|
Upcoming Events
Join Speaker Karen Bass at the Cash for College Workshop
This event will take place on Saturday, February 28, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Crenshaw High School, Career Center and Library (5010 11th Ave. Los Angeles, Ca 90043). For more information, please call (323) 937-4747.
A Celebration of Black History Month: A Journey in Four Parts
This event will take place on February 28, 2009 from 8:00 p.m. at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center. TICKETS are $10. For more information, please email info@ebonyrep.org.
Fountain Community Garden Work Day
This event will take place on Saturday, February 28, 2009 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.at 5620 Fountain Ave, Los Angeles, CA. If you're interested in being a part of the steering committee for this garden project, please contact Helen Leung at (323) 957-4500.
Arts Cycle
This event will take place on Saturday, February 28, 2009 from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Melrose/Heliotrope. For more information, please visit http://easthollywoodart
cycle.com/
Mayor's Day of Service this Saturday (Feb 28th)
For volunteer opportunities, please contact Abigail Ramirez at Abigail.Ramirez@lacity.org.
In Celebration of Women’s History Month: An Awakening Evening with Iyanla Vanzant Presented By Sisters At The Well and Special Guest Karen Bass
This event will take place on Sunday, March 1, 2009 at the The Organic Panificio (4211 Admiralty Way Marina del Rey, CA 90292) Ticket Price: $50 per person.
To RSVP call 818-833-0363 or email to bperkins22@aol.com
For more information visit, http://www.sistersatthewell.com/
upcoming_events.html
Literacy Summit
This event will take place on Thursday, March 5, 2009 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Skirball Cultural Center (2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049). For additional information, please contact Nikki McAndrew at nikki.mcandrew@literacy
network.org or (213) 237-4810.
CSW Board Meeting This meeting will be held on Friday, March 6, 2009 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at City Hall (200 N. Spring, Los Angeles, CA 90012) on the 10th floor.
Community Beautification and Tag Out Day at Lemon Grove Rec Center
This event will take place on Sunday, March 8, 2009 at 10 a.m. For more information please contact, Alejandra Marroquin at (323) 957-4500 or via email at Alejandra.Marroquin@lacity.org.
Annual Youth Leadership College Scholarship
The application deadline is March 11, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. Applications can be found online at: www.laul.org/event.
Sing for the Cure Be part of a life-changing journey through the experience of breast cancer as Vox and friends Sing for the Cure. This event will take place on Saturday, March 14, 2009, 8:00 p.m. It will be located at the Wilshire United Methodist Church (4350 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010).
Stairways to Success Conference This conference will take place on Saturday, March 21, 2009 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at The Center at Cathedral Plaza (555 W. Temple, Los Angeles 90012). For more information, please email questions to AAAWmailbox@gmail.com or visit LA-AAAW.org (programs) for registration forms.
PA 4 Prevention Initiative Demonstration Project Will be offering free income tax assistance from February 7, 2009 to April 11, 2009. Please call either of the following phone numbers: Children's Institute Inc.: (213) 381-1146
Children's Bureau: (213) 353 -9400
El Centro del Pueblo: (213) 483-6335 ext 122
Sewing with Heather Learn how to make your own purses, stuffed animals, basic quilts, hems, alterations and original clothing! Great for mommy & me time and girls night! For more information, please contact Heather at sewingwithheather@gmail.com
aboutus.html
Career Opportunities
 |
Commission to host "Women's Festival: Celebration of Resilience"
 On March 7th, the Commission in partnership with Councilmember Herb Wesson Jr., Jim Gilliam Recreation Center, Community Build, and the Hungry Hog will host the Women's Festival: Celebration of Resilience at the Jim Gilliam Recreation Center (4000 S. La Brea, Los Angeles, CA 90008) from 11 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.The festival responds to the challenging economic times as a support to the wellness of women and girls in the Los Angeles area. It will present a multitude of available services to promote fitness, job training, safety, health and inspiration to the women and girls of the community.
The celebration will feature guest motivational speaker, Jewel Diamond Taylor, and actress Tichina Arnold along with numerous local community-based organizations presenting crucial resources to the Baldwin Village community. Confirmed organizations include: PV Jobs, Urban League Work Source Center, USC Dental Clinic, Women Alive Coalition, Red Cross, Office of Women's Health, Black Women for Wellness, Shriners, the CLINIC, Housing Rights Center, LAFD, LAPD, LA City Library, Casa De La Faimilia and many more! In addition to innumerable resources, community members will be able to take pleasure in outdoor activities, raffles and booths while enjoying a free lunch, compliments of Hungry Hog.
We are also asking women to donate to our Suit Closet for women in the community. We will be collecting professional business attire for the women living in Baldwin Village to use for job interviews. We encourage you to donate your suits on Saturday, March 7th from 10am-4pm, so we can disseminate to those women in need.
Through the Women of the Baldwin Village Initiative, we seek to both mobilize and empower community members to effectively use available local resources as a means to make positive life changes, ultimately impacting their overall well-being.
This event is FREE and LUNCH will be provided. For more information, please contact the Commission at (213) 978-0300 or via email at cswinfo@lacity.org.
Equal Stimulation: Why the Stimulus May Be Our Chance to Break into Non-Traditional Roles
By: Smita Satiani, Policy Intern
 In the 1940's, when the U.S. needed to increase mass production of war materials during World War II, huge numbers of women across the country were mobilized and trained in factory and technical jobs. Women entered and championed this sector in a matter of months, and in addition to winning the greatest war in history, an effect of this was an increase in the standard of living for both men and women in our nation. The challenges that America faces today - reviving a flagging economy, rebuilding a crumbling infrastructure and beating the clock on global climate change - are no less ambitious, and require a similar mobilization of all we can muster.
The recently passed $787 billion stimulus package aims to meet those challenges. A massive portion of this bill is an effort to enact the largest investment in our nation's roads, bridges and mass transit systems since the creation of Eisenhower's national highway system. The lining up of thousands of infrastructure, construction and green jobs has in turn begged the question of whether men are being disproportionately, well, 'stimulated' in this stimulus. If this is the case, as it looks to be, it just may be our chance to break the gender stereotypes in these fields and pave the roads of opportunity for a new generation of American working women.
While the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that women made up 48.7% of the labor force in 2007, the disparities in female representation in the fields of construction, engineering, and manufacturing remain vast. Women represent a mere 9% of workers in construction, and most 'green collar' professions like architecture, engineering, and agriculture are also typically male-dominated fields.
In a recent New York Times article, Linda Hirshman suggests programs encouraging women to pursue non-traditional careers such as engineering have traditionally had a lack of success. She argues that instead, we must add programs to the package which include more education and child care workers, and therefore create more opportunity for traditionally female dominated jobs. In the short-term, I agree. But if our long-term goal is to break down the barriers of established gender employment roles, we must not settle for perpetuation of the status quo. As we push to increase funding for professions such as social workers, victim advocates, childcare workers, & teachers, we must equally push for programs that train our daughters to be the next generation of architects, businesswomen, engineers and leaders.
The full text of this article can be accessed at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/smita-satiani/equal-stimulation-why-the_b_166879.html
Law Intern Joins LACCSW To Work On Re-Entry Project By: Dolisa Colley
 Successful re-entry into the community depends on many factors. The Los Angeles City Commission on the Status of Women has partnered with the MEV Free Legal Clinic to convene a group of interns to address those factors through a policy project. My name is Dolisa Colley and I am one of these interns. By day, I am a court employee;by night, I am a law student at University West Los Angeles.The factors that I am working on this semester are education and housing.
At the end of incarceration people are released back into the community with little or no education or vocational skills. More often than not, these people re-offend and re-enter the penal system. My research thus far indicates that, in the city of Los Angeles, there are many community and faith-based programs that offer education and vocational training and housing assistance.The recidivism rate indicates there is a gap between the “releasees” and those programs.
My focus will be to make recommendations on how the city can help close that gap.I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and being a part of the solution to helping the “releasees” successfully re-enter our community.
Teen Corner
Teenagers are not Immune to Domestic Violence:It's just called Teen Dating Violence!
By: Chante Sherwood, High Sch ool Intern
According to the California Women's Law Center, 1 in 3 teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19 will experience abuse in a dating relationship. Since awareness of teenage dating violence is not widespread, this type of abuse is even more devastating for victims because they are often not recognized as victims.Teenagers do not always recognize domestic violence as such when it occurs among their peer group. According to a self-conducted survey on AIM, AOL Instant Messenger, many teenagers that have not experienced abusive relationships “can't imagine it [an abusive relationship] would happen to them.” These teenagers may also have a hard time imagining dating violence occurring to their peers. However, some respondents stated that they are scared of being in an abusive relationship, and that they feel that they are likely to be victims of this type of violence.
One of the biggest problems in recognizing teenage dating violence is that teenagers may not be aware of what constitutes abuse, or the
definition of dating violence. They also may not be aware of the
resources available to them if they are victims. Awareness of abuse it the first step to eliminating it, and the statistics show that abuse is
widespread.
According to a 1998 Commonwealth Fund survey, 31% of women in the U.S. report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives. Even more alarming, half of the violent crimes committed against people age 12 and older (including, rape, sexual assault, robbery, and simple and aggravated assault) went unreported in 2000 according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
I did not realize that teen dating violence was such a problem, until
last year. I learned about this issue in a high school health class and
at the Commission. Unfortunately, health class is not a very popular
class among the student body. The problem will persist unless we figure out ways to inform young people and the general public about the danger of teen dating and domestic violence.
For more information, visit www.breakthecycle.org.
State of the Black Union
 Please join the LA City Commission on the Status of Women for the 10th Anniversary of State of the Black Union. Saturday, February 28, 2009 from 8:30am- 6:00pm at the LA Convention Center.
Honorable Mention
The Commission congratulates The Honorable Hilda Solis on her confirmation as the new Secretary of Labor and Cora Johnson on her appointment to acting Board Secretary of the Department of Building and Safety: Engineering Bureau.
|
