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February 2011 Edition
President K. Sujata shares stories about our globetrotting Impact Awards honorees.
The 2011 Impact Awards honorees are hard people to reach--and that's a good thing. They are women and men at the heart of the global movement for women and girls, after all. On March 10, join me to celebrate their work and busy lives.
When we first called our honorees to tell them the good news, Tianne Bataille emailed us from the airport in Nepal. Zully JF Alvarado wrote from Ecuador where she was delivering dental equipment. Both Dr. Mardge H. Cohen and Mary Fabri  responded as they packed their suitcases for Rwanda. Marjorie Craig Benton, a longtime supporter of Partners in Health, was keeping up to date on the recovery work in Haiti.
We also have honorees working here in Chicago on issues of international significance--issues with personal connections. Joshua Hoyt and Tania Unzueta Carrasco both lead high-impact organizations working with immigrants of all backgrounds. Tania founded the Immigrant Youth Justice League two years ago, and Josh directs the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights--and in fact, Josh was the one who nominated Tania. Sima Quraishi founded the first and only Muslim women's center in all of Illinois--filling a need she knows first-hand since she came to the U.S. at age 9 with her family as a refugee.
All of our honorees recognize the importance of a focus on women and girls. We know that in Illinois, girls without a high school diploma  earn on average 60 percent less than their male counterparts. In order to break the cycle of poverty, Amy Maglio helps girls in rural Senegal and Kenya access and complete their education. Patricia L. Walker, who wears many hats, supports the African Women's Development Fund, a grantmaker for local and national African nonprofits that work with women in the lead--a community funder, doing what CFW does in a different neighborhood.
The honorees this year remind us that women and girls are a good investment the world over. I hope you can find the time to join us at the awards ceremony, knowing that your ticket supports CFW's grants and programs that help make our corner of the world a better place for women and girls.
The Impact Awards are on Thursday, March 10 at the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts, 777 N. Green St. Click here to buy tickets ($100 for patron tickets, $50 for general admission and $25 for students with ID) and visit www.cfw.org/impact for event details.
Saturday, Feb. 26: Take care of your mind, body and spirit. The African American Leadership Council invites women--especially women of color--to the free health forum Loving Yourself: Mind, Body and Spirit from 9 a.m. to noon. Ask questions anonymously in a safe and supportive setting, St. Bernard Hospital. The medical professionals will include gynecologists, doula/birthing coaches, nutritionists, internists, and mental health and fitness professionals.
 Friday, March 4: Find out why HIV matters in the lesbian community. The Lesbian Leadership Council will host a program about HIV and other STIs among women who sleep with women. Keeping It Real About STIs and HIV will address myths and misconceptions and feature a personal performance by Conscious, as part of our Chauncey and Marion D. McCormick Family Foundation Health Series.
 Tuesday, March 8: Watch an art exhibit come to life. Artists featured in the exhibition Off the Beaten Path: Violence, Women and Art at the Chicago Cultural Center will talk back at a free event at 6 p.m. in the Claudia Cassidy Theater. Patricia Evans, Susan Plum, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Hank Willis Thomas will discuss how art can be a tool of expression and action for social change.
Thursday, April 14: Honor Asian American women breaking barriers. Join the Asian American Leadership Council at the 8th Annual Breaking Barriers Awards to honor Asian women transforming education. Meet the honorees--to be announced soon--and enjoy a cocktail reception at the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza. Tickets go on sale this week for $60, or save when you get four for $220. Proceeds benefit the council's Silk Fund. Last year's event sold out in record time, so stay tuned!
A new prostitution court in Cook County will help women with multiple prostitution arrests access services and support, instead of more jail time. Daria Mueller, a senior policy analyst at Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, helped push for the pilot program and is quoted in the Chicago Tribune.
Community Organizing and Family Issues is featured in a Chicago Tribune article about the ongoing struggle to restore recess for all Chicago Public Schools students.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Gov. Pat Quinn joined the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights as it hosted the 1,000th citizenship workshop under the state's New Americans Initiative.
How will the mayoral election affect people with disabilities? Staff and community advocates from Access Living give their take in an ABC Chicago video story (the video is fully captioned).
Listen to "Burning Bowl," Affinity Community Services' signature annual event, on WBEZ's Chicago Amplified. It's an affirmation ceremony held at the beginning of the new year that provides a time for reflection and renewal as the previous year's challenges and burdens are listed and literally burned.
The Illinois Safe Schools Alliance will be honored with Equality Illinois' 2011 Freedom Award for its leadership in the LGBT community. Last year, the Alliance directed a state coalition that successfully pushed for landmark anti-bullying legislation, and the group continues to develop LGBT and questioning youth as leaders and champions for school safety.
Visit our website calendar to see all our upcoming programs and events.
FEB. 15 (Tues.): Chicago Mayoral Candidates Forum: Violence Against Women,
Girls and LGBTQ People, 6-7:30 p.m.
FEB. 17 (Thurs.): ABC 7 Live Mayoral Candidate Debate, 7-8 p.m.
FEB. 17 (Thurs.): A Special Performance of Stories on Stage (part of Off the
Beaten Path exhibit), 7 p.m.
FEB. 26 (Sat.): Loving Yourself: Mind, Body and Spirit health forum with the African
American Leadership Council, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
MARCH 4 (Fri.): Keeping It Real About STIs and HIV with the Lesbian Leadership
Council (part of our Health Series), 5:30-8:30 p.m.
MARCH 8 (Tue.): Art and Civic Engagement: An Artist Panel Discussion (part of
Off the Beaten Path exhibit), 6 p.m.
MARCH 10 (Thurs.): 2011 Impact Awards, 6-8 p.m.
MARCH 23 (Wed.): Achieving Balance: Spring with Tanuja Jagernauth and the
Asian American Leadership Council, 6-8 p.m.
MARCH 31 (Thurs.): Morsels of Wisdom: A Night of Mentoring with the Young
Women's Leadership Council, 6-8 p.m.
APRIL 14 (Thurs.): 8th Annual Breaking Barriers Awards: Women Transforming
Education to benefit the Silk Fund, 6-8 p.m.
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