and fundraiser for Jeans 4 Justice. She joined WGSD because she wanted to continue to give time, effort and financial support to many organizations including Women Give. It was clear to her from the first WGSD meeting, that not only were the members a group of sophisticated, caring and dedicated women that she would immediately bond with, but that these were women gathering around a common interest to join forces and be a more powerful stance for positive change in others lives. She joined the education committee because she believes that change can only occur when people are well-educated on matters and then motivated from that information to make a difference.

Amy Gunderson is the program assistant at the Gary and Mary West Foundation. Prior to the Gary and Mary West Foundation Amy spent two years at Casa Familiar, a community development organization located on the U.S. Mexico border. Amy has recently begun her MBA at the UCSD Rady School of Management, and is involved with the New Leader’s Council. She joined Women Give to further develop her understanding of Philanthropy and specifically the Education Committee as she feels passionate about SDWG members understanding the specific vulnerable populations in San Diego.

Shana Hazan supervises Jewish Family Service’s teen leadership programs, including Girls Give Back, the nationally-recognized Hand Up Teen Leadership Program, and a network of Hand Up Clubs at 10 area high schools. She holds a master’s degree in Education and Social Policy from Northwestern University, and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin. In addition to her involvement in Women Give, Shana serves on the Executive Committee of Run Women Run, and the board of Stanley E. Foster Construction Tech Academy. In 2009 she founded Emerging Leaders at JFS and currently serves on their Community Service Committee. Shana was named to San Diego News Network’s 35 Under 35 Community Leaders List in 2010.

Linda L. Katz has served as a community leader and volunteer in the San Diego region for over 30 years. She is the Founding President of The San Diego Women’s Foundation. She is a past Board Chair of LEAD San Diego, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, Senior Community Centers and Rady Children’s Hospital Auxiliary. Other Boards Linda has served on include: Junior League of San Diego, Rady Children’s Hospital Foundation, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, The San Diego Foundation, Francis Parker School, and the San Diego Symphony. Linda is Co-Founder of Women Give San Diego, a Donor Circle of the Women’s Foundation of California. Linda and her husband Mel have been married for 33 years and live in Del Mar. They have three grown children, Lindsey, Ashley and Jeffrey and three grand children, Nicole, Noah and Donovan.

Debi Spindelman comes to Women Give from the nonprofit sector, where her work has focused on education and youth empowerment programming. Recent projects have involved teenage girls at Kenya’s Daraja Academy, media literacy education with Outside The Lens, and youth with autism at Community Coaching Center. Through her membership in Women Give, she has served on the Outcomes Committee for WGSD granting partner, Just In Time for Foster Youth. Debi has temporarily left San Diego to pursue her Masters in Development Practice at Columbia University’s School of International and Policy Affairs, studying sustainable development methods, monitoring, and evaluation in educational settings in sub-Saharan Africa. She plans to return to San Diego after graduation to apply her education to high-impact philanthropy serving vulnerable women and children both locally and abroad.

Kelly Weaver works with Cavignac & Associates, a risk management focused insurance brokerage. Kelly joined WGSD after coming to a membership recruitment event and being moved by the energy and passion among the group. She joined the Education and Membership committee because she believes the more aware people are of the issue, the more they will want to help. When Kelly isn’t working she enjoys a number of outdoor activities including triathlons, surfing, and waterskiing. Kelly also sits on the board for the YMCA Overnight Camps and is involved with Next Level Missions, a nonprofit her family co-founded dedicated to improving the lives of the Hill Tribes in Northern Thailand.

WGSD Member, Johanna Schiavoni: Honored as 40 Under 40 San Diego Metro Magazine

On Tuesday, September 13, our very own Women Give member, Johanna Schiavoni, was honored for the Class of 2011 40 Under 40 Honorees (San Diego Metro Magazine) at a spirited luncheon in their honor at the San Diego Convention Center. San Diego Metro Magazine recognizes the achievements of these young business and civic leaders in whose hands lie our region’s future.

To check out Johanna’s bio and fellow honorees, click here: http://sandiegometro.com/2011/09/40-under-40-awards-the-class-of-2011/

WGSD Member Amy Harmon: Top Finalist for StayClassy!

Our very own Women Give San Diego member, Amy Harmon has been voted a top 10 finalist in Young Nonprofit Leader of the Year for the Annual Classy Awards. Congrats, Amy!

With more than 2,000 nominations submitted to StayClassy for consideration, Amy Harmon has been through a long process to make it to the final round, including garnering at least 100 Facebook ‘Likes’ on their nomination story and being chosen as a Top 25 Finalist during an initial judging round.

Here is the full press release: http://www.facebook.com/notes/amy-burkhardt-harmon/press-release-from-stay-classy-im-a-top-10-finalist/10150282833169353

Check out her story: http://www.stayclassy.org/stories/the-power-of-education-over-poverty