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Archives for July 2017

by Catherine Read

Women Behind Bars Returning to the Community – Friends of Guest House

(July 31, 2017) Catherine Read delves into the unique challenges of women who are incarcerated in Virginia’s jails and prisons and what they face when returning to their local communities – including reconnecting with their children, finding support for addiction, and finding employment. Friends of Guest House based in Alexandria, VA, is a residential program that can accept 26 women at a time into their residential program. Founded in 1974, this program has helped about 3,000 women and their 4,000 children while accepting only 17 women at a time, until very recently when the program expanded to 26 residents and expanded from 3 months to 6 months.

Laura Jessick Friends of Guest HouseIn the first segment of the show, case worker Laura Jessick outlines some of the broad challenges these women face and how the Friends of Guest House residential program works to successfully support them through their transition. In the three segments following, Trystika, Kimberly and Alexis talk about their experiences while incarcerated and the challenges of trying to cope with life behind bars. One of the most basic challenges is managing their monthly menstrual cycles without access to adequate supplies – including underwear. We explored this topic in an earlier show with Holly Seibold of BRAWS – Bringing Resources to Aid Women’s Shelters. The lack of medical care and basic necessities for incarcerated women is an issue that the ACLU has brought forward in other states with a case in Michigan still pending.

The statistics are staggering for the growth of women in our jails and prisons. Their offenses are overwhelming low-level non-violent trangressions with many involving addiction, fraud, property damage, probation violations and theft. Many of those crimes are tied to issues of poverty. In 1970, 73 percent of counties across the United States reported zero women in their jails. Between 1970 and 2014, incarcerated women went from under 8,000 to nearly 110,000. Currently, nearly half of all jailed women are in small county jails which are funded and operated by local municipalities.*

Female Incarceration - NYTAnother key differentiating factor is that nearly 80 percent of women in jails are mothers.** Unlike incarcerated men, they are by and large single parents who are solely responsible for their young children. While much of the discussion around mass incarceration in this country has focused on the high numbers of men of color in our prisons, there has been little discussion about the explosive growth of women behind bars and the trauma that they endure there. Only Thailand incarcerates women at a higher rate than the United States. And the statistics don’t begin to show that many of these women are victims of trauma, with 86 percent reporting that they experienced sexual violence in their lifetime. Another staggering statistic is that while women make up only 13 percent of people held in local jails, they make up 67 percent of victims of staff-on-inmate sexual violence.

Traumatized when they arrive, traumatized while incarcerated, these women have major hurdles to overcome when they are no longer behind bars and must navigate their way back to a sustainable life on the outside without the support of treatment programs and services to help with affordable housing, workforce development, healthcare, transportation and support for their children. This is where the Friends of Guest House have a proven track record of helping women to get their lives together in a way that is sustainable. While national recidivism rates are around 70 percent, for those who complete the Friends of Guest House residential program, that rate is less than 10 percent.

Scant attention has been paid to the struggles of women behind bars, the explosive growth in their incarceration, and the many social-economic-racial factors that have led to this national crisis. One fact alone should give this nation pause: an estimated 2.6 million children have a parent behind bars. When that parent is their only parent, we are almost ensuring that the cycle of poverty and prison will continue and will grow. There are alternatives to incarceration and more can be done for the women who find themselves incarcerated. It’s incumbent on us to do more both nationally and locally.

* From the published research: Overlooked: Women in Jails in the Era of Reform

** From “Mothers in Prison” – Nicholas Kristof, New York Times Nov. 25, 2016

Filed Under: Inside Scoop, Political, TV Shows, Virginia, Women Tagged With: Catherine Read, Friends of Guest House, Jail, Laura Jessick, Mass Incarceration, Menstrual Hygiene, ReEntry Programs, Virginia, Women in Prison

by Catherine Read

Dream Hoarders by Richard V. Reeves

Dream Hoarders Richard ReevesThis is a truly important book. Progressive politics has supported the idea of the 1% vs the 99% and that has unburdened affluent liberal thinkers from taking responsibility as part of the top 20%. There are opportunities and advantages that accrue to those in the top quintile that we are reluctant to give up – everything from the 529 savings accounts for our children’s education, to how our neighborhoods are zoned, legacy admissions to Ivy League universities and the home mortgage interest tax credit.

I was fortunate to hear Richard Reeves talk about this book at the Aspen Institute last week in DC. He makes a convincing case for how this country, so proud of it’s founding upon the ideals of social mobility and meritocracy, is becoming more rigidly stratified into classes. As a native of the United Kingdom who is now an American citizen, a resident of Montgomery County, Maryland, and a senior fellow in Economics at the Brookings Institution, he brings an unusual combination of perspectives to this study.

He’s draws on the research of other scholars to make his case, as well as from Robert Putnam’s Our Kids, J.D. Vance’s Hillybilly Elegy, and Charles Murray’s Coming Apart. From both a data standpoint and anecdotal examples, Reeves paints a picture of our country that not everyone is willing to see.

Over the last three or four decades, income inequality has increased in the United States, but only at the top. There has been no increase in inequality in the bottom 80 percent of the population. The break point is around the eightieth percentile, as David Grusky confirmed in a recent comprehensive study. “The income gap between professional-managerial class and all other classes is now very large,” Grusky concludes, “whereas the income gaps among the remaining classes are not much different from what prevailed in 1979.”

The whole concept of “hoarding opportunities” is about the cumulative effect it has not only on income but the other factors that feed into a class based system – where we went to college, what kind of employment we have and what neighborhoods we live in.

Reeves hits one of my pet peeves very hard throughout the book – internships. How they are distributed, who gets them, the fact that most are unpaid (and largely unregulated in any way) and why increasingly they are more important to better career opportunities. The chart on page 117 show internships ranked first in importance by a survey of employers, ahead of seven other factors such as college reputation, GPA, volunteer experience and employment during college. In other words, it’s become a prerequisite to the better jobs while the distribution of those internships are vastly inequitable. One of the most telling examples in the book is how NYC Mayors Bloomberg and de Blasio sought waivers from the city’s Conflict of Interest Board in order to hire their own children as summer interns. So much for high minded liberal ideals of economic opportunity.

Throughout the book there is an emphasis on educational inequality, inherited wealth and class, how residential zoning factors into who is in the local public schools and also about the gaps in the quality of parenting.

One of the most surprising subjects in the book, and one I fully support, is his proposal in Chapter 7 Sharing the Dream around “Reduce Unintended Pregnancies Through Better Contraception.” Finally, a recognition about how unintended pregnancies affect both the parent and the child and place them both at a disadvantage for economic stability and social mobility. He talks about how our antiquated system of sex education and access to reliable contraception almost ensures that we will continue to have an entire class of economically disadvantaged Americans made up of single parent households with children.

While I applaud his research on LARCs and an honest discussion about unintended pregnancies, I will ding Richard Reeves for not saying one single word about abortion. Talk about placation politics. As a senior fellow at the venerated Brookings Institution and a researcher who wants to influence public policy, I can see why he would avoid discussing something summarily dismissed by every conservative he’s trying to persuade to his larger vision.

However, American women have a legal right to access abortion services in this country as decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in Roe v. Wade in 1972. Ever since that decision, conservative forces have systematically tried to dismantle access to those legally protected services in states across the country. EVERY SINGLE DAY there are headlines about challenges to the shut down women’s abortion clinics from Kentucky to Louisiana, Mississippi to Arkansas, Texas to Virginia. To simply ignore that as a contributing factor to the economic forces he so thoroughly examines in this book is a glaring weakness. Preventing unintended pregnancies is a laudable goal. Legislatures dictating whether women will bear the children of those unintended pregnancies is a reality he does not address. Clearly women of the upper middle class can buy abortion services no matter where they live. It’s only poor women who suffer from the lack of access to services. Talk about hoarding of opportunities!

I would highly recommend this book. Particularly to my fellow travelers in the top economic quintile of Americans. I’ve seen the enemy and it is US. The first step to solving a problem is recognizing it, naming it and owning our responsibility for it.

Filed Under: Good Books, Political, Women Tagged With: Aspen Institute, Brookings Institution, Dream Hoarders, Economic Opportunity, Internships, Legacy Admissions, Richard V. Reeves

by Catherine Read

Fairfax Food Council with Terri Siggins and Christina Garris

(July 28, 2017) Catherine Read talks with Terri Siggins, Project Coordinator for the Fairfax Food Council, and Christina Garris, Chair of the Fairfax Food Council and the Programs Director for Britepaths, a local non-profit that is one of the member organizations.

In the first segment, Terri Siggins outlines how the Fairfax Food Council came about as a result of a comprehensive strategic planning process undertaken by the Fairfax County Health Department in 2008. That process focused on identifying health needs in the county and in 2013 the Partnership for Healthier Fairfax developed CHIP – Community Health Improvement Plan. CHIP identified healthy eating as a key component of that plan and out of that process the Fairfax Food Council was born.

In the Spring of 2015 the Fairfax Food Council initiated a Community Food Assessment focusing on three communities in the county: Mount Vernon, Bailey’s Crossroads and the Reston/Herndon area. These are considered “high needs” communities. The assessment provided the guiding principles for the Fairfax Food Council and helped to identify “pockets of need” that exist within larger communities.

The Food4Thought program that provides food to students on weekends was developed out of an identified need at the Marshall Road Elementary School in Vienna, VA. Students eligible for free and reduced school lunches often did not have access to food over the weekend. The school’s principal, social worker and PTA worked with Britepaths to collect, coordinate and distribute food to those students in a way that maintained their privacy and dignity. The Food4Thought program continues to expand to other area elementary schools with each new school year. It’s an example of the collaborative nature of meeting identified needs and adapting to specific circumstances by school.

One of the initiatives of the Fairfax Food Council is to create partnerships and collaboration among government agencies, non-profits, faith communities, businesses, schools and individual community members. Currently the council is funded by a grant from the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth and is housed within the Fairfax County Health Department. That grant carries them through July of 2018 at which time they will continue to look for other sources of funding to help expand their programs and bring on staff members.

Christina GarrisThe Fairfax Food Council has three work groups: Food Access, Urban Agriculture and Food Literacy. The Food Literacy project has developed templates for area food pantries to use in educating those they serve about nutrition and healthy eating. The Capital Area Food Bank is a member of the council and recently changed their policies to exclude donations of junk food and candy to their pantries. One of the templates they have developed is a guide for food pantries to use with donors in helping to guide their donations toward healthier items and “most requested” needs.

Christina Garris talks about the pivot toward grocery gift cards that Britepaths made several years ago and the benefit to families who are also in their financial literacy classes to learn budgeting. The Our Daily Veggies vouchers developed in collaboration with area farmer’s markets are also part of a larger program of Healthy Eating Workshops that focus on healthier meal preparation. With a grant from the USDA, the Fairfax Food Council has launched a SNAP Matching Program that allows SNAP recipients to buy $10 worth of produce at a participating farmer’s market for only $5. Here in Northern Virginia food access is a greater problem than food deserts which makes fresh foods more difficult to obtain or more expensive if purchased through convenience stores.

Terri Siggins Christina GarrisIn addition to the collaborative partnerships the Fairfax Food Council is pulling together, they invite individual members of the community to participate in any or all of their working groups. Monthly meetings are held at the Kelly Square Health Department Offices and the schedule is posted online. A focus on the social determinants of health outcomes is entering the lexicon of how we talk about healthy communities and the wellness of individuals within those communities. The Fairfax Food Council will continue to innovate, educate and create the tools necessary to help ensure healthy communities here in Fairfax County.  You can also follow them on Facebook.

Filed Under: Blogging, TV Shows, Virginia, Your Need to Know Tagged With: Britepaths, Christina Garris, Fairfax County, Fairfax County Health Department, Fairfax Food Council, Food Access, Food Literacy, Food4Thought, Our Daily Veggies, SNAP, Terri Siggins, Urban Agriculture

by Catherine Read

Lisa Johnson-Firth of Immigrants First PLLC talks about Know Your Rights

(July 20 2017) Catherine Reads speaks with local attorney Lisa Johnson-Firth of Immigrants First, PLLC about the shift in policy regarding enforcement of immigration laws and which immigrants are the focus of this shift under the Trump Administration.

Lisa Johnson-Firth does presentations for many groups in the area entitled “Know Your Rights.” In the first segment she discusses what it means to be “out of status” and the appropriate measures to take when being pulled over by police. While Virginia is a “name only state” and we are not required to give anything other than our names, Lisa talks about the practical issues of cooperation with law enforcement while being aware of giving information that can and will be used against us in a court of law. The point of her Know Your Rights presentations is to make certain that people in our community know their legal rights and also the practical considerations of how much to say and when.

Lisa Johnson-FirthCatherine and Lisa also talk about the various groups of people in this country who are “out of status” which includes those who have overstayed their student or tourist visas from countries around the world. Europeans and non-Hispanic people do not appear to be the target of this crackdown on immigration which brings into question the profiling of anyone who might be an “out of status” person in this country based solely on their appearance. This seems to be driven by a fear of gang members and criminals pouring across our southern borders instead of the many women and children who are fleeing violence in their own countries as refugees.

In the second segment, Lisa discusses those who seek to claim asylum here and the process for that and how it varies from one country to another. There continues to be a stream of unaccompanied minors coming across our boarders from Central America and managing that flow is taxing our resources at the border and is putting these children in danger. This risk is driven by desperation and until the violence subsides in those countries, the flow of illegal immigration is not going to slow down.

The final part of this show asks some fundamental questions about dealing with illegal immigration going forward and what can be done to craft better public policies around this issue. We must also be honest about the benefits of immigration to our communities in this country as well as to the immigrants themselves. For more information visit Immigrants First, PLLC.

Filed Under: Blogging, TV Shows, Virginia, Your Need to Know Tagged With: Catherine Read, Immigrants First PLLC, Immigration, Immigration Crackdown, Know Your Rights, Lisa Johnson-Firth, Out of Status, political asylum, Refugees, removal proceedings, Visas

by Catherine Read

The Centreville Immigration Forum – Lisa Johnson-Firth and Terry Angelotti

(July 12 2017) Catherine Reads speaks with local attorney Lisa Johnson-Firth of Immigrants First, PLLC, and Terri Angelotti, of the Centreville Immigration Forum. The multi-national make-up of the Northern Virginia region has made new immigration initiatives a source of anxiety for families in this region. Schools are working to manage the anxiety of the children in their classrooms and the judicial system is struggling to manage the sudden caseload increase.

Lisa Johnson-Firth has a legal practice that serves those in the immigrant community.Lisa Johnson Firth She talks about the nature of the “removal process” where some local residents are taken four hours away to a facility in Farmville, VA, to await a hearing. Sometimes a person taken into custody may not be able to contact their family immediately to let them know what has happened. The local Immigration Court located in Arlington, VA, is struggling to manage the burgeoning caseload, with some cases schedule as far out as the year 2023.

When asked about how this is affecting children in the immigrant community, Lisa talks about her training with Head Start teachers and the fact that teachers are often on the front lines of dealing with these situations with little training and few resources. In some instances, children left behind when their last parent has been removed from this country are placed into the foster care system.

Terry Angelotti CIFIn the second segment, Terry Angelotti, Executive Director of the Centreville Labor Resource Center, talks about the genesis of the Centreville Immigration Forum in 2007 and the opening of the CLRC in 2011. The center has been operating in donated space for over 5 years and they do not use a penny of tax payer funds. The operating costs of the center are covered by privately raised funds and the need to fundraise is constant. The CLRC offers classes to improve the trade skills and the English proficiency of those at the center and prepare them to take more highly skilled jobs. They continue to offer a stable source of laborers to local contractors and homeowners and to make certain their workers are not victims of wage theft.

As part of the community response to this increased pressure on the immigrant community, the Western Fairfax Immigration Strategy Group was formed earlier this year. This is a coalition of community groups, non-profits, and faith communities that serve immigrants and want to better coordinate their efforts. The first 5 meetings saw 28 groups represented with about 55 participants coming from the Centreville-Chantilly-Fairfax area as well as from Reston and Prince William County. Speakers for these meetings have included representatives from the Fairfax County Police and Sheriff’s offices, local parent liaisons, a Detention Watch Network Organizer and others involved in serving immigrant populations.The group has also served as a bulletin board for notices of Know Your Rights.

There are many opportunities to be involved. Volunteers and donations are always welcome at the Centreville Labor Resource Center, and organizations with an interest in helping with broader issues affecting our local immigrant communities should contact the Western Fairfax Immigration Strategy Group through Terry Angelotti. www.CentrevilleImmigrationForum.

Filed Under: Blogging, Political, TV Shows, Virginia, Your Need to Know Tagged With: Centreville Immigration Forum, Centreville Labor Resource Center, ICE, Immigrants First, Immigration, Lisa Johnson-Firth, Terry Angelloti

by Catherine Read

GrandInvolve – Retired Seniors Volunteering in the Classroom

(July 10 2017) Catherine Read talks about the non-profit GrandInvolve with staff and a volunteer from Crestwood Elementary School in Springfield, VA. This program brings retired seniors into the classrooms of Title I schools in Fairfax County, VA. GrandInvolve recently received the 2017 Governor’s Community Organization Award for its work fighting ageism and furthering understanding of cultures.

GrandInvolveIn the first segment, Guidance Counselor Sara Crummett shares the experience of being the first school to launch this volunteering program at Crestwood Elementary School, located in central Springfield, VA. She coordinates and matches the volunteers with the classroom teachers to find a good “fit” that meets the expectations of both. Crestwood will be starting their fourth year of this program in the Fall of 2017 and continue to look for volunteers for their classrooms, which have a high population of students who qualify for free and reduced lunches and are also from homes where a language other than English is spoken.

Eve Hall, a teacher at Crestwood, explains how she initially started with GrandInvolve as a third grade teacher and how she established working relationships with the three volunteers assigned to her. She is now a Head Start teacher and all of her volunteers followed her into this preschool program. Eve gives examples of the ways in which the volunteers assist her with regular daily activities and also their willingness to help with special events like pumpkin carving and evening events like book fairs. One of her volunteers even started a knitting club at the school which has been a great success.

Suba Satay GrandInvolveSuba Satay, a retired U.S. Air Force officer, shares his experience being a classroom volunteer in first and second grade at Crestwood. He was matched with a teacher where he was able to specify reading and writing as an area he wanted to focus on with the children. Going into the 2017-18 school year, he’s adding a second volunteer day so he can do the same type of mentoring for third and fourth graders. Mr. Suba, as the children know him, has found this volunteering to be one of the most rewarding things he has ever done. He has also developed a great respect for all that classrooms teachers are asked to do.

In the final segment, Cindy Nothom, a GrandInvolve Action Team Volunteer at Parklawn Elementary School, shares the efforts the organization is making to recruit more volunteers for the upcoming school year. Cindy was one of the original members of GrandInvolve team which was founded by Dorothy Keenan in 2014 to place needed volunteers into Title I schools. At Parklawn last year there were more classroom teachers requesting volunteers than they had volunteers to place. This year they are reaching out to a number of organizations such as Venture into Volunteering and Volunteer Fairfax to look for new volunteers. Additionally, they have more than 15 GrandInvolve speakers who are available to speak at meetings for service clubs like Rotary, Kiwanis, Garden Clubs and Women’s Clubs to explain the volunteer opportunities. You can find additional information about GrandInvolve at www.GrandInvolve.org and on their Facebook page.

Filed Under: Inside Scoop, Virginia Tagged With: Cindy Nothom, Crestwood Elementary School, Dorothy Keenan, Eve Hall, Fairfax County Public Schools, GrandInvolve, Inside Scoop, Sara Crummett, Seniors, Suba Satay, Title I Schools, Volunteering

by Catherine Read

Turning Point Suffragists Memorial – Occoquan, VA – Inside Scoop

 

(July 3 2017) Catherine Read interviews Patricia Wirth, Executive Director of The Turning Point Suffragists Memorial Association. The goal of the organization is education of the public regarding the Suffragists Movement. The proposed memorial to be built in Occoquan Regional Park in Fairfax County Virginia, would serve as a monument to the 72 year struggle by over 5 million women in America to pass the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote. It’s design also includes an education center to provide the historical context missing in the history lessons taught in classrooms around the country.

For instance, the ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote, did not give ALL women the right to vote. There are still issues with voter suppression to this day.

The first Women’s Rights Convention convened at Seneca Falls, New York, on July 19, 1848, is often cited as the beginning of the women’s suffrage movement in this country. The convention organizers, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, were two abolitionists who met at the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. Two hundred women attended this event and it would be the beginning of seven decades of struggle with millions of women working to get the right to vote for all women – current and future. An interesting account of this arc of history can be found in Adam Grant’s book “Originals” contained in the chapter “The Narcissism of Small Differences.”

Throughout this interview, Patricia Wirth shows slides of the women whose names are virtually unknown to most Americans despite their importance to this history of our country. Carrie Chapman Catt was the leader of the National Woman Suffrage Association and the founder in 1920 of the League of Women Voters, an organization that is thriving in 2017. Alice Paul was the co-founder of the National Women’s Party and she authored the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1923. The ERA Amendment was passed in 1972 (five years before her death in 1977) but it has NEVER been ratified. In recent years it has come up annually for a ratification vote in the Virginia General Assembly where it is passed by the Senate and killed in the Republican controlled House.

The ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote hinged on the votes of the Tennessee legislature in August of 1920. It came down to the vote of one single legislator, a young man named Harry Burn, who received a letter from his mother asking him to support Mrs. Catt and vote yes. Few people were ever taught this bit of history in school, and this is one of the missions of The Turning Point Suffragists Memorial, to educate. Through education and leadership development programs, we can build a monument not only to the people who sacrificed so much for women’s suffrage, but also as a reminder of what it takes to create substantive social change. As Rebbecca Solnit points out in her book Hope in the Dark, we must build monuments to the journey of how great change takes place.

The location of the memorial in Occoquan Regional Park in Virginia has historical significance. In 1917, the “Silent Sentinels” who had been peacefully protesting outside the White House for years, were rounded up by order of President Woodrow Wilson and imprisoned in the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia. They were held without charge and brutalized there – beatings, force feedings and in deplorable conditions. It was the headlines of the international media that finally forced the administration to release the women. A documentary titled “Iron Jawed Angels” detailing the infamous “Night of Terror” that took place on Nov. 15, 1917, is available online.

The role of African American Suffragists will also be an integral part of this memorial to the suffrage movement.  The earliest suffragists came from the abolitionist movement well before the 1848 convention in Seneca Falls. The Women’s Suffrage Parade held in Washington, DC, in March of 1913 included 22 founders of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. It was the only African American women’s organization to participate and they remain a stalwart supporter of building this memorial 114 years later.

The Turning Point Suffragists Memorial will be part of a proposed “Constitutional Trail” connecting historical sites in the region that impacted the creation of the U.S. Constitution, including it’s 19th amendment giving women the right to vote. The trail will include the Archives in Washington, DC – home of the original Constitution; Mount Vernon – home of George Washington, president of the Constitutional Convention and the first President under the new Constitution; Gunston Hall – home of George Mason, Father of the Bill of Rights and Montpelier – home of James Madison, Father of the Constitution.

A major capital fundraising effort is underway to raise the funds necessary to construct this $2 million dollar memorial with a deadline of February 2019. The goal is to allow 18 months to construct the memorial complex in time for the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment in August of 2020. There is an urgent need to find major donors to underwrite the cost as this will be a privately funded memorial built on donated county park land.

For more information on how you can help raise the visibility of this fundraising campaign visit http://www.suffragistmemorial.org

Filed Under: Inside Scoop, TV Shows, Virginia Tagged With: 19th Amendment, Catherine Read, Delta Sigma Theta, Night of Terror, occoquan, Patricia Wirth, Seneca Falls, Silent Sentinels, Suffragists, turning point suffragists memorial, Virginia, votes for women

by Catherine Read

Holly Seibold – BRAWS: Bringing Resources to Aid Women’s Shelters

(July 2 2017) Catherine Read talks with Holly Seibold, founder of the non-profit BRAWS – Bringing Resources to Aid Women’s Shelters. The mission of this three year old organization is to bring dignity and empowerment to women and girls by providing feminine hygiene products to those who cannot afford them or don’t have access to them. Many of these women are victims of domestic violence, incarcerated, or in programs where they are receiving benefits like WIC and SNAP that don’t cover these products.

Holly Seibold BRAWS BrasAdditionally, BRAWS provides new bras and underwear (tags on) to women who are in shelters and other programs where access to these essential items are limited. They have ongoing partnerships with other local organizations like the Vienna Women’s Club whose members faithfully count, sort and organize the inventory on a monthly basis. These feminine hygiene products and undergarments are then distributed to women in collaboration with area organizations such as Shelter House, Friends of Guest House, Northern Virginia Family Service, Britepaths, Homestretch, Bethany House, New Hope Housing and others.

Holly Seibold, Executive Director and Founder of BRAWS, was recently named Emerging Influential of the Year by the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce at their annual Corporate Citizenship Awards Luncheon on June 14, 2017. BRAWS was also the recipient of the Shelter House Changing Lives Award at a Volunteer Appreciation Reception held on June 28th.

Holly Seibold BRAWSTheir collection efforts are ongoing and they look for opportunities to collaborate with other organizations and events to collect these items. They continually update their events on the BRAWS website for fundraising, donation drives and also distribution events. At the recent Women’s Summit in Leesburg, VA, BRAWS had a table and a collection box that allowed the 300+ women attending to donate as part of that conference. They also hosted a Fun Run in June that was sponsored by many local organizations. One of their biggest annual fundraisers is Mardi Bras held in February. It continues to grow each year as more people discover the work that BRAWS is doing in the community.

Issue advocacy is also a main focus of BRAWS as they work to change the fact that feminine hygiene products are taxed in Virginia and DC, despite being non-optional items women are forced to purchase at a substantial monthly expense for over 4 decades of their lives. That is a lot of sales tax on top of the actual cost of the products themselves. Holly Seibold has testified in front of numerous committees to make the case for why the sales tax should be eliminated and public facilities such as prisons and schools should provide these products to those who cannot afford them or don’t have access to them. Advocacy is an important part of BRAWS core mission. In 2017 Delegate Jennifer Boysko introduced the Dignity Act at Holly’s urging. This bill would remove the tax on feminine hygiene products in Virginia. It was killed in committee and never reached the floor of the House or Senate for a vote. Delegate Boysko will again submit that bill in the 2018 General Assembly Session.

For more information on donating funds, collecting supplies, organizing an event, or donating your time visit their website at www.BRAWS.org, follow them on Facebook and also on Twitter at @BRAWSorg

Filed Under: Blogging, TV Shows, Women, Your Need to Know Tagged With: bras, BRAWS, Catherine Read, Dignity Act, feminine hygiene, Holly Seibold, Jennifer Boysko, Vienna VA, Women's Shelters

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