Health and Fitness
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Women's eNews Philadelphia Leadership Awards 2009
Siobhan "Sam" Bennett, Runner for All Women Following a career that has spanned congressional candidate, community leader, organizer and businesswoman, Siobhan "Sam" Bennett has found the perfect place for her fighting attitude and political savvy. She is the current president of the Women"s Campaign Forum, an organization that seeks to launch women into elected office. A former small-business owner who was active in local politics and the nonprofit sector, Bennett decided that putting women in office was crucial to achieving her personal ideals. Bennett knows firsthand that it"s no easy task to change the gender balance in politics. In 2001, she ran for office as a first-time candidate against Sen. Roy Afflerbach for the Allentown mayoral race. Nearly overcoming her competitor, Bennett lost the race by just 46 votes. However, Bennett describes how her opponents used gender as a means of bias in the Congressional race. For instance, she explains how the first major article for a local newspaper described her as "a phony political whore." "This was a wake up call for me. However, I did not let this discourage me," says Bennett. In November 2008, Bennett ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in Pennsylvania"s 15th congressional district. Flexing phenomenal fundraising skills, she received nationwide attention and successfully won endorsements from over 35 national organizations, including the Women"s Campaign Forum, League of Conservation Voters and EMILY"s List. Although Bennett did not defeat her opponent, Charles Dent, she did get more votes than any other Democrat ever received for that seat. In April 2009, Bennett stepped to the helm of the Women"s Campaign Forum. The organization endorses, raises funds for and provides networking opportunities for female candidates who support reproductive choices to enter the political sphere and gain political power.They run a "pipeline" project called "She Should Run" and offer a slate of endorsements in every election season. "After years of working to make a difference, it became clear that the most significant way was through politics. If more women were in office, health care and other issues would improve," she says. The Honorable Ann M. Butchart, Judicial Fighter for Equality The Honorable Ann M. Butchart was elected to the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas in November 2005. Butchart graduated from Rosemont College in 1973 and from Temple University Beasley School of Law in 1993. Prior to her election to the judiciary, she was a sole practitioner who maintained offices in Center City and Kensington. The focus of her practice was civil matters, including Social Security Disability, personal bankruptcy, employee benefit claims, estate administration and zoning for nonprofit community groups. Butchart has always been an active community resident. She was a Democratic committeeperson in the 18th Ward, where she also served as ward attorney and ward chair. In 2001, she was a founding board member (and became board president) of the Kensington South Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit dedicated to the revitalization of the neighborhood. She also served on the board of the Liberty City Democratic Club, where she co-chaired the Endorsement Committee, and was president of the Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight. She provided pro bono services for the Democratic City Committee and community groups in Philadelphia on complex zoning issues. She was also appointed to the Mayor"s Advisory Gaming Task Force where she served on the Site Selection Committee. Butchart has been active in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, community since the 1980s. She was interim director of the Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force, a board member of the Liberty City Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club and president of the Philadelphia chapter of Dignity, the national organization of LGBT Catholics. Butchart and her partner of 26 years, Marian Luongo, are registered domestic partners in Philadelphia. [----------] Elizabeth Wallace Ellers, Connector to Global Women Elizabeth Wallace Ellers has traveled the globe for 15 years to locate promising philanthropic investments. "As I learned more and more about the issues--and the impact that is possible--I knew that I had to create a way to share it with others," she says. She founded The globalislocal Fund in 2005. The partnership began with a group of 17 women in the Philadelphia area who wanted to pool their resources to help alleviate poverty around the globe. Ellers didn"t initially intend for the organization-at-large to be women-only, but the success of this pilot group showed her the benefits of such an arrangement. "Women enjoy collaborating with their peers," she says. "And the majority of the most vulnerable people in the world are women and children. When targeting the causes and consequences of poverty, by definition, we"re targeting women and children. So there"s this great sense of connectedness." Today globalislocal is made up of 55 women in the tri-state region, who each give $1,825 or more a year (that"s $5 a day) and take an active interest in the targeted investments the fund makes. As a group, they meet with leading social innovators to learn from people in the field about key issues and effective strategies for addressing root causes of poverty. They work with nongovernmental organizaitons, nonprofits and social entrepreneurs to identify sustainable, high-impact initiatives. Each year globalislocal"s partners decide which projects the fund will invest in to achieve the greatest social return. Over the past four years, The globalislical Fund has invested over $500,000 in solutions to alleviate extreme poverty in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Although some of the funded projects are women-specific, such as banks making micro-loans to women, even gender-neutral investments provide returns for women in a community. "If you were to invest in anything to do with clean water or wells or anything of that sort, for instance," Ellers says, "women and girls, the vast majority of the time, are in charge of getting water for the family. That time saved means they can be productive economically or in school." The next goal for 2009 is to begin expanding their local model to other cities around the country. Ellers says The globalislocal Fund has grown and will continue to grow because "it"s deeply gratifying to be able to share the satisfaction that comes from experiencing your impact and making the world a more secure and just place." [----------] Dr. Carrie Jacobs, Creator of Safe Space for LGBTQ Youth Dr. Carrie Jacobs, who has worked with adolescents for over 30 years as a social worker, psychologist, mentor and community leader, opened a center for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning, or LGBTQ, youth in Philadelphia for one simple reason: Services did not exist for this population. "There was such an unmet need--many LGBTQ youth had no one to turn to for support," she says. Jacobs, who has a degree from Bryn Mawr Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research and a doctorate in psychology, founded The Attic Youth Center in 1993 as an eight-week pilot project. Against expectations, "a lot of youth came and wanted to participate," she recalls. "I was determined to continue to provide these youth with a safe and affirming space." Over 16 years later, The Attic has grown from a weekly meeting held in the attic of a "mainstream" youth-serving organization to a well respected, multi-service agency. Located in a buzzing four-story building in downtown Philadelphia, The Attic now has 12 full-time and 9 part-time staff that provide over 500 youth a month with an array of programming. These programs deal with youth leadership, health and wellness, academic enrichment, arts and culture and career readiness. The Attic also provides counseling and case management. "The Attic has a unique focus on youth empowerment, which means giving young people a seat at the table in terms of running the center," says Jacobs. "We have youth on the board and youth who participate in interviewing staff and making programming decisions." Jacobs and The Attic have received numerous awards and recognition. In 2008, Jacobs was identified, among a group of 100 women, by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force as a leader in the movement for full equality. In the same year, she was asked to serve on the Mayor"s Advisory Board on LGBT Affairs, where she chairs the Education Committee. Jacobs also provides professional training for social workers and child welfare professionals on the needs and experiences of LGBTQ youth. There are many more programs available to LGBTQ youth now than there were 16 years ago, but Jacobs says that many of these adolescents continue to feel unsupported in their homes, schools and communities. "This is particularly true for youth whose parents have asked them to leave their home or those whose peers continue to harass them at school," she says. "So many youth come through our doors, grow up and change, and that"s what makes this work so worthwhile." [----------] Mary Patterson McPherson, Educator of the Academy Mary Patterson McPherson has never thought twice about the value of women"s education. "I had a working mother, which not many people had in my day," she says. "She was a schoolteacher so I thought being a schoolteacher was a really good thing to be. As a result of her work at a private school, I got to go to that school and saw from an early age how important it was for women to get an education." McPherson now holds an extraordinarily influential position in academia as the executive director of the prestigious American Philosophical Society. Founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin for the purpose of promoting "useful knowledge," the society provides research support for scholars, has a publication program, runs a museum--with a current exhibit onPages: [1] 2 3 4