Growing up, my parents taught me about the importance of giving back. Giving back did not necessarily mean dropping a check in the mail. We fed the homeless on Thanksgiving and my “rock star” dad even played a few benefit concerts with his band. Inspired to give back in college, I became the philanthropy chair of my sorority, Sigma Delta Tau. My job was to raise as much money possible for Prevent Child Abuse America and Jewish Women International. However, I have found that for college students, there is often a disconnect between donating money and understanding what that money is actually going towards. This is especially the case if their family was not involved in philanthropic activities growing up.
I think that in order for many college students to care, they must feel emotionally connected to the cause. I cared about JWI because I had attended Women to Watch and had heard personal stories about relationship abuse. But, how could I get my peers to feel the same way as me? Last week at my chapter meeting, I stood up to explain the importance of buying cards through the Mother’s Day Flower Project. After I sat down, I felt as though I had not done a sufficient job convincing my peers to buy cards. I stood back up and said, “I wish you guys could hear these shelters on the phone. I can’t even express to you how appreciative they are to receive flowers for Mother’s Day. We need to help bring joy to these women’s lives.” Who knows if my second attempt worked, but I do know that college students need motivation to give back by hearing concrete examples. These examples can be heard through videos, speakers, or personal stories and are vital to showing college students why it is important that they help too!
This year, as part of the Mother’s Day Flower Project, JWI took to the streets and asked people to tell us what’s special about moms and motherhood – the funny stuff, the touching stuff… even a little annoying stuff.
Watch these stories, enjoy a smile, and help JWI raise funds to recognize the thousands of moms who will spend this Mother’s Day in a women’s shelter, without their family and friends.
But wait – there’s more! We need you to help us raise money and spread the word. So please…
Send a Flower Project card to your mom (and any other special mothers you know), which will help JWI send bouquets and gifts to women in shelters across the country.
Share the video and encourage others to participate in this meaningful project.
Join in the conversation: Drop a comment celebrating the exceptional mothers in your life – on Facebook or Twitter, or by uploading your own video to our YouTube channel.
And don’t forget to tell all the moms in your life how special they are!
Recent data shows nearly 4,000 reported incidents of sexual battery and over 800 rapes and attempted rapes occurring in our nation’s public high schools. By high school graduation, more than one in ten girls will have been physically forced to have sex; when these young women get to college, the number rises to 20%. Women and girls, however, are not alone in this phenomenon as 6% of undergraduate men report similar sexual victimization. Sexual violence often negatively impacts education, job performance, future earnings, physical and psychological health, and sometimes serves as a catalyst for unhealthy relationship patterns in the future. These negative consequences impact the individual victims and their loved ones, as well as our society’s entire pool of human resources.
On April 4, 2011, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released a “Dear Colleague” letter responding to the dire situation of campus sexual violence. The letter details for the first time how the education system should handle sexual violence as part of the Title IX requirements of gender equity in schools. It recognizes that sexual violence interferes with student achievement academically and personally, and holds that under Title IX – a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education – discrimination includes sexual violence. The letter gave formal guidelines for schools, such as disseminating a notice of nondiscrimination, designating at least one employee to coordinate Title IX compliance and responsibilities, and adopting grievance procedures for prompt and fair resolution of complaints.
While these formal steps are important, it is my opinion that more informal prevention measures are the most crucial to a safe educational environment and effective response to sexual violence.
Formal guidelines and efficient response procedures are needed and encouraged by the VP leadership, the departments of education and justice, and organizations working on sexual violence; but we need to see schools investing in prevention education, social norms changes, and engaging men. The “Dear Colleague” letter suggests a holistic framework responding to sexual violence, including comprehensive victim services and counseling, academic support and escort services, and employee training on how to deal with allegations of sexual violence. At the same time, there are no suggestions for preventing sexual violence. The training for staff is on how to respond to incidents that have already occurred, and suggested educational resources only address the aftermath of a violent incident. While all of this is useful, it doesn’t help to end the culture of violence in schools that leads to the high statistics mentioned above. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month; I propose that schools start educating students about how to prevent sexual violence now, and carry on this programming throughout the year. In his speech at the University of New Hampshire, Vice President Biden called on students to prevent sexual violence:
“These are your friends, these are your classmates, the people you study with. You need to watch out for each other. You are the first – and best – line of defense…The more and more you bring attention to the issue, the less and less the behavior goes unnoticed, unreported and unpunished, and the more and more attitudes begin to change.”
We can start to change attitudes by raising awareness about the frequency and the consequences of sexual violence among teens. Schools can hold workshops on the dangers of sexual violence, the importance of healthy relationships, and the value of equality regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Youth should be fully involved in these workshops, which should be interactive and provide them with real tools to prevent or handle sexual violence before it escalates. They should also learn the importance of looking out for their peers.
Furthermore, schools must promote policies that don’t blame the victim. Students may not want to look out for themselves or each other if they fear that the school will allow retaliation from classmates, will not provide confidentiality, will force them to press charges, or will retaliate itself with disciplinary proceedings in cases where drugs or alcohol are involved. It is important, here, to have staff who are sensitive to students and perhaps to have a student leader or youth committee to turn to in dealing with sexual assault if institutional problems arise. Getting youth involved is key in preventing sexual violence; the ways to engage them are infinite. High schools could hold contests during homecoming or spirit week to raise money for a sexual assault crisis line. Sports coaches and club supervisors could talk to their athletes/members about respecting their partners and obtaining consent, as well as looking out for their peers inside and outside of school. Relatable youth speakers and peer advocates can speak in a health class or a student health fair. Men can be set up with mentors or engaged in programs that teach non-violent masculinity, and also raise awareness that men may be victims too. Self-defense can be taught in gym class. Teachers should recognize that students may drink or do drugs on the weekend and – while this should be prevented in other ways – the same students need to be taught about how to minimize harm and prevent date rape. Most importantly, we should turn to the students themselves for ideas on how to prevent sexual assault: solutions that speak to them and are relevant to their community.
Last week a friend alerted me to Caught in the Cradle, a compelling short documentary on teen pregnancy, produced by freelance reporter and independent producer Rebecca Kaufman. Rebecca was kind enough both to share the video, posted here, and to discuss her experience making it.
Why did you choose this topic?
I chose this topic because Al Jazeera English had decided to do a series on international maternal health issues. I was researching possible story ideas in the U.S. and came across the statistic that this country had, by far and away, the highest teen pregnancy and teen birth rate in the developed world. I had never come across this statistic, and when I ran it by my colleagues they didn’t know it either. That told me it had the potential for a interesting story because even though the U.S. is lagging so far behind, we are still not talking about the issue in the media and in other public health campaigns.
What about recent reports that teen births are on the decline in America?
The U.S. teen pregnancy rate has been declining on a steady basis now I believe since the 1970s. So the fact that it is still declining is good news but not surprising. Still, it remains much higher than other developed countries–and in states like Texas, I think it barely moved. Mississippi and New Mexico are even worse than Texas, and Oklahoma is not far behind.
I think the expert who is featured in my story, Susan Tortolero… would say the results of well-taught comprehensive sex education are that kids will abstain longer from sex and when they do decide to have sex they’ll use contraception. But this is not an easy argument to make in Texas!
What sorts of obstacles did you encounter while making this film?
This story was a real challenge. We chose to do the documentary in Texas, which has a very high teen pregnancy rate and also has been one of the strongest proponents of abstinence only education. What we encountered when we started to research the story was fear, even from people who were trying to raise awareness about the issue and open up the dialogue. Advocating for comprehensive sex education in Texas is still politically risky, and inevitably a conversation about reducing teen pregnancy brings up the very sensitive topic of abortion. For all those reasons, it was incredibly difficult to find people willing to cooperate with us on the story. In fact, we had an agreement from the Austin Independent School District, which deals with high numbers of teen parents in their schools, to work with us on the piece. At the last minute they pulled the plug because one or two top administrators had cold feet about the sensitivity of the topic.
How did the teenage mothers you profiled impact your perspective?
I can’t say enough wonderful things about the two young women we featured in the story–Mayra Nunez and Eva Salazar. They had a maturity beyond their years and a drive to succeed that was so admirable. Both were dealing with “baby daddies” who were in and out of their lives, and they both had decided it was their responsibility, as mothers, to make a future for their children. I often forgot I was talking to a 17-year-old and 20-year-old. At the same time, there were moments in the film when they really opened up and exposed their vulnerability. It became clear that every day is still a challenge. I also want to point out the Mayra and Eva are the exceptions. So many teen parents don’t have the drive or don’t have the resources to make it as far as they have. The reality is most teen parents don’t graduate from high school, and never mind college. That’s why its so crucial that there is more education about how to prevent teen pregnancy in places like Texas. As we say in the film, without more education, that cycle of teen pregnancy and poverty will perpetuate.
By Jonathan Strausberg, Senior Development Manager
As I write this, Congress and the President are in a budget showdown and it seems increasingly likely that there will be a government shutdown- they have until Friday to make a deal. Everyone is trying to cut the federal budget by billions of dollars and it seems like everything is on the chopping block. One particular item has been getting a lot of attention lately and that is Title X, which covers women’s reproductive health.
In case you’re not familiar with this part of the Federal budget, here is a bit that I lifted from the Department of Health and Human Services (which administers the funding):
The Title X Family Planning program (Population Research and Voluntary Family Planning Programs), was enacted in 1970 as Title X of the Public Health Service Act. Title X is the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services. The Title X program is designed to provide access to contraceptive services, supplies and information to all who want and need them. By law, priority is given to persons from low-income families.
The Title X Family Planning program is administered within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Office of Population Affairs by the Office of Family Planning. In fiscal year 2010, Congress appropriated approximately $317,491 million for family planning activities supported under Title X. At least 90 percent of the appropriation is used for clinical family planning services as described in the statute and regulations.
Of the $33 billion that folks are talking about cutting this is less than 1%, so what’s the big deal, right?
Well the big deal is that Title X provides essential health care to women including not only reproductive care, but also health care education, cancer screenings, STD and HIV education, prevention and screening, and much more. Title X does not fund abortions. It provides care to more than 5 million, mostly low income Americans, which is $63 per person served by the funded programs. Why do I care though? I’m not a woman, I’m not low income, nor am I served by any of the Title X programs.
Title X is important to me, because it does affect me. There may come a time in the lives of one of the women I care about, my wife, mother, or sister when they may benefit from the education that Title X provides. More than that though, I believe that every American deserves access to health care. If we are the greatest country in the world, what does it say when we don’t care for those most in need and help plan for our collective future. Those attacking Title X are using it as a backdoor approach to preventing a woman’s right to choose; to them this isn’t about money, it’s about social issues and allowing our government to interfere with the most private and personal decisions are person can make. Finally, I care because this is my money! I pay taxes and I care how that money is spent. We spend so much money on unnecessary or duplicative programs that are pet projects and often not even wanted, but for something that matters like a woman’s health we’re not willing to accept that cost? There’s a problem with that and that’s why I care.
JWI's innovative programs, advocacy and philanthropic initiatives protect the fundamental rights of all girls and women to live in safe homes, thrive in healthy relationships, and realize the full potential of their personal strength.
