Monthly Archives: November 2019

Michelle and Barack Obama at the Obama Foundation Summit 2019 in Chicago, IL.

Chicagos South Side Bronzeville neighborhood, a center of African-American life and culture, hosted the 2019 Obama Foundation Summit at the Illinois Institute of Technology on October 29, 2019. The Advancing Women in Product (AWIP) team was invited to cover the Summit as press, and from the perspective of a female empowerment and advocacy NGO.

Kira Alvarez, who is the Press Lead for Advancing Women in Product (AWIP), took time from her busy schedule as a researcher at Freie Universitt Berlin to cover the Summit for AWIP. Kira has taught and published throughout the U.S. and Germany, on topics such as diplomacy, history, and the intersection between science, technology, and society.

The South Side of Chicago was a deliberate choice. This region boasts a visionary past that has witnessed Ida B. Wells, President Obama, and Michelle Obama among others working toward social change. The Summit aptly chose the phrase Places Reveal Our Purpose as the conference theme, and touched on a number of pressing societal issues such as racism, poverty, and gender inequality. It showed that the South Side of Chicago is full of hope, love and energy that can inspire other places throughout the world. The critical role that communities and networks can play in supporting and promoting social advancement and opportunity was a powerful message from the 2019 Obama Foundation Summit.

Women leaders including Michelle Obama and Academy award nominee filmmaker Ava Duvernay spoke about their personal and professional journeys. These women showed that ambition and drive alone are not enough in pursuing a successful and fulfilling career. Support networks are key to achieving broader social change, especially for female advancement. This is in line with what researchers like Herminia Ibarra have remarked on the topic, that sponsors (both within and outside an organization) can help to accelerate careers and create opportunities. For Michelle Obama, support came from her family and a strong belief in self, which helped her overcome the prejudice she experienced growing up. For those who are looking to create their own support networks, search within your current social and professional networks optimizing for those that will generate new opportunities.

An example of community engagement from the Obama Foundation is the Girls Opportunity Alliance (GOA), a program that seeks to empower girls and their respective communities through education. AWIP was invited to the intimate GOA roundtable with Michelle Obama, which featured international educators from countries including Cambodia, Guatemala, and Malawi who tirelessly work on the front lines to improve girls lives. According to Michelle, the lack of investment in female education is an international emergency: What a waste. What a waste for society, what a waste for a family. What a waste for that girls soul to be trapped by her fate and not by her ability.

Michelle Obama with leaders from the Girls Opportunity Alliance (GOA)

The Girls Opportunity Alliance (GOA) empowers young girls in three dimensions: By growing an online network of grassroots leaders, by providing financial support for individual projects through GoFundMe, and by encouraging young people throughout the developed world to join the cause of promoting greater educational opportunities for women. GOA sees its work as not limited to a local or national context and therefore requires a transnational approach. Creating an alliance of young womens opportunities is ultimately about human rights. Investment in a network of girls education programs is key not just for the advancement of individual women, but also for the long-term advancement of societies. Being aware of opportunities outside ones immediate surroundings, especially if those surroundings are limited by lack of resources, can be extremely freeing. According to the Gates Foundation 2019 Goalkeepers report, the lack of access to education and jobs is destructive for everyone. It keeps women disempowered, limits their childrens life chances, and slows down economic growth.

The Summit also featured other Chicago leaders who stressed the creation of strong networks and equality in education. Among them, Obama Foundation Scholars, Aime Eubanks Davis and Dominique Jordan Turner, are founders of organizations that promote education and network creation. Ms. Davis, a 2018 Obama Fellow, is the CEO of Braven, an organization that works with universities and businesses to assist low-income, first-generation university students find employment post-graduation. Ms. Turner, a 2019 Obama Fellow, is the CEO of Chicago Scholars, a seven-year mentorship program that assists underprivileged Chicago youth in the college application process and subsequent employment search. Both Braven and Chicago Scholars are exemplary models of how organizations can provide disadvantaged students greater opportunities in the American educational system.

Many of the students that participate in the Chicago Scholars or Braven program have the talent and ambition to succeed, but lack networks to help them create and sustain a career and might otherwise fall through the cracks. The programs therefore closely mentor underprivileged students by leveraging a large network of support including college counselors, potential employers, and alumni. Ms. Davis stressed, referral networks are important in order to achieve career success. Simply having a college degree and talent is no longer fully sufficient for gainful employment in the American workforce that is the important lesson that these students are learning. Having the right skills through education is the first step but is much more effective when combined with a powerful support network.

We find a similar root cause with the lack of women representation in tech leadership and executive ranks: many women already have their foot in the door and are often highly educated but are often encountered with a glass ceiling. Organizations like Advancing Women in Product, Pink Innov, and the Operator Collective serve to stack the cards in the other direction: by creating opportunities where senior women can take a high-potential, rising leader under their wing. In a similar vein, these organizations are also creating communities and networks that encourage women to stay in the workforce and also introduce them to open leadership roles within the company as well as board seats for other companies.

The 2019 Obama Foundation Summit ultimately demonstrated that social change requires not just hard work, but also the creation and sustainment of networks. Girls Opportunity Alliance, Braven, and Chicago Scholars are important models that utilize networks to help women and minorities achieve their goals. Lets bridge the gap by building strong networks for ourselves and take our destiny into our own hands.

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Lessons From Michelle Obama And The 2019 Obama Foundation Summit: Empowering Communities Through Education - Forbes

In literature and pop culture, we often see women getting makeovers to meet standards for beauty and social status (think Cinderella, or Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries). In Eva Leigh's My Fake Rake, however, it's the quiet non-alpha hero who blossoms into a rake and sweeps the heroine off her feet.

Sebastian Holloway is an anthropologist who can recite facts at the drop of a hat, but suffers from social anxiety. He has a secret crush on his scientist friend Lady Grace Wyatt but feels he has nothing to offer a woman of her status. "Your world isn't my world. Never has been," he tells her at one point.

Whether or not that's true isn't the takeaway here, though. From the get-go, Leigh identifies the imbalance of power between Sebastian and Grace tipped in Grace's favor and it's gratifying to read about a heroine in a historical romance who wields some power over the hero.

For one, Grace has wealth and social status. Even when she struggles to get the attention of a fellow scientist, Mason, and recruits Sebastian to make him jealous, it's evident who wears the breeches in this friendship. Step one in turning Sebastian into a polished society rake? Teaming up with his friend the Duke of Rotherby to give him a makeover and etiquette lessons.

Grace convinces Sebastian to see the whole process as an anthropological study on how the upper crust lives. But of course, real feelings start to get in the way, for both of them. It's safe to say that Sebastian is pretty perfect for Grace; they've formed a kinship based on their shared academic fascinations and sense of displacement from London society. As expected in friends-to-lovers and fake relationship plots, they keep their feelings to themselves out of fear of rejection, to the extent that they pretend a steamy kiss was just that pretending. As a result, their romance (or lack thereof) stays on a low simmer throughout the book understandably so, as Grace is still attracted to Mason, at least until her feelings for Sebastian can't be denied anymore.

Now, the makeover romance can be controversial at times; everyone wants to be loved for who they are. But Leigh uses the trope to critique societal pressure and ultimately transforms it into a positive experience for her characters.

Rotherby and Grace's pedagogical approaches to grooming Sebastian speak volumes about how superficial their surroundings can be. "We're trying to impress London Society, and it doesn't care whether or not you feel any sense of personal fulfillment. It merely wants to know if you've got a carriage and a country estate," Rotherby scolds Sebastian when he resists the makeover.

The same quote applies to Grace in many ways, as she's forced to put herself on the marriage mart and meet social standards of femininity in order to be accepted. And still, her illustrious scientific career gets squashed under familial (and societal) pressure to settle down. "A burr of anger flared within her, that a woman could not exist in this world on her own," Grace laments after her father guilt-trips her into finding a suitor, thereby setting her fauxmance with Sebastian in motion. "She would always be subject to a man's munificence, always be less than because she'd been born a female."

While Leigh makes it clear how absurd those drastic plans for the fake relationship and makeover are, she also uses them to bolster Grace and Sebastian's self-confidence. For Grace, the fauxmance-at-first makes her feel wanted and more secure in herself, and for Sebastian, it helps him overcome his anxiety.

They may have started this journey as fish out of water, but by its end, Grace and Sebastian learn to be more amphibious joke intended. My Fake Rake is a feast of female empowerment, positive friendships, feel-good moments, and social satire. And as the first book in a series, it builds a delicious world you'll want to come back to hopefully because the delightful supporting characters will get their own stories next.

Kamrun Nesa is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, Bustle, PopSugar, and HelloGiggles.

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'My Fake Rake' Turns The Makeover Trope On Its (Well-Coiffed) Head - Public Radio Tulsa

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 21,835 people identified as either Wiccan or Pagan in the 2016 census, but Wicca and witchcraft dont necessarily go hand in hand, and many who call themselves witches today especially young witches dont necessarily follow a Wiccan path. Instead, they make up their craft from a combination of the traditional practices that once saw their historical counterparts demonised, such as herbalism, nature worship, divination, tarot, crystals and spell work.

"I think young people are drawn to this 'think for yourself' type of religion where listening to your intuition and creating your own bespoke spirituality is empowering. For young women in particular, Wicca appeals for the gender equality that has been lacking in other monotheistic traditions," says Julia Knight, who calls herself a modern witch with a vintage aesthetic.

"I find that witchcraft is generally moving away from being a tool used to manipulate outcomes to a toolkit for self-empowerment and personal growth as a means of achieving meaningful goals."

For Brydie Kosmina, a researcher at the University of Adelaide, many are drawn to practice because the figure of the witch is so diverse and complex.

"She's a monster, a victim, an ordinary housewife, a mother, a powerful young woman coming of age all these things and more, all at once. That's a powerful and transgressive symbol for women trying to find their way in the world, and one that appeals on multiple levels we can be angry wicked witches, and powerful goddess healers, and confused teens, all at once."

'I, personally, feel a real sense of belonging,' says Julia Knight.

'Tamara', the high priestess of a coven on the south coast of NSW, has noticed the dramatic increase in the uptake in witchcraft amongst young people. As part of her role, she offers mentoring to those who lack support and guidance at home and believes that witchcraft offers a haven for the misunderstood and oppressed.

"Throughout history we see a rise in practice whenever political power reaches detrimental proportions," she says. "Those who are downtrodden are often drawn to it as a reclamation of personal power. Its the peoples magical revolution against the tyrants."

Her coven includes women, trans and non-binary members, and even a few men. They meet for coffee or tea on the new and full moon, and together they share their workings and practice divination.

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But, for many modern witches, such moon-based gatherings are a thing of the past. Instead, their practice takes place at personal altars, in bedrooms and online, where Facebook groups and the hashtags #Aussiewitches and #southernhemispherewitch unite the small but lively community of practitioners.

"I use Instagram as a platform to connect with like-minded people, says Julia, who blogs about her craft and vintage aesthetics at @_witchy_juju. "I dont meet in-person with any other witches. However, I actively engage online with witches worldwide. When used with purpose, Instagram's algorithms are effective in creating a community and I, personally, feel a real sense of belonging."

In Facebook groups, witches share tips and advice, post pictures of their altars and their favourite tools, and mentor and support one another. It is a safe space for those who feel they might be judged by those in their real-life communities.

It also allows southern hemisphere witches the chance to properly celebrate the eight seasonal sabbats of the witchs calendar. Beltane, the celebration of spring and fertility, is celebrated from the 31st of October to the 1st of November in the southern hemisphere, the same time that Samhain, where many Halloween traditions come from, is celebrated in the north.

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"I have found it lonely at times celebrating opposite seasonal themes to the Northern Hemisphere, of which the vast majority of witchy Instagram users seem to be," says Julia, who launched a Southern Hemisphere Instagram challenge and giveaway with her online friends to support each other in their Beltane celebrations.

Whether they take part in old school coven, or find their community online, ultimately, modern witchcraft is a personal and powerful way to develop confidence and self-love. As 2019 comes to a close, time will tell if the witch continues her meteoric rise into the next decade.

Read more:

Millennial women (and a few men) are rebooting ancient 'witchcraft' - Sydney Morning Herald

Hal Donaldson, founder of Convoy of Hope(Photo: Submitted by Convoy of Hope)

When Convoy of Hope founder Hal Donaldson was 12 years old, his father was hit and killed by an uninsured drunk driver.

"Subsequently, our family was forced to experience the shame of poverty," Donaldson said. "But we also saw firsthand the power of kindness. So many people reached out and helped us make ends meet."

Fast forward to adulthood, Donaldson said he was assigned to write a book for some missionaries in Kolkata, India. While there, his hosts took him to meet Mother Teresa.

"That day, she encouraged me to do 'the next kind thing in front of me,'" Donaldson said via email.

Donaldson said it was his personal experiencewith poverty and Mother Teresa's words that prompted himalong with friends and familyto start handing out groceries to working poor families in California in the early 1990s.

In 2018, Convoy of Hope distributed more than $129 million of product donated by the organization's generous partners. Photo taken at its headquarters in Springfield in 2018.(Photo: Submitted by Convoy of Hope)

And that generous actevolved into Convoy of Hope's Community Events, which still take place across the country today.

Now an international humanitarian-relief organization, Convoy of Hope celebrated its 25-year anniversary this year.

Through the years, Convoy of Hope has distributed over $1 billion infood and supplies to more than 115 million people in need, according to Convoy spokesperson Jeff Nene.

"Over the 25 years, we've engaged a little over 650,000 volunteers,"Nene said. "We've worked with 47,000 different partners, such as churches and organizations."

Convoy's IRS Form 990s also show evidence of that incredible growthin both revenue (contributions) and program expenses.

In 2002, the nonprofit reported $10 million in revenue and $8.9 million in program expenses.

'Fry Day': For Springfield-area family, Black Friday is for friendship and fried food

In 2017, Convoy reported nearly $175 million in revenue and nearly $144 million in program expenses. Administrative expenses were at 2.7 percent.

Charity Navigator has given Convoy of Hope its highest rating (four stars)for 16 consecutive years.

Charity Navigator, a nonprofit itself, is a national service that only evaluates organizations granted tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and that file a Form 990.Thewatchdog organizationlooks at two data sources when evaluating a charity: the IRS Form 990 and the organization's website.

According to its website, Charity Navigator believes that there are two dimensions of a charitys operations that an intelligent giver needs to consider when selecting a charity to support: financial health, and accountability and transparency. The ratings show donors how efficiently a charity will use their support, how well it has sustained its programs and services over time, and their level of commitment to accountability and transparency.

"They (Charity Navigator) kind of set the benchmark for best practices," Nene said. "We look at what they are looking for, how do they define best practices, and we try to shoot for that."

"We want to do it right. We want to do it efficiently. And we want to do it effectively," he said."Transparency is huge. We are transparent as we can be."

Jeff Nene has been the spokesperson for Convoy of Hope since 2002. Prior to that, Nene volunteered with the nonprofit for six years.(Photo: Courtesy of Convoy of Hope)

Nene has been the nationalspokesperson for the organization since 2002.

Prior to that, Nene volunteered with Convoy for six years.

In those early days, Convoy of Hope's ministry was focused on the Community Events, which provide free services and goods to those in need.

"We thought we could help the most people in the shortest amount of time," Nene said, recalling theearly Community Events. "We want to give people a hand up rather than a handout. And that really intrigued me, even back then."

According to Nene, more than 10,000 people were served at that first Community Event in California.

"Looking back, we did so many things wrong logistically. But you learn as you go," he said. "We were really inventing what we do. Nobody else was doing it at the time."

What started as passing out groceries from the back of a pickup truck quickly grew into what are now known as Convoy of Hope Community Events.(Photo: Submitted by Convoy of Hope)

With the Community Events, Convoy of Hope partners with local churches, businesses, community serviceand health organizations to provide guests with groceries, health services, haircuts, family portraits, job services, veteran services, a kids zone, a hot meal, new childrens shoes, and much more. Approximately $1 million worth of goods and services are provided to the 5,000 to 10,000 guests who attend each event.

"They bring together the best a community has to offer," Nene said. "It's not Convoy coming in and doing everything. We come in with a very limited number of people.

"It's locally driven, locally run. We come in and provide the blueprint on how to do it, provide the experience and expertise and instruction. It's a one-day event but internally, you are building relationships between churches and community agencies and people in need."

In 1998, Convoy of Hope responded to its first disaster, the flooding in Del Rio, Texas, after Tropical Storm Charley.

Since then, the nonprofit hasresponded to hurricanes, typhoons, ice storms, earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires, and floods in the U.S. and throughout the world.

"Between our international and our domestic disaster response teams, we've responded to over 375 disasters through the years," Nene said. "We've responded to 23 disasters this year alone. That is a record for us."

While Convoy is best known for international disaster relief, the organization started a children's feeding program in 2011 that currently feeds200,000 children in El Salvador, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Honduras, Haiti, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, South Africa, Uganda and Tanzania.

"One of the things that contributes to poverty is lack of education," Nene said. "If we can feed kids in school, we have found that parents will send their kids to school. As long as they get them to school if that is the reason then great. Let's appeal to that reason."

"(If) your kids are getting an education, they are going to be less likely to fall back into poverty," he said. "That meal contributes to their education. We've seen in multiple countries, where parents have to make a choice: They are either going to send their kid to school or they are going to send them out to the street corner to beg or to the dump to scavenge."

The people who run the feeding programs are local, because Convoy of Hopewants to be sensitive to the culture, Nene said.

A farmer from Convoy of Hopes program cannot contain her joy as she prepares to sell her harvest at a local market. Photo taken in Tanzania in 2015.(Photo: Submitted by Convoy of Hope)

"We don't want to try to Americanize them," he said. "But yet we want to try to help them."

While much of thefood is donated to Convoy of Hope, the organization then supplements that by buying food produced in the country. This not only makes the program more sustainable but gives the food a local flair.

According to Nene, trying to create these sustainable food sources for the children's feeding program led to the development of Convoy of Hope's agriculture program.

The agriculture program was piloted in Haitifollowing the 2010 earthquake.

Nene said the idea was,rather than "just throwing food off a truck and leave,"to teach the local farmers better techniques.

Convoy hired Dr. Jason Streubel, who hasa Ph.D. in soil science, to go to Haiti and teach a group of about 30 farmers best practices and better techniques for growing rice.

Convoy then promisedto buy a certain percentage of the rice from the farmers for the children's feeding program. In return, the farmers contributed another 10 percent of their yield to the children's feeding program.

"It was successful. And that 30 (farmers) ended up growing to 300," Nene said. "We have now trained over 24,000 people in agriculture practices. That is continuing to grow. This past year was our biggest year ever. We trained over 6,000 people just this past year in 2018."

The numbers for 2019 are not yet available.

The flatbread known as injera is a staple of life in Ethiopia. Teru, a participant in the Womens Empowerment program, makes and sells this flatbread by the stack. Tanzania, 2016, Womens Empowerment.(Photo: Submitted by Convoy of Hope)

Another program associated withthe children's feeding program is Convoy's women's empowerment program, a job-training initiative for the mothers of thechildren served.

"We work with local churches in those countries because they know the community better than anybody," Nene said. "We identify women that really want to improve their situation."

"The first thing we do is teach them that they are worth something. They are not a piece of property," he said. "Then we take them through basic business principles."

Convoy then helps the women identify needs and business opportunities in their communities and help them put together a business plan.

Convoy gives the women "seed capital" to help start abusiness and follows up with them for that first year.

"It's almost like a mentoring-type program for that next year. And the success rate has been huge," Nene said. "We've had over 18,000 women go through that program."

To learn more about other Convoy of Hope programs orvolunteer opportunities here in Springfield, visitconvoyofhope.org.

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'A hand up rather than a hand out': Springfield-based Convoy of Hope celebrates 25 years - News-Leader

Patrons are honorary ambassadors who provide support by lending their name.

Royal charitable patronage adds status and provides vital publicity, according to the monarchys website. However, most of the UKs 200,000 charities function without a royal helping hand. While some claim that royal support stimulates wider giving and volunteering, its not possible to capture any specific added value of such connection.

The queen is a patron to more than 600 charities, good causes that have a combined donated income of around 1.5 billion. However, some donors will be unaware of her patronage, and many might be unmoved by her involvement. As research shows, most donors are driven by a personal connection to a cause.

But some evidence that a royal association helps charities stand out in a crowded and competitive sector, is found in the annual Charity Brand Index. Every year the index, which monitors awareness, trust and likelihood of donating, finds a disproportionate number of top charities feature the word royal in their title.

In 2019, three of the top ten enjoyed this mark of favour: the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Royal British Legion, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

This finding is probably the result of demographics. The most enthusiastic charity supporters are from the oldest age group who also display the highest level of enthusiasm for the monarchy. Unless younger generations become more enthusiastic royalists as they age, the royal effect on donations may decline.

Royal events

Further benefits for chosen charities include royal visits with staff, supporters and beneficiaries, as well as the opportunity to hold receptions at Buckingham Palace and other royal residences. They are also able to put a media spotlight on their cause especially important for those that otherwise struggle to attract positive attention. This was most notably seen with Princess Dianas patronage of organisations fighting the stigma of AIDS and the anti-landmine movement.

On the other hand, there are also costs to having charity patrons royal or otherwise. It takes time to manage these relationships that could be spent in other ways, such as directly nurturing high-value donors. Financial and opportunity costs in organising events, such as royal visits, must eventually make a return on that investment in the form of donations.

Annual fundratio studies, which compare the effectiveness of different forms of fundraising, show special events generate less than half the amounts raised through other fundraising channels such as legacies and committed giving. When a celebrity or royal patron falls out of public favour, potential reputational damage becomes an additional cost.

Regardless of the personal enthusiasms for the crown held by charity trustees (the nonprofit equivalent of the board) they are compelled to always act in the best interest of the charity. As such, they must make decisions, like cutting ties with toxic patrons or returning tainted donations.

Avoiding the attraction of a high-ranking royal

Those charities which calculate that royal patronage is an asset worth having, should resist the temptation to replace the Duke of York with the most prominent or high ranked royal they can get. Research shows that the most valuable celebrity patrons are not the most famous. Rather the ones that have a genuine connection with the cause and are therefore able to speak with moral authority on the issues being addressed.

Prince William and Prince Harrys support for causes working on child bereavement, mental health and injured veterans, all make sense in relation to their life experiences. Likewise, the Duchess of Sussex, has a clear long-standing commitment to female empowerment reflected in her first patronages.

Its also worth bearing in mind that the loss of royal patronage may hurt the royals more than those they patronise. As the constitutional role of the monarchy has declined, a historical study argued that the royal family has successfully reinvented itself as fundraisers and cheerleaders for voluntary action. On any given day, the royal diary and the itineraries of overseas tours clearly shows the work of royals is dominated by visits to charitable organisations.

While some members of the firm, such as the Princess Royal, attract praise for being hardworking, her less industrious relatives may need charity more than charity needs them.

Beth Breeze, Director, Centre for Philanthropy, University of Kent

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Image: Reuters

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Hundreds of Britain's Charities Are About to Become Victims of the Epstein Scandal - The National Interest Online