| Women's summit focuses on addressing community issues
The Summit, co-hosted by Women 4 Women and the Louisville Metro Office for Women, was held March 7 on the campus of Bellarmine University. Participants convened around a central question: "What can we do to celebrate and inspire connections supporting girls, women and families in our community?" "We're all very clear about the problems that women and girls face in our community," noted Ann Coffey, executive director of Women 4 Women, an organization that works to improve the health and economic well being of women. "The question becomes 'how can we work together, what can we do together to begin dramatically addressing these needs?'" "We do believe that all issues affecting women are, in fact, community issues," said Gabriela Alcalde, director of the Metro Office for Women, a public policy and advocacy office of Louisville Metro government. "Connections and honest dialogue are key to community transformation." Women representing business, education, social services, the arts, health care, philanthropy, publishing, government and other areas participated in the summit, which was sponsored by Norton Women's Pavilion. They focused their conversations on issues that included:
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Mayor Jerry Abramson encouraged the participants to include three areas of focus in their work: education, particularly the Every1Reads initiative; strengthening families by helping low-income citizens file for the Federal earned income tax credit, something that he said would bring millions of dollars to the community; and advocating with members of Congress to protect funding for vital programs. The Louisville Women Listserv, to be moderated by the Metro Office for Women, was officially launched at the Summit. A voluntary network, the Listserv will allow quick electronic communication and a central venue for discussing and sharing information, Alcalde said. "We want to take this work to a new and very different level," Coffey added. "We've made great strides in our community in addressing the challenges that girls and women face. Now we want to figure out a way to do it even better and build a city of champions for girls and women." Special thanks to the Women's Summit Advisory Group: Mary H. Mundt, Judith Jennings, Marcia Roth, Brenda Fitzpatrick, Susan Vessels, Susan Barnett, Stacy Williams, Sue H. Davis, Kathleen Kurre, Claudia Peralta-Mudd, Riffat Hassan, Anneta Arno, Holly Tompkins, Marsha Weinstein, Shelley Hay, Virginia Speed, and Deborah Barnes-Byers. Until next time, Ann L. Coffey Women 4 Women Executive Director | |
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