At this year’s Discovery Forum, we learned about organizations that came together to address some of the toughest issues facing our region: homelessness, access to mental health resources, and gun control. This idea of building alliances across organizations ties directly to our annual learning question: How do we collaborate as communities to address issues in our region?
Opt in for 2023!
Has your involvement in ninety-nine girlfriends empowered, connected, and inspired you? Let us know by making your contribution today! And reach out to Girlfriends you’ve recruited and encourage them to do the same. Renew here by making your $1,100 contribution or, if this is a barrier to rejoining, try The Girlfriends Fund at $550. If this is still not possible for you, send us a note by April 23 and we will let you know by May 1 if we’re able to provide additional support.
Share our Community through this Member Education Event
This is our final event before our membership deadline, so please invite guests who you are recruiting.
While we are grateful that gathering in person is back on the table, we still deeply appreciate the barriers that are eliminated when we bring important people and conversations together virtually. This is why we are so pleased to share ninety-nine girlfriends' signature Discovery Forum coming to you live over Zoom on Thursday, April 27, from noon-1:30 pm.
Exciting New Learning Resource and a Friendly Invitation
Your Racial Equity Committee is excited to begin our second year working together and we welcome Girlfriends interested in this work to join us as we continue our journey of embedding racial equity in all that we do. We meet virtually on the first Monday of the month for 60-90 minutes. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Barbara Hilyer.
We are pleased to share a compilation of Racial Equity Resources that we have curated for you on our website under the Education tab and linked here. We hope you find this material interesting and valuable. This offers great information at your fingertips, including the Reducing Racial Disparities Spotlight Report which is focused on our local community.
LEARNING LINK: ARE YOU REALLY SEEING PEOPLE?
“All my life I have been mistaken for other people of my race…People look at us without really seeing us. Instead they simply see our race. Psychologists call it the “cross-race effect.”
Are you REALLY SEEING people? Learn more here via The Washington Post.
Oregon Women's Investment Network Political Action Committee (WINPAC)
Let’s Learn More Together
Your Member Education Committee has been at work putting together the first two of a series of three members-only, in-person, small-group discussions to learn about the top three subjects you voted for through the last member survey.
We are currently offering Let’s Learn More about Having Difficult Conversations and Let’s Learn More about Gender. Meanwhile Let’s Learn More about Systemic Racism is in the planning stages.
Intersectionality Works: Building Feminist Analysis for All
From the PSU Center for Women’s Leadership
Wednesdays 10:00 am-12:00 pm Pacific Time from October 12 through November 9.
The many crises that Oregonians face today—soaring rents, unaffordable childcare, the rollback of rights—require bold leadership. Different leadership. We believe this moment calls for intersectional feminist leadership.
What Is Trust-Based Philanthropy (TBP)?
Activities Are Ramping Up!
Watch your email inbox because we’re getting to a really exciting and educational part of our year. In October, your Member Education Committee will offer several small-group discussion opportunities to learn about gender, systemic racism, and how to have an inclusive conversation.
Next we we move on to Meet the Finalists (a signature event where you learn about this year’s finalists for Impact Awards), voting for Impact Awards, and our signature Awards Celebration. It’ll be a few months of wonderfully engaging activities and opportunities to learn and connect before our winter break (January-February).
Member Survey Helps Shape the Year Ahead
Register for Discovery Forum 2022 by Sunday, June 5th
Join us for this year’s Discovery Forum, the kickoff of our Member Education programming for 2022!
Each year, ninety-nine girlfriends offers interactive educational programs informed by our annual learning question. This year's question is “How can systems change and advocacy advance racial equity?"
Discovery Forum 2022 features a panel of speakers from local nonprofits sharing their experiences with systems change and advocacy, and the impact those have had on the important issues they are working to address. We will also have an interactive table discussion among members to learn more about systems change and each other.
Pronoun Project Begins
At our recent event, we began a project we are calling the Pronoun Project. Through this we are asking our members to add their pronouns to their name tags so other Girlfriends know by which pronouns they would like to be referred. This is part of our ongoing effort to be inclusive and to help every single Girlfriend feel a sense of belonging in our community. Read more about the importance of pronouns here and look for the labels at your next in-person event so you can update your name tag too. Your Member Education Committee will be presenting a program on understanding gender that we hope will be of interest to you. Watch for more about that in the fall.
Let Your Thoughts Be Known: Take the Member Survey
2022: HOW CAN SYSTEMS CHANGE AND ADVOCACY ADVANCE RACIAL EQUITY?
This year, we will take what we learned through our previous learning questions to explore the impact systems change and advocacy can play in advancing racial equity. We will begin the year with Coty Raven Morris presenting Being Human Together in our first quarter. Then, in our second quarter, our Discovery Forum will feature nonprofit representatives from each of our five focus areas, who will share their experiences with systems change and advocacy. We will move on to some small-group collective learning in our third quarter with topics to be announced after member feedback is received through our annual survey.
Learn More About Black History
The African American Ladies of Lake Oswego. and Surrounding Areas, Respond to Racism, L.O. for Love and the Lake Oswego Library team have put together an outstanding program for Black History Month. The activities are available at www.lopl.org/bhm. Download the Black History Passport and find all the new books and activities for every age group and storytime for children. This year they made an extra effort to highlight Black inventors and scientists, using the website founded by Quintard Taylor of Seattle WA: https://www.blackpast.org/?s=Black+inventors
To view the list of Black-owned businesses, go to www.respondtoracism.org. At the bottom of the passport, you will be able to make your suggestions to add for next year. Feel free to share these resources with friends, family, schools and your local libraries.
ninety-nine girlfriends Plans In-person Events for 2022
With fingers and toes crossed, we are hopeful that things will continue to improve in the pandemic and we may be able to offer some in-person events in 2022! Stay tuned to your Member Updates for more info as things develop, and let us know if YOU are interested in joining the Events Team to help us create opportunities for our members to gather in person - in case you forgot, that is part of the magic of ninety-nine girlfriends!
Let’s Be Human Together - While We Wait to Be Able to Gather Together
Registration is now open for our first event of the year! Being Human Together with Coty Raven Morris is a collaborative project of your Racial Equity, Membership, and Member Education committees. Coty (who we met at our 2021 Awards Celebration) will help us embark on a conversation about identity and how we can find points of connection that draw us together rather than split us apart.
Join Our Member Education Committee and Plan for a Year of Learning Together
Work together to build the content for our signature learning events based on our annual learning question. Help organize and implement the programs and engage members in sharing their expertise for the benefit of our collective. Sound like something you’d like to help with? Contact Jayni Kosoff, our Member Education Co-chair, for more details.