Women’s Independent Press

January /February Newsletter

 

January 20 - Volunteers of America of Pennsylvania Disability Resource Breakfast - 8:30 – 9:30 AM - Dr. Ron Gilardi, JD, PhD, Adjunct professor at La Roche College - Topic: The Hostile Work Environment: How to deal with Harassment - 1650 Main Street Pittsburgh – FREE - RSVP: 412.782.5344 or volunteersofamerica@voapa.org

January 21 – Pittsburgh Women’s Power Lunch - 1:30 to 3:30 p.m - Sonoma Grille, 947 Penn Avenue, Downtown - $28.00 cash at the door - RSVP must be received by end of business Wednesday,  Jan. 19^th - Attention all new ladies: Bring a friend or two with you and be prepared to tell us about your business and how we can help you.  Bring at least 50 cards, brochures or flyers with you. share with the group - RSVP Suzannef@zoominternet.net or Call 724-452-5152 - www.womenspowerlunch.com

 

January 25 ­– The Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence and our new Center for Women in Business invite you to connect with dynamic women entrepreneurs – Duquesne Club – Coacktails & Hors d’oeuvres - $30 / person (cash bar) – Register by ieeregistration@katz.pitt.edu – 412-624-2271

January 27 – Announcing a new Meetup for Downtown Women’s Club - Pittsburgh! - Please join us for lunch and network with local business women. Resident CPA, Marlene Will will enlighten us on What the Tax Changes mean for you and your business - The Getaway Café - 3049 Sussex Avenue Pittsburgh - 12: 00 PM - www.getawaycafe.com – Call 412 343-1333 for more information - RSVP to this Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/DWCPittsburgh/calendar/15948287/

January 27  - Executive Women’s Council of Greater Pittsburgh – Motivating Generation X & Y - Dr. Jan Ferri-Reed, Best-selling author and keynote speaker -  Sheraton Station Square Hotel - 11:15 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. - EWC Member: $30, Guest: $40 – please register by email: ewcpgh@aol.com

 

February 11 - Pittsburgh Professional Women Workshop:  Should Your Business Be Certified? - from 1-3pm - The Greentree Radisson - Members $29  Non Members $39 - Professional Men and Women Welcome - Registration includes Lunch and Workshop - Prices increase to $35/$49 on Friday, February 4^th - To Register visit www.PittsburghProfessionalWomen.com

 

 

 

 FYI

 

-          The Diversity Business Resource Center will be holding its first networking event in February.  Details will be available on our website under the Events tab in the near future.  Look for these quarterly opportunities to meet new potential clients, customers and partners.

 

Don’t forget that on the second Wednesday of every month, a representative from the Allegheny County MWDBE Department comes to the DBRC to counsel clients about the Unified Certification Program.  If you are interested in a 1/2 hour time slot between 9 am and 12 pm, please call our office at 412-322-3272.

 

If you have not heard, the Women Owned Small Business contracting program goes into effect 2/4/11, and will be implemented by the US Small Business Administration. 

 

-          February 4 - Planning for National Wear Red Day? -Wear RED on National Wear Red Day, to support awareness, research, education and community programs to benefit women. These funds help women by offering educational programs, advancing women’s understanding about their risk for heart disease and providing tools and motivation to help women reduce their risk to protect their health.

 

-          YMCA Small Business Startup Training Classes

 

           February 15 - 6pm -9pm - CCAC North Shore Student Service Center

        

           February 16 - 11am - 2pm - YWCA 305 Wood Street Pittsburgh

 

This 12 week - 36 hour step-by-step program is designed for women who what to start a microenterprise (small business) and don’t know where to begin. Offered in cooperation with Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC), this course helps entrepreneurs hone the skills needed to create, manage, and grow a successful business. Microenterprise is defined as a business with five or fewer employees  and less than $35,000  in start-up capital. Offering day and evening classes!

 

Class Schedule:

 

Tuesday Evenings: 6pm - 9pm

February 15, 2011 - May 3, 2011

CCAC North Shore

 

Wednesday Afternoons: 11am - 2pm 

February 16, 2011 - May 4, 2011

YWCA Greater Pittsburgh

 

Cost: $199 (includes program curriculum and materials)
Payment plan available

 

Call for additional info 412. 255. 6749

 

 

-          February 20 - Coming in Hot -A play about women in the military, horror, humor, fear, cultural clashes! with award winning  theatre/film artist Jeanmarie Simpson – 3 pm - Eddy Theatre  -Chatham University sponsored by Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom - Chatham University - 412-661-7149

 

-           Pennsylvania Women Work can help you change your life in the new year with “New Choices” 

• Downtown Orientation & First Class • Tuesday, February 1, 2011, Park Building, Third Floor • 355 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, Introduction to Computers Class • Wednesday, February 2, 2011,Park Building,Third Floor • 355 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA
• Bethel Park • Wednesday, February 23, 2011, Bethel Park High School, 301 Church Road, Bethel Park, PA 15102,
• Beaver • Orientation & First Class • February 22, 2011, Community College of Beaver County, Main Campus • 1 Campus Drive, Monaca, PA 15061
• Washington • Thursday, February 24, 2011, Place to be determined

For more information about the free classes offered in the “New Choices” program, contact Lynda Broze at 412.281.9240.

 

SAVE THE DATE

4^th Annual W.I.L.D. Conference at the Erie Bayfront Convention Center on March 25^th, 2011

 

Zonta’s 8th Annual Best of Chefs at Glass Slipper Ball – Sat. March 5th – Four Points Sheraton- Grazing, Sipping, Dancing to Dr. Zoot! Over 30 top chefs compete for awards while showcasing signature hors d’oeuvres and desserts plus libation sampling.  Live Auction with some fabulous trips to Paris, Capri and Africa! Proceeds to benefit education for single moms as well as Girls Hope. For more info contact www. ZontaThreeRiversNorth.com or call 724-935-6100

Hello again!  For fifteen years, the Home Instead Senior Care^® franchise network has been devoted to providing seniors with the highest quality care in their own homes, and to arming families with the information they need to make the best decisions about caring for aging loved ones.

 

In this second article of a three-part series for the Women’s Independent Press, Home Instead Senior Care would like to remind you that caring for a senior includes being attentive to your loved-one’s surroundings.   The following excerpt is from the Home Instead Senior Care^® network and Vickie Dellaquila, certified professional organizer and author of Don’t Toss My Memories in the Trash. For more information, please visit www.homeinstead.com.  Until next time…

 

1. THE SENTIMENTAL ATTACHMENT. The beloved prom dress represents the history and memories of the event; it’s not the dress itself. Save only a piece of the dress to make a quilt or display in a shadow box. Scrapbooking and converting photos to DVDs are other ways to save treasured keepsakes without all the extra mess.

2. THE SENSE OF LOYALTY. Older adults who’ve received gifts from family and friends may be reluctant to part with them. Encourage your loved one to give unused gifts back to the giver or grandchildren.

3. THE NEED TO CONSERVE. Seniors are the original green people. Appeal to a senior’s desire to help others. “You went through the Great Depression, now it’s time for you to let go and help someone else.” Counter a senior’s inclination to conserve by appealing to their desire to give back.

4. THE FATIGUE. A home with a lifetime of memories can easily become too much for an older adult to handle. Help seniors manage clutter by establishing online bill paying. Also, get your senior off junk mail lists, which can put them at risk for identity theft, and buy them a shredder.

5. THE CHANGE IN HEALTH. Seniors who have suffered a brain trauma or stroke, who are wheelchair bound or who are experiencing dementia may no longer be able to manage household duties, which could contribute to clutter. If you see a health change, encourage your senior to visit his or her doctor and consider a professional organizer and caregiver to help your loved one.

6. THE FEAR. Seniors often fear what will happen if they give up their stuff, like the older adult who saved three generations of bank statements. Use logic and information to help seniors understand it’s O.K. to let go.

7. THE DREAM OF THE FUTURE. Those clothes in the closet don’t fit anymore, but your loved one is sure that some day she’ll lose enough weight to get into them. Ask seniors to fill a box with clothing they don’t wear much and make a list of the items in the box. Agree that if they have not gone back to the box in six months to wear the item, they will donate that to charity.

8. THE LOVE OF SHOPPING. Today’s seniors have more money than any other previous generation of older adults and they love to shop. Clutter can become so bad seniors can’t find things and they repurchase items they already have, contributing to the clutter cycle. Try to convince seniors to cut back and to say “no” to free stuff.

9. THE HISTORY AND MEMORIES. Keepsakes represent history and memories. Encourage seniors to take old photos to a family reunion and share with several generations. Let seniors know they can contribute to the history of their time and leave a lasting legacy by donating to museums and historical societies, a theater and library, or churches and synagogues.

10. THE LONELINESS. Stuff can become a misplaced companion. Loneliness may also lead to depression, which makes it difficult for seniors to get organized. Consider the services of a professional organizer and caregiver. For more information, go to the National Association of Professional Organizers at www.napo.net, or visit www.homeinstead.com.

 

Other experts contributing to these tips include Katherine “Kit” Anderson, CPO-CD, president of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization; University of Kansas Professor Dr. David Ekerdt, who is coordinating a “household moves” project to determine the role that possessions play in older people’s housing decisions; and University of New Mexico Researcher Dr. Catherine Roster.

 

If you, or any organization of which you are a part, is interested in learning more, please contact our office.  We would be happy to speak to your group free of charge about this subject, our services, and even employment opportunities. 

 

Sincerely,

 

Rebecca Champagne, Human Resource Coordinator

Home Instead Senior Care

1102 S Braddock Ave

Pittsburgh, PA 15218

Phone: (412) 731-0733

Rebecca.Champagne@HomeInstead.com

By Bonnie Hassan

 

As we move into 2011, many of us think about the changes we’d like to make in our lives in the upcoming year.  Some of us made New Year’s resolutions, and many more of us passed on this tradition because we knew from past experiences that we just don’t keep them, no matter how much we’d like to, no matter how much we promise ourselves that this time will be different. 

 

I’d like to invite you to move into the new year in a different way, by adopting an ‘attitude of  gratitude’ at the beginning and end of each day.  Angeles Arrien, a cultural anthropologist, author and educator, says this about the power of gratitude:

 

            “The practice of offering gratitude bestows many benefits.  It dissolves negative feelings.  Anger, arrogance, and jealousy melt in its embrace.  Fear and defensiveness dissolve.  Gratitude diminishes barriers to love and evokes happiness, which is itself a powerfully healing and beneficial emotion.  It establishes a foundation for the challenging work of forgiveness in relationships when we have experienced betrayal, loss, broken promises, deceptions and disappointments.  Gratitude keeps alive what has meaning for us and fosters our capacity to apologize and forgive.”

 

2011 will bring changes to all of us.  That is a certainty, because change is a constant and is needed if we are to grow and evolve.  Some of those changes will be immediately positive and easily recognized as such, and others will present themselves as challenges that may seem to suck the life right out of us. 

 

If I’ve learned anything in my journey in this lifetime it’s that there is always a blessing, gift or opportunity presented in every challenge, if I’m willing to look for it. Sometimes those are easily discernable, but most times I have to look deeply within myself at the changes that have occurred within and around me as a result of that challenge, to be able to see the positive outcome that the challenge provided.  And yes, I’ll  admit that sometimes I’m unable to see the positive because I’m so caught up in the ’suckiness’ of the moment. It’s only as time passes and I look back and see where that challenge took me, that I’m able to recognize the blessing, gift or opportunity.  But each time I look, I can see the positives that were generated by the challenge.

 

And so I start each day with a prayer of gratitude for all that the Universe will bring to me that day, trusting that each encounter, each experience, each moment, offers me an opportunity to grow, to evolve, to live, in an even bigger, more positive way.  And each evening, just before sleep,  I spend a few moments looking back over the day’s events to find the blessings, gifts and opportunities that have been given to me  in the experiences that have come to me.  I offer up a brief prayer of gratitude for each of them, and begin my night’s sleep with positive thoughts and a positive outlook, knowing and trusting that on some level, in some way, I have been blessed, and I am grateful.  I know that like attracts like, and what I send out will come back to me.  So I choose, very deliberately, to put out good energy so that good will come back.

 

Gratitude opens the door to love - loving yourself and loving others.  Express your gratitude to the Universe for all that it brings to you each day, and to all who have contributed to the life that you have, because when that door opens, miraculous changes can occur in ways beyond your imagination and expectations.

Women’s Law Project

Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Title IX Audit: Girls Have Fewer Athletic Opportunities, Inferior Facilities, Equipment, Coaching, Publicity

A recently released audit of the nine high schools in the Pittsburgh Public Schools system has revealed a stark pattern of gender inequality in athletic programming for female students. 

The audit, released on April 7, 2010, was the work of Peg Pennepacker, an independent auditor with High School Title IX Consulting Services.  The audit was conducted at the request of the Women’s Law Project following complaints from parents and student athletes that girls were being treated unfairly.

 

The audit revealed that not a single high school is offering girls a fair share of athletic opportunities.  In order to give girls the same access to athletic opportunities that boys have, the school district has to create 784 new athletic opportunities for girls. 

The auditor noted numerous “moderate disparities” in the treatment of female athletes in areas including facilities and locker rooms, scheduling of practices and competitions, number of competitions, coaching, equipment and supplies, training, and publicity.  Among the findings:

 

•The boys’ locker room at Oliver High School holds 55 lockers, but the girls’ locker room holds only 43 lockers—along with all the equipment for the girls’ basketball and volleyball teams. 

•Brashear High School provides the coaches of football, boys’ basketball and baseball with office space, but there is no office space for the coaches of girls’ teams.

•At Langley High School, football and wrestling are given necessary protective gear, but the girls’ volleyball team does not have enough knee pads to go around.

•All high school football teams and six of the nine wrestling teams are supplied with protective gear, but none of the girls’ teams are: instead, they must buy their own.

•The girls’ basketball coach at Perry High School notes that many girls’ games are played without an athletic trainer on site, a problem the auditor characterized as “a serious liability concern.”

•The girls’ varsity, JV and middle school basketball teams at Brashear practice in the auxiliary gym, which is not regulation size, while the boys’ teams practice in the main gym.

•At Schenley High School, while the baseball team has access to the main gymnasium for practice during inclement weather, there is no indoor practice space for the girls’ softball team.

•Girls are unwelcome in the weight rooms at several schools.  One female student-athlete reported that the Oliver weight room is “for boys only.”  Female athletes at Schenley and Westinghouse said they would like more time in the weight room.

•The Westinghouse High School boys’ track team practices at better facilities (Schenley Oval or Oliver) than the girls’ track team, which uses a “poor to average quality” facility behind the high school at which hurdles are not available for the girls’ practices. 

•A Carrick female tennis player said that “sometimes our team doesn’t get a practice bus. We can’t walk to our courts,” which are 2.5 miles from the school.

•The varsity football teams of all nine high schools compete at Cupples Stadium, a “premiere facility” to which no girls’ team has equivalent access.  Football competitions are scheduled at the most convenient and desirable times; no girls’ sport receives equivalent treatment.

The attitude reflected in the audit’s findings can be summed up in a quote from an unidentified Westinghouse coach:  in Pittsburgh, “girls’ sports are not that important.” 

The audit, which left many questions unanswered (for example, the audit apparently did not examine or analyze the schools’ athletic budgets), is an important first step in addressing systemic sex-based discrimination in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.  We applaud the school district for taking this critical first step, and challenge the school board and PPS leadership to take prompt and decisive corrective action.