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March 18-24, 2008
 Girl Scouts present award to Foundation
 The Girl Scouts – Illinois Crossroads Council visited our office to present the Foundation with the Alliance Award, recognizing adult partnerships with Girl Scouts. We provided a grant for their GoGirlGo! program, which uses physical activity to improve young women’s wellness and self-esteem. Shelley Davis (left), director of programs, accepts the award from Karyn DuBose of the Girl Scouts – Illinois Crossroads Council, along with Deirdra Bishop, our grants manager, and Adaku Utah, our 2008 Jessica Eve Patt intern.  Celebrate March as Women's History Month with us as we recognize women whose accomplishments made a difference then and now. Buy the books mentioned from Women & Children First, who will donate 10% of purchases to us when you use our coupon. C. Vivian Stringer is a great mentor to women athletes as head coach of Rutgers University women’s basketball—but she is better known for taking radio shock jock Don Imus head on when he leveled horrific sexist and racist hate speech at her team. Stringer shares her experiences of racism and sexism throughout her personal and professional life in "Standing Tall: A Memoir of Tragedy and Triumph" (Crown, $24.95).  News analysis
End a week of Spitzer mania with knowledge. After the media blitz on former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s implication in a prostitution ring, what’s the correct response? For the Foundation and countless other women’s rights advocates, it’s important to address the real issue: How the sex trade impacts the girls and women caught in its web—and how federal legislation may help. We applaud New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof for raising the issue for a national audience. The legislation referenced is the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (HR 3887), which the Foundation supports.  The story: One in four young women age 14-19 in the U.S. has a sexually transmitted infection, according to national research released at a March 11 “STD Prevention Conference” in Chicago held by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The most common among the young women, with 18 percent infected, is human papilloma virus, or HPV, strains of which can lead to cervical cancer and genital warts in both sexes. Doctors at the conference recommend “expedited partner therapy” so women diagnosed with a treatable infection can be given additional medication for their male sexual partners, according to Medical News Today. 
What’s missing: Where are young women getting the infections? Mostly from young men. About half of sexually active men and women carry HPV at some point, yet women are much more likely to develop serious diseases from the virus. As the CDC says to men on its HPV information webpage, “The important thing to know is that men can have genital HPV with no symptoms and pass it on to their partners.” The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2008 the U.S. will make 11,070 diagnoses of invasive cervical cancer and 3,870 women will die from it. This report highlights the dire need for comprehensive sexuality education for all our young people. Though we applaud any new strategy to get sexually transmitted infections treated, prevention must come first. And we especially appreciate Dawn Turner Trice’s March 17 column in the Chicago Tribune, "Teens have sex but don’t have the facts,” in which she lamented the lack of “statewide standards for comprehensive sex-education programs." Congratulations to our grantee Alternatives, Inc. and their Girl World program, which Trice highlighted in the column. ( Advocate for better sex ed in Illinois at our Action Center.) Foundation news| Men Can Stop Rape brought their nationally renowned anti-violence training to Chicago last weekend, with the Foundation's help. Above left is a list on ways of "proving manhood," an essential topic when discussing men's violence against women--and how men and women can work together to end it. See more photos in our slideshow. |
The 2008 Lunar New Year Luncheon, hosted annually by the Foundation's Asian American Leadership Council and the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, is now broadcast by SuncasTV, an online station that specializes in Asian American programming. The event was also covered by NBC 5 and ABC 7. The PocketBook Monologues: Mary F. Morten, our interim executive director, will perform a monologue about the female African American's experience, along with Sharon K. McGhee (also the author), LaDonna Tittle and Cheryl Corley, this Wednesday at 7 p.m at the Center on Halsted (a Foundation grantee), 3656 N. Halsted St. The show is part of the Center's "World of Women," celebrating Women's History Month. Tickets available online. Kudos for Hannah Rosenthal: AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps will honor Rosenthal, the Foundation’s former executive director, at their “Partners in Justice” gala (6:30 p.m., May 19, Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, 610 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago). Tickets are on sale now: Contact Emily Rosenberg at erosenberg@avodah.net or (312) 641-5575, or visit www.avodah.net. And don't forget the Anti-Defamation League: Hannah Rosenthal and Mary F. Morten will be honored at their 15th Annual Women of Achievement Awards Dinner this Thursday, March 20, at the Fairmont Chicago, 200 N. Columbus. For tickets, contact the ADL's Rebecca Gruenspan at (312) 782-5080, ext. 243. Read more at our Press Room and our Past Events at cfw.org. 
ACTION: Support reproductive justice in IllinoisThe Reproductive Justice and Access Act (HB 5615) needs cosponsors in the Illinois House of Representatives--including your representative. The bill ensures access to reproductive heath care and services, including access to comprehensive sexual health education. Chicago Foundation for Women is an active proponent of this bill because women and girls cannot realize their full potential without the freedom to control their reproductive health. The bill has 25 sponsors but needs more. Anti-choice groups are calling Springfield, too. Ask your representative to cosponsor HB 5615 today, or thank those already on board.Find more advocacy opportunities at our Online Action Center.  Our website calendar lists all our programs, events and cosponsorships.
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