YWCA Pasadena Announces 2014-2015 Board of Directors

The YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley is pleased to announce its 2014—2015 Board of Directors and is excited to welcome Marie Cantor, Olivia Glauber, Berta Montoya, and Grace Yuen as its newest board members!

Olivia Glauber is Founding Board Member and President of the Financially Fit Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing financial educational workshops. Ms. Glauber is also a commercial real estate investor in Pasadena. Berta Montoya is a Marketing & Recruiting Manager for New York Life, serving the financial needs of the Latino community. Ms. Montoya is also a member of the National Latina Women Business Association. Marie Cantor has been Associate Director of Foundation Relations for the Pasadena Senior Center for the past three years. Prior to joining the Pasadena Senior Center, Ms. Cantor worked in development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Grace Yuen is currently Vice President at Siebert Brandford Shank & Co, LLC, and has worked with a number of municipal governments in California and is a member of Women in Public Finance Los Angeles.

Our board members work hard to support the mission of the YWCA: Eliminating racism and empowering women. They are dedicated to program development, establishing innovative connections with our community, and creating more meaningful impact with those we serve in our region.

We are thankful for all the time, effort and diligence the YWCA Board of Directors put into our programs and events in the past year. We look forward to their continued support and perseverance as the YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley continues to provide stellar services to the community at large.

Lorna Miller Reflects On Ferguson

Recent events at Ferguson reminded me of an experience I had several years ago on my way to work.  While driving down Fair Oaks Avenue, I came upon a police blockade.  When it was my turn to pass, an officer asked me for my driver’s license, added apologetically that it was just a “routine check,” and waved me through hassle-free. 

As I drove away, I could not help but think back to several conversations I’d had in recent months with fellow Pasadenans.  An African-American friend told me that when he comes to a roadblock, he stops the car, puts his hands on the dashboard in clear view, and asks the officer if he should come out of the car.  “It’s not worth risking a misunderstanding,” he said, “or becoming a victim of mistaken identity.”

Another friend told me of the sheer terror he experiences every time he gets in his car.  Although he has lived and worked in Pasadena for many years, and his children are U.S. citizens, he has been waiting almost 20 years to adjust his own immigration status.  Being pulled over by a police officer in Pasadena could mean excessive court fees and fines, losing the truck in which he needs to carry out his construction work, and possible deportation.  In short, it could cost him his livelihood and even this family.

It was during my tenure at the Office for Creative Connections, after listening to people’s daily experiences, that the need for serious dialoguie about strutural racism became clear.  City Conversations was born out of this need.  During these conversations we often heard about the subtle nature of racism, its invisibility to the populations in our city that are not directly affected by it.

Personally, City Conversations became a humbling and important journey for me – an opportunity to look critically at my own prejudices.  I had a new appreciation for the degree to which I can live my life not thinking about race or ethnicity, while others did not experience that luxury. And as a person of faith, I’ve had to question whether I, too, have been complicit in accepting or participating in policies and practices that have kept people on the margins of our city.

I continue to be made aware of the pain and frustration people carry from years of not being heard related to the injustices they experience on a daily basis and, as Ferguson reminds us, the way daily slights and stereotyping can quickly become a matter of life or death.

I deeply respect the mission of the YWCA to eliminate racism in Pasadena. A good way to begin is to make open and honest dialogue about racism and inequities an ongoing process and an absolute priority in our city.

 

A Fresh Look at the Just for Girls Program

A Fresh Look at the Just for Girls Program

“…since 1997 Just for Girls has been helping girls navigate the challenges that can prevent them from graduating from high school and being successful in reaching their goals. I am so excited about the new curriculum with fresh perspectives and updated topics relevant to girls today. The landscape is constantly changing and the factors for teens and pre-teens with it, any program that is going to be relevant to their healthy development and successful completion of high school must change as well.”Sharalyn Hamilton, executive director. Just For Girls Reduces Risk Factors and Promotes Positive Interpersonal Connections Increasingly, researchers find a positive correlation between healthy adolescent development and community, which is broadly defined to include family, school, youth organizations, etc. Just For Girls’ primary strategy is to create a peer support community that emphasizes girls’ physical, mental, emotional, and reproductive health. Just For Girls is designed to help girls increase positive connections to fellow youth, parents/guardians, and school; establish leadership and social skills; develop a healthy lifestyle; and prevent violence and bullying. As part of the program, participating girls meet in groups after school which are facilitated by trained YWCA staff through a curriculum that covers healthy relationship development, emotional health, substance abuse prevention, non-violent conflict resolution techniques, and nutrition. Within these groups girls form trust-based relationships with each other, become part of a positive peer group at school, and support each other as they work toward developing healthy lifestyles and relationships. Just For Girls also encourages participants to improve their relationships and communication skills with their parent or guardian through activities such as the annual Mother/Daughter Night. This year, we will also have the girls prepare for and participate in a 5k run/walk to encourage more physical activity. Because girls are living in an increasingly technological and socially-networked world, the new curriculum emphasizes skills that help girls engage in online environments in ways that are meaningful, respectful, critical, and useful. The new lessons model professional behavior in social media and teach the girls about maintaining a positive self-image and healthy lifestyle, both on and offline. In addition, program facilitators will undergo new training to further their understanding of the issues young women face, as well as to provide them with better skills to adapt their teaching of the curriculum to respond to the girls' developmental needs and concerns. Just for Girls groups meet after school at the YWCA as well as on school campuses. For more information visit our website or call (626) 296-8433.

Join us at California Pizza Kitchen on Thursday, September 11th for a tasty fundraiser! Bring in the attached flyer to CPK located at 99 N. Los Robles in Pasadena, and 20% of your purchases will go towards the YWCA Pasadena! This fundraiser is an all-day event, so stop by for lunch, dinner, dine-in or take-out and help support your local YWCA! We look forward to seeing you there!

YWCA Announces 2014 Racial Justice Award Recipient – Lorna Touryan Miller

It is with great excitement that the YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley announces that the 2014 Racial Justice Award will go to Lorna Touryan Miller for her years of racial justice work locally and across the globe.  The award will be given at the 12^th annual Women for Racial Justice Breakfast on October 20, 2014.

Ms. Miller is Armenian by nationality and the daughter of two survivors of the Armenian Genocide of 1915.  She immigrated to the United States at the age of eleven from Beirut, Lebanon. She is the co-author of “Survivors:  An Oral History of the Armenian Genocide” and “Armenia:  Portraits of Survival and Hope.”

Ms. Miller’s research and programmatic activities, both locally and internationally, have been based on extensive interviews with people who seek justice, equality, and a public voice in decisions related to their welfare and future. Since 2001, she and her husband have been conducting oral history projects in Rwanda in partnership with local widow and orphan genocide survivor associations. The Millers are currently writing a book on Rwanda based on 260 interviews, documenting how survivors cope in the aftermath of genocide, focusing specifically on healing and forgiving.

For 25 years, Ms. Miller was the Director of the Office for Creative Connections, a community development program of All Saints Church in Pasadena, California. She began her tenure at OCC by investigating the health care needs of children which she summarized in the report “The Health of Pasadena’s Children: An Assessment of Needs and Resources.” Her findings led her to convene the Health Coalition for Children and Youth and together under her direction, they founded Young and Healthy, a health care program for uninsured children.

Ms. Miller’s next research project was identifying available after-school resources for children and bringing together providers to develop methods to be more accessible to children. This resulted in the James Irvine Foundation asking OCC to head CORAL, an after school program in Pasadena. Under her direction, OCC re-granted close to $2 million for several years to community-based organizations and monitored their programs to standards set by the foundation.  Ms. Miller was also a founding member of New Vision Partners, an interfaith peace and justice program.

As director of OCC, Ms. Miller conducted focus groups and one-on-one interviews with multiple individuals in the city on the quality of life changes in Pasadena over the previous 20 years.  What surfaced was a common concern about institutional racism in the city. Working with a diverse group, OCC convened City Conversations for the purpose of raising awareness and conducting multicultural dialogue among elected leaders, neighborhood activists and heads of organizations.
The 12th Annual Women for Racial Justice Breakfast is scheduled for Monday, October 20, 2014, from 7:00 to 9:00 am, and will be held at the Pasadena Hilton Hotel. Individual tickets are $60 each until September 30th and go up to $70 thereafter. Tables of ten can be purchased for $600 until September 30th, and will go up to $700 afterward. To purchase tickets, please click here.

KTLA's Cher Calvin to return as Emcee for Women For Racial Justice Breakfast 2014

Cher Calvin joined KTLA in 2005 and anchors KTLA’s award-winning 6:00 pm and 10:00 pm nightly newscasts. Before her current role, Cher co-anchored the weekend evening news as well as KTLA’s morning show, where she won an Emmy in 2005. She has also won three Golden Mike Awards: two for Best Public Affairs Program, Access LA, and one Golden Mike for the KTLA Morning Show. She most recently received an Emmy in 2014 for her efforts in producing and leading a fundraiser for victims of Typhoon Yolanda in the Phillipines.

Her on-camera career began in Manila, Philippines. While she was there from 1998 to 2003, Cher served as news anchor and features reporter at GMA, Channel 7, followed by news anchor at CNN Asia Affiliate and national network ABS-CBN Broadcasting. At ABS-CBN, Cher was the national evening news anchor for “News Central” receiving the Golden Dove Award for Best Newscast. Cher also received the Philippine’s Star Award in 2002 for Best Lifestyle Host for the lifestyle magazine show “F” which she co-produced and hosted for four years. At the same time, Cher hosted the weekly political round table talk show “Points of View,” also on ABS-CBN, where she received two Golden Dove Awards in 2000 and 2002 for her work.

Believing it is important to give back to her community, Cher is a spokesperson and annual Master of
Ceremonies for the charity Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches. She has also participated in the Vagina Monologues to help stop violence against women around the world and putting an end to human trafficking. Cher speaks Tagalog, and participates in many Filipino, Asian community and KTLA-sponsored public events, including the annual Lotus Festival in Echo Park. Cher is a New York University graduate with a BA in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Political Science. Cher began her journalism career as a News Desk Assistant Editor for TIME Magazine in New York.

The 12th Annual Women for Racial Justice Breakfast is scheduled for Monday, October 20, 2014, from 7:00 to 9:00 am, and will be held at the Pasadena Hilton Hotel. Individual tickets are $60 each until September 30th and go up to $70 thereafter. Tables of ten can be purchased for $600 until September 30th, and will go up to $700 afterward. To purchase tickets, please click here.

Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals to be Keynote Speaker for Women for Racial Justice Breakfast 2014

“The task that remains is to cope with our interdependence – to see ourselves reflected in every other human being and to respect and honor our differences.”   Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals

The YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley is proud to announce Congressional Gold Medal of Honor recipient, Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals as the keynote speaker for the 12^th Annual Women for Racial Justice Breakfast on October 20, 2014. Dr. Beals holds more than 100 awards for courage in recognition of her work in furthering civil rights.

In 1957, 15 year old Melba Pattillo was one of nine African-American students who risked their lives to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Confronted by a hostile crowd and escorted by the Screaming Eagles of the US Army 101st Airborne Division, they shouldered the burden of integrating a then-segregated public school system.  Although the Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education struck down racial segregation in public schools, it was the courageous actions of these nine young champions of school integration that tested the strength of that decision. Their actions not only mobilized a nation to insure that access to a quality education was granted to all Americans, but they helped to define the civil rights movement.  They became known as the Little Rock Nine. Dr. Beals' award winning book, “Warriors Don’t Cry” chronicles the Little Rock incident.

Dr. Beals began her career as a journalist, becoming a NBC television news reporter. She says her career choice took that direction because of her experience during the Little Rock desegregation struggle. "Little Rock taught me that shining a light upon misdeeds can often result in justice achieved.  It’s hard to hang somebody by the neck when news cameras are rolling."

On January 25, 2014, Dr. Beals retired as Executive Director of the Student Success program at Dominican University of San Rafael, CA. She is also founder and Chair Emeritus of the University's Communication Department. In 2012, she founded a program called TORCH (Together on the Road to New Chapters), which supports students entering college with a mentoring program throughout their four year experience. 

“The effort to separate ourselves whether by race, creed, color, religion, or status is as costly to the separator as to those who would be separated.”  Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals

The 12th Annual Women for Racial Justice Breakfast is scheduled for Monday, October 20, 2014, from 7:00 to 9:00 am, and will be held at the Pasadena Hilton Hotel. Individual tickets are $60 each until September 30th and go up to $70 thereafter. Tables of ten can be purchased for $600 until September 30th, and will go up to $700 afterward. To purchase tickets, please click here.