E-Quality Matters

I would be a libertarian... if only...

I have the perfect coffee mug. It was a Christmas gift from my husband years ago -- and its perfect in breadth, depth, and message. I am picky about all three areas. I want enough coffee in cup to wake me and satisfy that itch, and I don't want to have to move for a refill in order to get it. I can also use a little messaging to remind me of why I do get out of bed in the morning. This mug is one of those "Quotables" and on it reads the, perhaps trite but still all so inspiring, quote by Ghandi: 

Be the Change You Want to See in the World.

I love this quote because it underscores my own belief system -- my "theory of change" as some of us geeks like to call it -- which goes something like this: 

I believe our world is interconnected and we all need to take responsibility for our surroundings. Within this statement is the belief that if we all took action on the injustices around us, the world would be in good shape. This is a world in which a women's fund is unnecessary. A world in which I could be professional chef and a libertarian, and nobody would threaten me with violence or take away my ability to make my own choices.

But that world is a long way away, perhaps because that type of tireless activism is so hard for us mere mortals to tap into on a daily basis. For example, I was sharing these beliefs with my office mate the other day, explaining how I would like it to play out. Her response? "Then why don't you recycle more?" And it's true. On so many days, I fail in my own activism, unable to surface the energy or discipline to rinse and separate my plastics. 

Many of do the best we can by picking and choosing our areas activism, and arming ourselves with appropriate tools. Mine is philanthropy. It's the easiest way for me personally and professionally to support the change I want to see in the world. I also vote, buy products that support social and environmental practices, and write/blog/yell at the top of my lungs about the issues nearest to my heart. 

Most importantly, I serve an organization that believes women have the ability to change our world for the better -- an organization that believes in investing in the power of women and dreams of girls. This statement is as much about helping women and girls reach their full potential as it is about helping women and girls be the activists that will create long lasting change for everyone. This change, however, most often begins with small acts and is sustained when a critical mass of individuals adopt new behaviors. 

What actions will you take? What issues will you tackle? How will you persuade others to join you? 

 

Everyone gets sick; not everyone can get well.

"Everyone gets sick. Not everyone can get well." Great message from Sarah Standiford yesterday as she led a gestalt in Augusta to make paid sick leave mandatory across the state. For those of you not familiar with Sarah, she's the kick-butt leader of the Maine Women's Policy Center -- www.mainewomen.com, advocating for women's issues across Maine.

The lack of paid sick leave is both a health issue and an economic issue.

Thousands of workers in Maine lack the basic protection of a paid sick day. For low-income working parents without sick days, a child's ear infection of case of the flu can mean no money for rent or food on the table...or even losing a job. A full 86% of people working in the food and public accomodation industry have NO sick days, so are forced to come to work sick - or risk pay or even penalties at work. The bottom line is that Maine workers should have the right to recover from illness without endangering public health. And children deserve the protection of parents who can take time to care for them when they're sick.

"The inability to take even one paid sick day is a huge liability for public health, for workers, and for businesses," said Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director of MomsRising.Org, a national grassroots organization building support for a family-friendly America. “When employees have to go to work sick they risk spreading their illness to their co-workers and their customers—as well as getting sicker themselves and ultimately having to take more time off. Do you really want someone with the flu working in the kitchen of your favorite restaurant? It's not fair to you, and it's not fair to the worker. The Act to Care for Working Families will help to ensure that Maine workers aren't forced to choose between going to work sick or losing a day's pay...and possibly a job.”

The Maine Women's Fund (www.mainewomensfund.org) believes that the lack of paid sick leave is a threat to women's economic security, given their role as family care providers and will use its new Economic Security Initiative to support family-friendly practices across the state, helping moms be economically productive without jeopardizing their health or the health of their families.

Cross posted from RaisingMaine.

A Message to our Grantees

At the 2007 Evening to Honor Maine Women and Girls, we, the Maine Women’s Fund, launched our Economic Security Initiative – a new strategic program that will be the focus of our grantmaking and technical assistance for the next year or two.

 We wanted to take the opportunity to describe this focus to our current, past, and future grantees (i.e. the community of nonprofits serving women and girls) in greater detail, and in doing so, opening a channel for questions and general dialogue.

Historically, the Maine Women’s Fund has invested in four distinct issue areas – economic empowerment, freedom from violence, access to high quality affordable health care, and self determination. The benefit of this strategy is that it allowed us to strengthen a nascent sector of organizations serving women and girls by touching, even in small ways, a large number of organizations. Since 1980, we’ve invested over $1.4 million in 250 organizations.

The cost of this strategy is that our investments have not necessarily reinforced each other and that our investments are not big enough to serve the critical needs of women and girls, and the organizations serving them.

The strategic planning process we undertook sought to identify how to build a stronger grantmaking program that would better serve the sector. We undertook conversations with grantees and other nonprofits, donors, and women leaders. We collected research and data and conducted focus groups.

This led us to a new integrated strategy, whereby we would address the same issues by addressing a root problem of those issues, simultaneously enabling and encouraging reinforcing activities. It was the broader community of women’s organizations that identified economic security, as the root issue that threads through their work – either accelerating it or inhibiting, no matter their subject area. Economic security is by no means the only root issue – but it is the one most articulated by the community and from a strategic focus, it’s an area with proven solutions for dismantling the problem. In the next few years, we intend to have multiple initiatives like the Economic Security Initiative addressing additional root problems in an integrated way, while providing substantially more, and new, resources to your organizations. It is our hope that these new initiatives will always come from you, the community we serve, and that you will engage us in conversation as ideas come to you.

 In addition to using economic security as the lens through which we address multiple issues facing women and girls, we also intend to use economic security to address a core need of most nonprofit organizations – their own financial security. It is a core objective of the initiative to bring substantially new resources to the sector, as well as invest in resource mobilization strategies and tools for the sector through technical assistance.

Finally, it is also our goal to be a communication platform for issues facing women and girls, and to bring new resources to bear through this platform. Our goal is to engage more women across the state in women’s issues, and we are holding regional and state-wide public education events to make this happen. We’d love to co-sponsor events with you, or to distribute your messages to our broader community as part of our collaborative commitment.

Both our grantmaking and technical assistance will begin in March 2008, with a series of meetings designed to bring together nonprofits serving women and girls. We hope that these meetings will build collaborations, share best practices, set specific goals, and define technical assistance needs. Following these meetings, we will issue a Request for Proposals, using April and May to review proposals and define grantmaking priorities. We will issue the first round of grants in June 2008.

Our goal is to triple our grantmaking over the next two years, offering over $600,000 in grant dollars. This is a stretch goal for us, making the July – March timeframe so important.

While we gear up, please send your ideas and thoughts about the initiative directly to me at Elizabeth@mainewomensfund.org. As many of you know, I’ll be taking some time off (in the near future) to have a baby. I’ll be back in action before not to long will respond to you then. Additionally, if you have ideas for using our communications platform, please contact our community outreach coordinator,

Brianna McCabe

.

We look forward to what the New Year has to offer and we wish you all the very best.

With warm regards, Eli

Help Trina and Simply Divine Brownies win $100,000!!!

For those of you following Simply Divine Brownies' trek up the Forbes.com $100,000 Boost Your Business Award, we have awesome news! Trina and her company are among the top five finalists! With the $100,000 grand prize, they will be able to launch their frozen product line -- which according to them means: "Simply Divine Brownies baked from scratch with the same love, laughter, and fine confections in the warmth of your ovens at home."

To vote, click on the link to Simply Divine Brownies and follow the instructions on their Web site.

Trina, founder and CEO of Simply Divine Brownies, was a key note speaker at our Portland Women Standing Together breakfast in April. Since then, we've seen her grow her company by leaps and bounds, featuring them here and here. The Maine Women's Fund is very very proud to have a women owned, made-in-Maine business winning a Forbes contest.

Today is World Poverty Elimination Day -- Claim it Women!

Did you know that, in 2000, world leaders pledged to cut poverty in half by 2015? While an exciting pledge, it is a little too sobering that we're half way there and its clear that most countries won't meet this goal. Even more sobering is that in Maine, poverty is actually increasing rather than decreasing.

Poverty is one of those "sticky" problems -- and sticky, in part, because women's involvement in solution development is stymied by inequality and limited power to shape social and economic policies. That's a pretty big assumption, so let's dissect it a bit.

1. Women are a powerful, if undervalued and undercounted, economic force. The Economist called women the "most powerful engine" of global economic gorwth, estimating that over the past decade, they have contributed more to such growth than China. At the same time, as women are the gateway to health, education, and economic decisions, women best tackle the many manifestations of poverty -- illiteracy, malnutrition, and health.

2. Women can not assert their economic power if they are denied access to economic opportunity. The value of women's unpaid work is estimated to equal $11 trillion -- or almost 50% of the world GDP, yet this work is missing from national income accounts -- leaving women missing out on social security, pension schemes, and access to public serivces. In formal employement, women are paid less than their male counterparts (77 cents on the dollar), clustered in average-to-low wage jobs, and unable to access paid sick leave, health insureance, and other economic benefits.

3. Investing in women not only helps women claim their rights and realize their potential, it also helps them benefit the economy and society as a whole. In Maine, given access to resources women will start and grow their own business. As a result, over half of all small businesses in Maine are owned and operated by women entrepreneurs. Given access to resources, women will create solutions to affordable health care. Women are problem solvers -- but nothing will happen if those solutions fall on deaf ears.

I think poverty remains a sticky problem because we have yet to develop the political will to make women part of the solution. Political will begins with individual will. Given that today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, ask yourself, do you have the will? And if so, what will you do with it? Share your ideas with the rest of the community here. It only takes 5% of us to make a solution sticky and it will only take 20% of to make the solution unstoppable. Be part of the change.

"Sticky" Problems

I like the word 'sticky' -- its tactile and visual -- and I think its the perfect word to describe problems that won't go away. Occassionally, we use words like systemic problems or root problems, but I think sticky is a more perfect adjective.

Poverty and health care are sticky problems, and the public debate that's currently happening over the State Child Health Insureance Program (or SCHIP) is the perfect example of why we need to address sticky problems.

Here are a few basics on SCHIP: SCHIP was created to serve the bracket of children (and a few adults) that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid and too little to afford private insureance. In 2006, the program covered 6.9 children. Some states also have the flexibility to extend the program to parents and pregnant women. Congress recently proposed an increase in the SCHIP budget to extend benefits to more children in need -- legislation that was vetoed by President Bush, who argued (based off a Congressional Budget Office analysis) that extending benefits will incent people to drop their private insureance. Private analysis (conducted in 2007 by Brigham Young University and Arizona State University) found that children who are dropped from the SCHIP program actually cost the state more (than SCHIP), as they turn away from routine health maintenance to emergency care. They don't necessarily pick up private insureance.

And there is a reason. Evidence shows that people in this "middle income" bracket, paying for private insureance, can pay more than 25% of their annual salary in health care costs. Keep in mind that a good financial adviser will advise you to pay no more than 28% of your annual salary in mortgage/housing costs -- which should be your highest expenditure. Adding an additional 25% in health care do not allow individuals to advance financially.

Which brings us back to those sticky problems. Ted Kennedy (SCHIP's creator) was motivated by a void and SCHIP became an important solution to serve an otherwise vulernable population in a more cost effective way than emergency care alone. But it didn't solve the problems: the living wage in this country is not a living wage and we don't have affordable health care solutions.

These issues are palpable in Maine -- and in addition to seeing SCHIP extended, I'd like to see concentrated effort put into addressing these issues.

Increasing poverty and incremental growth not OK

The Portland Press Herald today led with news from the US Census and a headline that made you think there was good news. Statewide, total poverty is down 0.3% from last year (from 9% to 8.7%). Anybody else think that an incremental decrease in poverty, a decrease of only 0.3%, is actually not good news? Who else wants to see the numbers go down by at least a whole basis point???

In addition, we saw a decline in median household income (we decreased an estimated $700 from last year, we're $5000 lower than the national figure, and we're one of only 11 states to show declines in median household income last year). The other bad news is that both nationally and in Maine, rural poverty continues to increase and Maine was only one of five states where the poverty rate among rural children increased 5% or more.

Finally, regarding the report on median income, men in Maine earn a median income of $40,116, women earned a median income of $30,338 -- a $10,000 gap is not to be taken with a grain of salt and most certainly requires action.

These trends mirror the anecdotes we heard during our listening tour -- Maine isn't seeing any vast improvements in the economic seucrity of its families, and women continue to be hit harder than the rest. Across the state, 64% of women headed households (including everyone from new grads launching into the to 'real world' to single mom's leading the charge for their families) are asset poor -- meaning, if their income were to disappear today, they don't have enough of a financial safety net to cover three months of expenses. And in Maine's economy today, it could take well over 3 months to find a new job. Unfortunately, necessity often means that women take jobs in the average to low-income sectors. According to Women, Work, and Community, cashier (a low waged position without paid family leave, sick leave, or health insureance) is the fastest growing job opportunity for women.

There is a lot to be done for the economy and for women's economic security. Investments in entrepreneurship, financial literacy and asset building, and better jobs are all proven strategies for decreasing poverty for women and in doing so -- decreasing poverty for entire families and communities.

What is the Maine Women's Fund going to do about it? Firstly, I'll be coi -- and tell you to join as the October 29th Evening to Honor Maine Women and Girls to find out.

Secondly, I'll tell you a bit about last night. In order to address the economic or other issues we face, the Maine Women's Fund must be tapping into the ingenuity and creativity of women and girls across the state. This is especially important given the rural indicators we see in today's paper. While the Maine Women's Fund has always been open to proposals from around the state, it hasn't had the leadership and resources in place around the state to sustain long-lasting change for women and girls.

This is changing.

Last night, while enjoying the natural beauty of the Penobscot River, we introduced the Advisory Council for the Greater Bangor Chapter. The purpose of the Advisory Council is to ensure that the region has the resources and leadership to bring services, programs, grantmaking, and other resources to women and girls across the region. It is also to bring the creaitivity, ideas, and ingenuity of the region's women to benefit all of Maine. This year, we'll be launching Chapters in the Portland area, greater Lewiston/Auburn area, and midcoast. If you'd like to get involved in this expansion, let me know.

ME Women Showing Their Stuff

While we talk about changing Maine for its women and girls, its important to also recognize the important achievements women across Maine are already making. The Portland Press Herald is a good place to start. Reading the morning regularly gives me a snapshot of who is making waves as (to steal a term from my favorite online platform) Fab Females. I hope through E-Quality Matters, we can begin to capture a bigger picture from across Maine.

But in today's news...

Carmen Cherry of Camden was hired as a structural engineer at Gartley & Dorsky Engineering and Surveying in Camden. Cherry has more than seven years of experience in engineering, construction and research. Go go women in non-traditional occupations!

Molly Susla, a fifteen year-old from Freeport , has won a spot at the Summer Biathlon World Championships in Estonia. Summer biathlon is similar to the winter variety in that athletes must complete a race course that includes stops every so often to shoot a .22-caliber rifle at five targets. Instead of skiing, however, summer biathletes run the course. Molly won a local race while at camp, enabling her to place for the Championship!

In news late last week...

Gabrielle Machionda, Mad Gabs, is focusing on expanding her business, building on a platform of strong social values.

Ten year old Samantha Hebbs saved her grandmother from drowing in Lebanon Lake.

Say a little Woo Hoo for Girl Power!

Excellent Opportunity -- Join Us!

Women Take the State House on WLAC Day!

You're invited to this free event:

Women's Leadership Action Coalition Day at the State House

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

9am - 3 pm

State House Hall of Flags

Join us to meet women leaders, learn about current issues of importance to

Maine

women, discover how to influence the political process, lunch with your legislators, view the legislative proceedings, and participate in a public hearing.

Agenda

9-11: Displays in the State House of Flags, Welcome by Women Legislative Leaders, Introduction to the Issues

11-12: Advocacy 101, Influencing Legislators at a Public Hearing, and Get to Know Your State House

12-1 Lunch with Legislators

1-2:30 Public Hearing and Work Sessions

2:30-3:00 Closing

Register online at www.wormenworkandcommunity.org (news & events)

Or For More Information:

Maine Centers for Women, Work and Community

Phone Call 1-800-442-2092

E-mail hilary.lawton@maine.edu

The mission of the Women’s Leadership Action Coalition is to collaborate and coordinate efforts to improve the social, economic, and political status of women and to ensure the equality of all

Maine

citizens

Change Policy, Change Systems

Systemic change is an important concept for us at the Maine Women's Fund.  Systemic problems are those structural flaws that create inherent barriers to the equality of women and girls in society. Often, they are rooted in accepted cultural norms and family traditions. Often systemic problems are supported in public policy -- and the laws that create barriers to freedom from violence, as well as choice in health and economic opportunities.

What policies do you believe would create an enabling environment for women and girls? What policies require change in order to address systemic problems?