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Date: 6/21/2018
Subject: GWR News Blast - Mid June 2018
From: Pat Box




Mid June 2018        News Blast
 
Hello All,

Leadership Training Retreat -

Register now for the 2018 Leadership Training Retreat being held in Phoenix, AZ!  The deadline to register is July 6, 2018.

Spring Conference Materials -

Most of the materials used during the 2018 Spring conference are now posted on our Golden West Region website!  Thank you to all the presenters, Golden West Region Board, GWR Committees, and especially the Spring Conference Committee for creating a wonderful, organized, information packed conference!    Feel free to use these materials to share your experience(s) with your club members.

Please complete the online survey to share your input regarding the Spring Conference and future region events.   2018 Spring Conference Evaluation

Best wishes and good luck to our 2018-2020 Governor Lori (SI Phoenix), the newly elected 2018-2020 GWR Board of Directors, and all the 2018-2019 Club leaders!

  • Governor-elect Laurie Moses, SI Parker
  • Secretary Liz Glowka, SI Palm Desert
  • Treasurer Margie Burke, SI Phoenix
  • District 1 Director Debra Murphy, SI Corona
  • District 2 Director Becky Goebel, SI Palm Desert
  • District 3 Director Vanessa Liesen, SI Lake Havasu City
  • District 4 Director Paula Adkins, SI Phoenix

 

Several - seventeen in fact - proposals for the GWR Bylaws were voted upon and with a few tweaks, were approved.  The updated GWR Bylaws will be available on our GWR Website shortly.

Also, during the course of the Spring Conference, a couple of questions/concerns were shared with the GWR Board and we'd like to share information from SIA with you:

Dream It, Be It: Career Support for Girls and age groups  -

Regarding a suggestion from the Golden West Region Board to add an “age field” to the online report form so we can measure the impact on our target population of high school girls while also tracking other age groups [pre-teens and adult women] that participate in the curriculum:

[SIA] wanted to let you know we had made this exact update. Question 15 of the Dream It, Be It online form asks “What were the ages of the girl participants?” with options of ‘Under 14 years old’ and ‘14-18 years old.’ However, it does not currently track older age groups, which is something we can consider.

We do want to encourage use with the high school age population, though, because 14-18 is the specific age group that was the focus of the research that informed the program development, and the curriculum was designed for that specific age population. Additionally, focusing on one specific age group across our federation will help us increase our collective impact and measure the change we make together for high school girls.

Dream Programs and supporting past Soroptimist activities -

Supporting Dream Program activities that increase access to education leading to economic empowerment are encouraged.  Such activities can include mentoring, job assistance, and networking. For further ideas, contact our Program department: program@soroptimist.org.

We do need to educate ourselves about women and girls who face obstacles such as poverty, violence, trafficking or teen pregnancy.  We are encouraged to have discussions and build partnerships with experts who want to support these women and girls through our brand-unifying Dream Programs.

Dream Programs Continuums -

Regarding your other question about the Dream Programs and other Soroptimist programs -

We are still very much talking about critical issues – trafficking, domestic violence, teen dating violence, etc. We know these issues are important to our members. So we as leaders need to shift the conversation to focus on the Dream Programs and how we can use these programs – and expand them – to address the critical issues we so deeply care about. We’re still talking about violence against women and girls, poverty, access to health care, etc., but we want to be able to circle back to demonstrate how we address these issues through our Dream Programs.

Our SIA program department recently developed two graphics to help our members with this shift in thinking.  Continuums of Care are on the GWR website Program Resources section.

As you see in the Live Your Dream Award Continuum of Care graphic, we can very much serve women who have experienced domestic violence and/or trafficking with the Live Your Dream Awards and support them as they move to a place of economic empowerment (our mission!). We can publicize the award and build relationships with organizations that serve women in these situations, provide a cash award (the main component of our brand-unifying program), and then provide additional, ongoing support activities as needed over time by women and their families to get them to a place of independence. Other social service organizations specialize in providing housing or counseling or medical care to women impacted by DV or trafficking; our organization can specialize in providing cash grants to women impacted by DV or trafficking. We know women impacted by these issues need ongoing support; Soroptimist can pick up where these other social service organizations leave off, and support women by providing cash grants for education and other critical support activities that social service organizations may not have the ability to provide with limited resources.

Similarly, the DIBI Continuum of Care graphic demonstrates how we aim to serve girls impacted by poverty, abuse, unstable home lives, or foster care, specifically because these girls are at-risk of teen dating violence, trafficking, and teen pregnancy. The places where these girls receive interventions (guidance counselors/school psychologists, continuation schools, youth or foster care organizations) are the types of organizations we want to be partnering with to deliver the curriculum, and then offering other additional opportunities or information to girls (such as campus visits, internships, or information about teen dating violence, trafficking, personal finances, internet safety, etc.) to help move them along towards economic empowerment.

Thank you for the Past Governor Pin –

Lastly, thank you for the amazing experience of being your 2016-2018 Golden West Region Governor.  I will treasure our work, achievements, and friendships forever.  Here is a picture of the pin your generous support allowed me to design to reflect my theme of "gotta let your light shine" as a special gift and indication of being a past Governor...a DOÑA.
 

Love to you all,
Governor Penny
GOLDEN WEST REGION NEWS BLAST - Mid JUNE 2018
QUESTIONS?  COMMENTS?
Contact Governor-elect Lori Reed-
lorir.gwr@gmail.com