Read. Think. Act.

Catherine Read

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Del. Marcus Simon on Your Need to Know

(July 31, 2019) Catherine Read sits down with Del. Marcus Simon (D-53) to talk about how citizens can get involved in affecting policy change at the state and local level of governments.

Simon was introduced to state politics in his first job out of college, as an aid with his predecessor, Del. Jim Scott. Without much knowledge about the inner workings of state government, he got a quick lesson on both how things work, and how quickly things can move in Richmond. While he embraces the concept of citizen legislators, it also means that there is a very short time frame to get things done during their abbreviated legislative session each winter.

One of the aspects of state government that really appeals to Del. Simon is the fact that legislators are very accessible to their constituents.   Representatives are able to hear directly from them about their ideas and concerns.  There are not a lot of “layers” in state government, meaning there are very few staff people who serve as buffers.  When you want to speak to your representative, it is easy to do so. He has personally enjoyed getting to know his constituents, learning about new issues, and advocating on their behalf.

He encourages everyone to participate in the legislative process. One way people can engage is to step forward and take a leadership role in a professional association. When it comes to professional licensing and regulations, the state plays a big role. This is a great way to get involved if they have suggestions for improving things within their industry.

He also recommends scheduling a time to meet with him here in Falls Church, or coming to his office in Richmond during session. He always has time for constituents, and wants to hear about issues that are important to them. Legislators also often attend community meetings such as civic associations, neighborhood community groups or local advocacy groups. If you are interested in having him, or any of his colleagues, speak at a local meeting, simply contact their office to arrange the details. You can find your local representatives at this website, simply plug in your address.

Delegate Marcus SimonIn addition to stepping forward and getting involved, Simon has some advice for younger constituents who are interested in civics. The Virginia General Assembly has a page program geared towards students age 13-14. Teens can apply starting August 1st for these coveted spots. The students who are selected will move to Richmond during the legislative session.  They work in the House and Senate chambers, while also doing schoolwork under the supervision of tutors.

It is a wonderful hands-on learning experience. Del. Simon is always impressed with the young people who come to Richmond, and very much enjoys having them as part of the legislative session. He is continuously impressed at their mock legislative session that they run at the end of each season. It shows just how much they absorb by being present and working in the chamber every day.

Simon encourages all citizens to take action in our democracy. There are elections this fall for every seat in both the House and the Senate, and a lot of work to be done. As a member of the minority party since his election in 2013, Simon is looking toward a future when the Democrats can take back the majority. He knows that if they are able to accomplish this, then there will be real policy change on big issues like gun violence prevention, protecting Medicaid expansion, and criminal justice reform.

As a citizen, if you have an idea for legislation, he encourages you to reach out to your representatives today. They are working on crafting agendas and bills, and need time to gain an understanding of the issue, as well as come up with the most effective wording for the bill itself. Come fall, they will be filing bills with the legislative services office, and want to ensure that they have plenty of time to ensure that the bill is written with the most effective language.

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Kimberly Boateng FCPS Student Representative 2019-2020

(July 17, 2019) Catherine Read interviews Kimberly Boateng, the new student representative to the FCPS School Board for the 2019-2020 school year. Kimberly is an incoming junior at Robert E. Lee High School, and was elected this past spring by the Student Advisory Council (SAC).  She serve a one-year term starting in July, and will participate in School Board meetings as a non-voting member.  Kimberly is the 49th student representative to serve in this capacity.

Over the course of her academic career, Kimberly has attended seven different schools, six of them being within the FCPS system.  Through this unique lens, Kimberly has gained a good snapshot of the county and has a lot of ideas based on her experiences. She understands the diversity, both from a racial and socioeconomic standpoint, and is able to use that understanding to help advance the issues that are most important to her.

Among the pressing issues at hand, Boateng believes that mental health, implicit bias awareness, the dress code, assistance for at-risk students, drug use, and punishment reform are most important.

Some of these issues dovetail with one another. Punishment reform merges in with the issue of implicit bias and at-risk students. She points out that the policy of suspending or expelling students is not working. If the goal is to reform the students and help them, then keeping them in school and making them aware of their mistakes, as well as teaching them how to avoid making the same mistakes in the future is the most important thing.

“The worst thing that a school can do” she says, “is give up on a child”.

Since she has been in so many different schools, Boateng has had the opportunity to see things that have worked well, and things that have not worked out the way that they were intended. She would like to highlight the creative, out of the box ideas that she has seen to be successful.

Boateng takes her role seriously, and hopes that the FCPS student body will reach out to her with their thoughts, ideas and observations. The school system is very large, and she believes the only way to be an effective representative is to be open and responsive to the student body that she represents. Her email is effective on July 1st, and she hopes to start hearing from them with ideas and feedback for the new school year.

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Democratic Business Council of Northern Virginia with Laurie MacNamara

(June 17, 2019) Catherine Read speaks with Laurie MacNamara, the first female President of the Democratic Business Council of Northern Virginia. (DemBiz).  Their wide-ranging discussion covers everything from the purpose of the council, to the programming and policy components of the organization.

MacNamara is the first female to head the DemBiz Council in its sixteen years of existence. Senator Scott Surovell, Laurie Blackburn and Kevin Cook founded the organization in 2003, when they recognized that the business owners with Democratic values were under-represented.  Their goal was to bring together business executives who wanted to advance issues that their workforce cared about, such as education, healthcare and affordable housing.

DemBiz provides opportunities for Democrats, like-minded independents and others to meet and network with other professionals, as well as with local, state and federal elected officials and candidates. Through a wide range of programming, from breakfasts to after work networking events, the Council aims to serve all who are interested in participating.

As MacNamara notes, in a local economy with essentially zero unemployment, it becomes a competitive environment to keep employees happy.  Employers are looking to do all they can to retain their staff. By collaborating with organizations like Equality Virginia , they are working to advance policies to make the workplace more inclusive. DemBiz aims to advance policies that workers are yearning for, such as paid family leave and inclusive LGBT workplaces.

The DemBiz Council is best known for its monthly breakfast meetings that are held at the Tower Club in Tysons Corner. Under McNamara’s leadership, however, she has sought to broaden the programming options.  She has also encouraged the Council to hold events around the region and during various times of the day – branching out to both Arlington and Loudoun Counties. Notable recent speakers include Michael Bloomberg and Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Additionally, the council has hosted candidate forums in the recent elections. In 2018 they put on a robust candidate forum focused specifically on business issues for the 10th Congressional Seat (which was eventually won by Rep. Jennifer Wexton). The following year, in 2019, they hosted a forum for all who were running for the Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. The panels were informative, and they plan to continue these events in the future.

Other upcoming events include a discussion about Women in Politics, to be held at 1776 in Crystal City on June 20th. On July 17,  Nobel Prize winning economist Dr. Joseph Stiglitz will join the Council for a talk about the impact of economics on elections.  In September, former Governor Terry McAuliffe will be the keynote speaker who will discuss his experience of stumping for candidates throughout the state during the summer months.

MacNamara is proud of the work she has done in her two-year tenure to help move the organization forward. As the business community in Washington evolves, she aims to keep up with the trends. Her personal background is in Government Contracting, and while there are still many of these businesses in the area, the region has worked hard to attract new industries.

One of her new programming ideas is to have a DemBiz Annual Awards Banquet.  This would give the council an opportunity to recognize employers in the region who are promoting family friendly policies, like paid family leave, early childhood education and inclusive workplaces.

From the Amazon and Nestle headquarters in Arlington, to Hilton putting down roots in Tysons Corner, and Volkswagen landing in Herndon, area officials have worked hard to diversify the business base. Other employers such as INOVA and George Mason University are expanding and hiring more workers. Additionally, players like Virginia Tech, who are setting up their new innovation campus in Alexandria, are helping to fuel the growth of the region. Small businesses are emerging, and many of them are minority, women and veteran-owned enterprises.

All of these businesses have policy objectives that will help attract and retain their employees, and continue to make Northern Virginia thrive. The DemBiz Council has an entire arm of the organization dedicated to advancing policy initiatives on things like education, transportation and healthcare, just to name a few. McNamara encourages all of the members to get involved and add their voice in establishing policy objectives. She welcomes all who are interested to the table. www.DemBiz.org

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GMU College of Science with Dean Peggy Agouris

(May 22, 2019) Catherine Read sits down with Peggy Agouris, Dean of the George Mason University College of Science at the time of this interview. [Effective July 1, 2019, Peggy Agouris became Provost of the College of William & Mary.] They discuss the history of the college and how that history has positioned the college to be on the cutting edge of its specialities.

The GMU College of Science was founded in 2006, after breaking off from the College of Arts and Sciences, and merging with the School of Computational Data Science. It now serves as one of the largest research colleges in the state, with approximately 4,000 students with declared majors in the school. The College of Science also serves to support students from other disciplines, as science intersects with many of the majors from the University’s varied offerings.

George Mason University started as a branch campus of the University of Virginia in 1947, and broke off to become its own entity in 1972. Being a brand new state university, the college needed to differentiate itself in order to attract students. Early on, it adopted innovative curriculum based on what companies were looking for. This led the university to be in on the ground floor of the data science industry.

As information technology programs took off across the nation and employers were looking for graduates who were trained in the field, George Mason was well poised to capitalize on this growth. The school formed partnerships with big players in the technology industry, and students were gaining access to hands on experiences in the field.

This hands-on, innovative approach to education led to George Mason offering the very first PhD program in computational sciences. As the industry forged ahead, the school understood the intersection of data science with other related fields, and decided to bring all of the science programs under one roof.

One of the unique features of the College of Sciences is the Data Lab, which is used by industries for research purposes. Students work on projects for local businesses, and also provide outreach to the local K-12 population, to show applications of data science. Giving students access to hands-on learning through real-life examples is an important aspect of the Data Lab. Additionally, Agouris notes that it is important to inspire younger students to understand how data science has an impact on their world.

In the second segment of the show, she talks about the importance for students to develop a variety of competencies and skill sets. The applications of data science and technology fields are ever changing, so it is important to cultivate the skills that will take students the furthest they can go. She speaks about how it is important for students to acquire good communication, presentation and writing skills, in addition to the scientific training, as employers want to hire well-rounded individuals.

Agouris is very proud of how well the GMU College of Science is doing in regard to attracting and retaining female students and faculty. Today, females comprise over 60% of the student body, and the faculty rate is even higher. She recognizes that not all programs are this successful in attracting and retaining women, and believes that inspiring girls at a young age to explore the field of science will help to increase the enrollment and retention numbers across the nation.

Finally, Agouris is excited about new and emerging fields that are being born each year. The Urban Science Initiative is a new program of study that has students evaluate the impact of environmental factors and variables on the human population. For example, students would study the affects of having a large business such as Amazon move into a neighborhood to understand the impacts that this change has on residents.  The impacts that are discovered can then be useful in helping to shape policy in order to minimize harmful outcomes.

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Network NOVA Third Annual Women’s Summit

(May 6, 2019) Catherine Read sits down with the several key leaders of Network NOVA to discuss their third annual Women’s Summit “Taking Back Power Everywhere” to be held June 28-30 at the McLean Hilton in Tysons Corner.

In the first segment Catherine speaks with Katherine White and Robbin Warner to talk about the history of this summit.  Following the Women’s March, and in the lead-up to the 2017 Virginia statewide elections, a core group of women from Northern Virginia came together with the goal of getting more involved in local politics and supporting Democratic candidates. At the time, there were only 34 Democrats in the House of Delegates.   After floating an idea over happy hour one night, they pulled off the first summit with only 70 days of preparation. Their goal was to learn about and meet all of the candidates who were running for office in November of 2017, as well as to get training from experts in the field on issues from healthcare to the environment to transportation.

Relationships were formed, and the women worked their tails off that year to help elect Democrats to office. Their work contributed to flipping an unprecedented 15 seats in the House of Delegates, helping to balance the power in the lower chamber. This sea change, along with holding the Governor’s mansion and all three statewide seats, helped to force a vote on Medicaid expansion, as well as move the needle on several other issues like education and the environment.

In 2018 the group leveraged their successes to buoy three Virginia women to Congress. Congresswomen Jennifer Wexton (10th), Elaine Luria (2nd) and Abigail Spanberger (7th) were recipients of support from the women of Network NOVA, and won their respective races. All three women will be attending the summit on Sunday to meet with participants and share their experiences and lessons learned.

This year’s election is slightly different, which called for a different approach to the conference. While there are no statewide or congressional seats up for grabs, just about every local elected official in Virginia will be on the ballot. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about local government, and the people who run it. The entire first day of the conference will be devoted to local candidates and their issues. The second day will be focused on State Delegates and Senators, while on the third day the spotlight will be on national issues.

In the second segment of the show Catherine speaks with Krysta Jones of Vote Lead Impact (VLI). VLI promotes and recruits female candidates of color, and teaches leadership competencies. Jones is excited to a part of the summit this year to help advise on programming, and to help diversify the base of people who would be attracted to attend the event.

Robbin Warner Brian SewellBriana Sewell of the VA Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy also joins Catherine to talk about why they are a sponsor of the Women’s Summit.  Her organization works hard to support women throughout their lifecycle, which in turn means that they are supporting Virginia families.  Their issues start with advocating for paid family leave and stretches to ensuring women are supported as caregivers, encompassing everything in between.  She is working with Network NOVA to help them establish an agenda for the summit that speaks to women of all genders, ages and races.

The cost of the event has been kept very low so that there is not a barrier to entry. There will be workshops catering to all types – everything from canvassing, candidate messaging, personal development and executive presence and imaging. The goal is to elevate these candidates and activists to the next level, and change the definition of who an activist can be.

For a full and up to date listing of all 45 breakout sessions, along with every scheduled speaker, visit the Network NOVA website for all of the details. Everything that you need is listed, from the candidates’ forums to Sister Simone of Nuns on the Bus to the Badass Grandmas. The women of Network Nova look forward to welcoming all who are interested in attending. Tickets are $139 for the three-day event, and can be purchased online. They were able to keep the costs low, thanks to the generous sponsorships of organizations like the Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy Virginia, Feminist Majority, Win Virginia and many others.

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AARP Scam Jam with Martin Bailey and Melissa Smarr

(April 17, 2019) Catherine Read sits down with Martin Bailey from AARP and Melissa Smarr from the Silver Shield Task Force of Fairfax County, to discuss their upcoming event called Scam Jam to be held on April 27th from 9am-1pm at the Fairfax County Government Center.

The second annual Scam Jam aims to educate the public on how they can protect themselves against scam artists. There will be speakers and workshops, all designed to inform people about different scams that are currently happening here, and all over the world. Bailey notes that 16.7 million people a year are scammed at a cost of $16.8 billion dollars annually. It is a huge problem, and this program is intended to arm people with knowledge so that they are less likely to fall for a scam.

There will be several speakers who will be highlighting current scams that are happening now in Virginia. The Grandparents scam is one of the more common ones, and has been around a long time. A con artist calls up an elderly person and pretends to be a young relative in trouble, needing bail money. It is designed to put the victim in panic mode and scare them into compliance. There are also a variety of phone scams using IRS, Medicare and Social Security (note: these agencies will never call you, they will always send you correspondence in the mail).

One of the key ways to protect an identity is to safeguard your social security number.  Bailey points out that much of the demographic information on potential victims is “out there” for the world to see, via everything from the online white pages to social media.  But a scammer would need a social security number to open a bank account or credit card.  It is very, very important to never give out that number unless it is a wholly legitimate source.

In addition to the speakers, there will be an opportunity to shred old papers with confidential information and safely dispose of unused medication. If you cannot make it out the event, AARP has a variety of resources online that are free to the public. Two of their most popular pieces are the Con Artist Playbook and the Watchdog Alert Handbook, which are free and available online. There are also blog posts and articles that are constantly being updated, as AARP attempts to keep up with the scammers in an ever-changing environment.

Fairfax County Silver Shield Task Force also has a number of valuable resources on their website, including consumer protection information, how to report a scam, handling door-to-door solicitors and much more.

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Dopesick – Beth Macy

Dopesick Beth Macoy (March 2019) Beth Macy again brings her keen skills in research and journalism to tell another story about Virginia. A long time journalist with The Roanoke Times, she brings to life the stories of Virginia few people have heard before – as she did with her two previous books Factory Man and Truevine.

In Dopesick she pulls back the curtain on the genesis of the opioid epidemic that continues to ravage Virginia and the rest of the nation. No longer confined to rural Appalachia where it all began, it has now spread to the white suburban and affluent communities throughout the Commonwealth.

Those who were earliest to sound the alarm about the addictive threats of Purdue Pharmaceutical’s new drug Oxycontin were ignored. Despite the fact that John Brownlee, US Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, successfully prosecuted Perdue Pharmaceutical for “criminal misbranding” in 2006, that did not sound alarm bells for public health officials or law enforcement. The first successful case against the pharmaceutical company (owned by the billionaire Sackler family) resulted in an award of $634.5 million dollars but failed to signal what was happening in the larger context.

Beth Macy details how the drug epidemic followed I-81 north through the Shenandoah Valley. Drugs were being brought into small towns along the route and down into Roanoke from Baltimore on a daily basis by a network of distributors and users.

She also covers the detrimental effect of the fight for Medicaid Expansion in Virginia and how four years of Republicans putting up road blocks starved a growing number of addicts of the resources they needed for recovery and rehabilitation. She calls out the role Democratic Senator Phil Puckett’s resignation in 2014 played in handing the Republicans in the legislature the majority they needed to block Medicaid Expansion. Puckett represented five rural counties in southwest Virginia where the opioid epidemic was raging unabated.

There is a tremendous stigma around this epidemic because it has struck hard at suburban middle class and affluent white families, as well as poor and rural white families. Drug addiction has turned the corner from simply being deemed criminal activity to being addressed as a disease. It has been a disease all along, but now that respectable people are falling prey to addiction and death from drugs, there is a greater urgency in finding ways to prevent and rehabilitate.

The most compelling parts of this book are the stories of the individuals that Beth Macy got to know in the years she spent researching this book. So many lives wasted so tragically.

I highly recommend this book to everyone. If your life hasn’t been touched in some way by the opioid epidemic raging through Virginia, it is likely just a matter of time before it is. We all need to get involved in advocating for better resources and programs to meet this crisis that exists in every community in Virginia.

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Shaping the Future of Fairfax – Four Women Candidates in 2019

(March 11, 2019) Catherine Read interviews four women of color who are seeking the Democratic endorsement for local office in Fairfax County.  Karen Keys-Gamarra is running for Member-At-Large on the School Board; Ricardy Anderson is running for Mason District representative on the FCPS School Board; Kelly Hebron is running for the Board of Supervisors in the Lee District; and Alicia Plerhoples is running county-wide for Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. School board endorsement votes are held by the Democratic Committees in each magisterial district, the at-large endorsements will take place on May 21 at the countywide meeting of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee. Primary elections for the Board of Supervisors positions will be June 11th.

Karen Keys-Gamarra, FCPS School Board At-Large

In the first segment Catherine speaks with Karen Keys-Gamarra, who is the current At-Large School Board Member and is running for reelection. Keys-Gamarra was first elected in a 2017 special election. Her current roles on the board consist of serving on the committees that oversee Governance and Audit, as well as being the Board liaison to the Title 1 Parent Advisory Committee and the Community Criminal Justice Board.  She has a strong commitment to transparency and good governance practices. With the school system being allocated approximately 50% of the county budget of 1.5 billion dollars, she aims to ensure that the school system is a good steward of those funds.

Karen Keys GamarraAdditionally, Keys-Gamarra is strongly committed to the One Fairfax policy, recently adopted by both the School Board and the Board of Supervisors. This policy promotes equity, and asks all policy makers to put on their equity lens when crafting programs and agendas. This effort is to ensure that the county is offering a quality, world-class education to all students who live in all corners of the county. It is also designed to so that children have access to the necessary services in order to thrive. During her time on the Board, she has also worked collaboratively to rewrite the Memorandum of Understanding for School Resource Officers, in order to provide guidance and ensure equity on how disciplinary challenges are managed.

The School Board is currently tackling a number of other very important issues, including setting up policies for boundary changes, addressing overcrowding in certain communities, improving access to advanced academic services to underserved communities and reviewing discipline policies. The ultimate goal is to deliver a world-class educational experience for all 190,000 students across the school system. As the 10th largest school system in the county, with a proud history of achievement, Keys-Gamarra believes it is imperative for the school board to address these issues head on with innovative and forward-thinking solutions.  To learn more about her platform you can visit her website.

Dr. Ricardy Anderson, FCPS School Board in Mason District

Dr. Ricardy Anderson, a resident of Mason District since 2008, is running to represent her home district on the FCPS School Board. She is seeking the Democratic nomination in the Mason District.  Anderson, a former teacher and principal, holds a Doctoral Degree, and is the only professional educator running for the seat. She brings with her a wealth of experience, and a desire to tackle the challenging issues that the School Board faces.

Ricardy AndersonWith deep roots in the community, along with raising her two young boys in Mason District, Ricardy is acutely aware of the challenges and needs of her district. She has never thought about running for public office in the past, but was moved to serve her community in an educational capacity. She has a lot of ideas and comes with a variety of perspectives to share, as she says there are “many ways to peel the onion”. She is excited to bring some of those ideas to the table in Fairfax County.

Her goal is to foster confidence in the school system to all families throughout Fairfax County, no matter where they live. She understands that education is the great equalizer, and wants to ensure that all students have equal access to education. She herself is an immigrant and first generation American, and has seen first hand that her education gave her the opportunity to advance and make a better life for herself and her family.  Anderson is also a fierce advocate for competitive teacher pay, and believes that the teachers are the foundation of a strong school system.

Her platform includes strengthening equity across the county by strategically implementing the One Fairfax policy, focusing on teacher pay, encouraging the Board to look at restorative justice practices in regards to discipline procedures, strong support of mental health services for students, and opportunities for high school students to access dual enrollment classes through the Community College system.   Voters can learn more about Dr. Ricardy Anderson and her platform, along with current endorsements, by visiting her website. Residents of Mason District who would like to have an opportunity to weigh in on this endorsement need to join the Mason District Democratic Committee by 5pm on March 22nd in order to be eligible to vote in the  April 24th election.

Kelly Hebron, Lee District Board of Supervisors

In the third segment of the show Catherine speaks with Kelly Hebron, who is running for the Lee District Board of Supervisors on the Democratic ballot. Kelly is an attorney and business owner who has lived in Lee District for 20 years. She and her husband have settled in the community and are raising their two daughters there. Kelly is invested in Lee District, and believes that there needs to be a new voice at the table in order to represent all of the residents of her district.

Kelly HebronHebron notes that there are a wide variety of neighborhoods and constituents in the Lee District. It is home to some of the most affluent neighborhoods in the county, but it there are also pockets of extreme poverty. The district covers 30 square miles of land south of the beltway (I-495), between Franconia and Ft. Belvoir. With many languages that are spoken, and many cultures that are represented, she believes that the diversity is Lee District’s strength. She aims to bring people together and work toward making her home district the best place to work, live and play.

Her platform covers strengthening County support for affordable housing, improving workforce development by working closely with the community college system, improving transportation options and taking care of the environment. There are many challenges facing the County today, but by working together to come up with creative solutions she is confident that she can help build a better community for all of her residents.

Hebron brings a wealth of experience to the table. She has served on the Criminal Justice Board, the Small Business Commission, the Economic Advisory Council and has been a board member on the Commission for Business Partnerships, which promotes minority and women owned business. With an economics degree from the University of Maryland, and both a Masters of Public Policy and a JD from Catholic University, Hebron feels that she is well suited to step into the Supervisor role. To learn more about Kelly, visit her website , meet her at the upcoming candidate forum on May 4th at 10am, and make a plan to vote in the primaries on June 11th.

Alicia Plerhoples for Chairman of the Board of Supervisors

Alicia Plerhoples, an attorney and professor at Georgetown University Law School, is running for Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, Alicia launched her career in NYC as a commercial real estate attorney.

She then turned her ambitions to her passion of community economic development, working mostly in the nonprofit arena. As a current professor at Georgetown, she heads the legal clinic, through which she and her students represent nonprofits, small business, incubators, co-working spaces and community organizations.

Alicia PlerhoplesPlerhoples lives in the Dranesville District, where she and her husband are raising their two daughters. She serves at the PTA president of her children’s elementary school, as well as holding a spot on the Governing Board of the McLean Community Center and serving on the board of her neighborhood citizens association. As a co-founder of Virginia Democracy Forward, a progressive grassroots organization based in Northern Virginia, Alicia has worked to raise money and elect Democratic candidates throughout the commonwealth.

Alicia decided to enter the raise for Chairman of the Board because she did not see her voice represented in the current slate of candidates. While Fairfax County is has great wealth and success, there is an underlying issue of growing poverty, and she believes that bold action needs to be taken to ensure that we stem the tide of inequality.

She knows personally about how quickly a family can fall from making ends meet, to being in a dire situation of finding themselves without a permanent place to call home. When she was in the fourth grade her father lost his job, and they were subsequently evicted from their home. This set off a period of economic instability, and her family was not able to find affordable housing. At the tender age of nine, she spent her entire fourth grade year living in a hotel room and experiencing food insecurity. This made a huge impact on her, and is the driving force behind her desire to work toward economic opportunity for all.

Plerhoples is running on a platform that supports these ideas.  She wants to improve access to workforce development and affordable housing, address climate change through innovation with local business, and work toward universal preschool for all children in Fairfax County.

To learn more about Alicia you can visit her website. She encourages all Fairfax County residents to make a plan to vote in the June 11th primaries. The chairman race is a county-wide election, so all residents will have an opportunity to make their voices heard.

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Abrar Omeish and GIVE on Your Need to Know

(February 13, 2019) Catherine Read sits down with Abrar Omeish, co-founder of GIVE Youth (Growth and Inspiration through Volunteering and Education) about the organization she helped to found, and her candidacy for the Fairfax County School Board.

Omeish and her friends came up with the concept of GIVE when they were in high school at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax. They identified a need in the community among low-income students who could not afford expensive tutors and academic prep courses to help them stay competitive when it came to applying to colleges. Additionally, they saw that many of these students did not have role models or mentors to look up to.

Omeish and her contemporaries founded GIVE in 2010, with the mission of promoting civic engagement and giving back to the community. Their goal is to invest in the next generation by striving to provide opportunities to those who seek them in the fields of education, empowerment and leadership. The program gives teens the opportunity to serve as mentors to young children, provides resources to underprivileged students, and promotes the importance of an enthusiastic attitude toward learning.

Starting in the basement of her parents’ home, Omeish and her friends organized and planned the launch of their first tutoring and mentoring site at the Mason District Government Center. Since that time, they have grown GIVE to over 20 centers throughout the county. What is truly remarkable about GIVE is that it continues to be run solely by students. They have various work groups that focus on different aspects of their organization, such as web development, fundraising, volunteer mobilization, student engagement and parent outreach.

Abrar Omeish GIVE FCPSGIVE focuses on pairing high school students with elementary school children, with the goal of developing relationships, inspiring younger students and helping to create continuity in the lives of the younger children. Many times, these young children do not have many strong role models in their life, so having an older student who gets to know them can be enough encouragement that helps them believe in themselves and have success in the classroom. Omeish notes that the high school students learn through the experience of teaching, and they get as much as the younger kids do out of the entire experience.

Additionally, the more experienced Board members help to mentor the new board members by teaching them how to run the organization. They also lift each other up during the college application process, and help one another by reading essays and giving feedback. GIVE aims to build community in a variety of ways.

In the second segment of the show Catherine speaks with Abrar about her run for at-large member of the Fairfax County School Board. She is passionate about creating a school system that offers equity and inclusion in education for all students, no matter where they live or what their ability is. Her idea of targeted universalism, where teachers prepare for the hardest case scenario, will create an environment where all students can achieve success.

As Omeish matriculated through the FCPS school system, she noticed the inequities that exist for low-income students. As a student, she worked to close the achievement gap through her founding of GIVE. Her run for school board is an extension of this philosophy, and she is excited to launch her campaign. She strongly believes that the diversity in Fairfax is one of its greatest strengths, and she would like to see more representation in both the teaching and administrative staff, as well as amongst the school board members. She strives to draw on her experience to move these issues forward, while also inspiring and standing up for children.

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The Women’s Liberation Movement with Dale Brumfield

(Jan. 16, 2019) Catherine Read sits down with Cultural Archeologist Dale Brumfield, for a discussion about the history of the women’s liberation movement. As Virginia kicks off the 2019 legislative session, the Commonwealth is poised to be the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution. Brumfield provides some history and context of the movement, and what brings us to this moment in time.

Brumfield begins by sharing the history of the women’s liberation movement. It was sparked in 1968, when the leftist hippie counter-culture movement was getting started. Women were brought into the coalition,  to essentially provide cover for the men when dealing with the police during protests. When marching or protesting, the men who ran the movement would put the women up front in the marches so that the police would not attack them or use tear gas. When the women started to understand the dynamics of their situation, they decided to break from the ranks and start their own movement.

During the 1968 Miss America pageant, women waged the first large group protest of the movement, coming together to denounce the entire premise of the beauty pageant. The New York Post falsely reported that women were burning their bras, when in reality they were tossing them in the ceremonial “freedom trash can”.   Women in support of the women’s liberation movement were forever stereotyped as “bra-burning” radicals. The bad press was hard to shake, so the women decided to take control of their own messaging.

Marilyn Webb, a Virginian, was at the head of the movement at the time. She ambitiously founded Magic Quilt in 1968, designed to help organize the disparate women’s groups nationwide, and help mobilize and  the ranks. The task proved to be too daunting, and she did not succeed in establishing Magic Quilt as the umbrella organization for the women’s liberation movement.

Dale Brumfield WLShe did, however, successfully launch the first news magazine that was dedicated to women’s issues called “Off Our Backs”. Many people think that Gloria Steinem with Ms. Magazine was the first feminist publication of its type, but “Off our Backs” hit the printing press in 1970, several years before Ms.   The magazine was meant to set the stage for, and define the narrative about, women’s issues.

Much of the coverage of the movement by the mainstream media was negative, so the purpose of the magazine was to change the tune and offer an alternative voice. At the time, Webb was unable to find anyone in Virginia to actually print the magazine, so they traveled to Atlanta to find a publisher. Off Our Backs continued publishing for 38 years, although they eventually transitioned to online publishing before closing shop in 2008.  Archives of the publication can be found online.

Throughout the history of the United States, women have had to fight for equality in so many ways. From suffrage, to entering the workforce and even being able to own their own credit card without their husband’s co-signature, women have had an uphill battle every step of the way. Brumfield notes that it is challenging to maintain a movement over a long, sustained period. There are certain moments in time that spark a light to continue the fight.

Many women found the 2016 election, and the #metoo movement that followed, to be such a moment. Women have been inspired to take things into their own hands, and run for office in record numbers on the local, state and federal level. Here in Virginia, we elected three women to Congress in 2018. As women continue to get elected and hold office, he believes that progress will follow.

(update: The State Senate passed the ERA amendment on the first day of session, however the House of Delegates voted the bill down in committee, along party lines).