Safety

This has been an eye-opening week for us – Brooke and I attended the Governor’s Summit on Bullying on Tuesday, and I’m still reeling from today’s Chrysalis Roundtable presentation, THREATS TO YOUTH ONLINE, presented by Mike Ferjak, Senior Criminal Investigator with the Iowa Department of Justice.  I had heard Mike give a presentation at a mother-daughter event several years ago, and was astounded about how frequently – and how easily – a young person can fall into the throes of a predator online.

Here are just a few statistics:

­  One in five U.S. teenagers who regularly log on to the internet says they have received an unwanted sexual solicitation via the Web.  Solicitations were defined as requests to engage in sexual activities or sexual talk, or to give personal sexual information.  Crimes Against Children Research Center

­  25% of children have been exposed to unwanted pornographic material online.  Crimes Against Children Research Center

­  Only 1/3 of households with internet access are actively protecting their children with filtering or blocking software.  Center for Missing and Exploited Children

­  75% of children are willing to share personal information online about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services.  eMarketer

­  Only approximately 25% of children who encountered a sexual approach or solicitation told a parent or adult.  Crimes Against Children Research Center

­  One in 33 youth received an aggressive sexual solicitation in the past year. This means a predator asked a young person to meet somewhere, called a young person on the phone, and/or sent the young person correspondence, money, or gifts through the U.S. Postal Service.  Youth internet Safety Survey

­  77% of the targets for online predators were age 14 or older. Another 22% were users ages 10 to 13.  Crimes Against Children Research Center

 

In his position, Ferjak works for the Iowa Attorney General and has a permanent assignment to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s (DCI) Cyber-Crime Unit where he serves on the Federal Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.  Mike is also assigned to the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking enforcement and prosecution initiative.  He has served as the lead investigator for the Sexually Violent Predator Unit in the Attorney General’s Office, and with his knowledge and experience, is called upon by law enforcement, judicial, professional, community, and school groups across the country to provide up-to-the-minute facts on why this is such a significant problem.

Some predators use the anonymity of the internet to prey on vulnerable children and teens, whose internet access is often unsupervised.  Activities include exchanging child pornography or seeking victims online.  The internet allows them to share images and information about children and to make and stay in contact with them.  Predators are  present on children's chat rooms, frequently pretending to be children themselves.  Some actively arrange meetings with children, going to extraordinary efforts and incurring large travel and other expenses…the stories are endless and shocking.

How are the youth victimized?  By innocently becoming entangled in an online relationship with someone who represents him or herself as a young, attractive, interesting and thoughtful person.  Adults establish "friendships" with children online, then attempt to arrange a face-to-face meeting, potentially to sexually abuse or exploit the child.  They may then make online arrangements for the exchange, sale or purchase of child pornography (the actual exchange or delivery occurs through the mail, hand-to-hand exchanges, e-mail, and other electronic means) , or arrangements between adults seeking sexual access to children and adults willing to provide and/or trade children for sexual purposes.

Ferjack reports there are an estimated 130,000 sex offenders using MYSPACE (precursor to Facebook), and that the average age group sought for sex trafficking purposes is 11-14 year olds.  And 14% of child pornography online involves infants – birth to 12 months old.

If you are a parent, friend, teacher, or interested adult, here are some internet safety tips to deliver to the children in your life:

­  Avoid unfamiliar "Chat Rooms".  Chat rooms are places where many people can gather and discuss various topics of mutual interest all at one time.

­  Don't talk to people online that you don't know.   Offenders can easily fool others.

­  Never use your real name, age, or indication of your gender in your screen name or email address.   The most prevalent internet crime today is cyber stalking.

­  Never post personal information in a user profile.  Public resources available online can lead an offender to learn much more about you through internet searching.

­  Use an up-to-date firewall.   A firewall will block hackers’ “pre-attack probes,” called port scans.  A firewall should also block traffic or communications from a virus that made it onto your computer through your personal information.

­  Use an up-to-date virus scanner.  Most virus scanners will automatically add virus definitions. Update definitions once a week to have the most current definitions to detect the latest viruses.

­  Use Windows Update. Windows Update provides patches for known vulnerabilities in Windows and other Microsoft products.  Windows Update can be automated to check and install patches automatically.

­  Avoid opening email from someone you don't know, even email from known persons with unexpected or unusual attachments.

­  Report any incidents to the internet Crime Complaint Center (www.ic3.gov).

If you are aware of a child you suspect or believe is in immediate risk of being harmed or exploited, contact your local law enforcement agency and report the situation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at www.cybertipline.com.

If you have information concerning a missing child, report it to your local law enforcement agency and contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).

We so appreciate Chrysalis Board member, Lieutenant Joe Gonzalez, for his leadership in connecting this vital information to us and to our friends.  And because there is so much more to online abuse and bullying, we will schedule another presentation by Mike Ferjak to share more information on bullying and social networking.  After the first of the year, we’ll notify you of the time and place.

Please take time to forward this information to friends – there is no reason not to.

Election History

I’m certain that “election exhaustion” finally hit us all this week, and we’re happy to never see a scowling politician’s face or hear the ominous background music of the thousands of negative ads.

Today, our Board President sent me an article that share some brighter news from election results:

­  20 women were elected to the U.S. Senate – the most ever

­  77 women (with a few races still uncertain) were elected to the House of Representatives

­  the first Asian-American woman, Mazie Hirono, was elected to the Senate – she is also the first Senator born in Japan and Buddhist

­  Massachusetts has elected its first female Senator, Elisabeth Warren

­  a 31-year-old female Iraqi war veteran, Tulsi Gabbard, who is also Hindu, was elected to Congress

­  Tammy Baldwin, the first openly gay person, and the first woman Wisconsin has elected, has a new seat in the Senate

­  Iraqi war veteran and triple amputee Tammy Duckworth take a seat in Congress

­  Claire McCaskill defeated Todd Akin to retain her seat

­  New Hampshire, which elected a female governor this year, will send the first all-female congressional delegation to Washington

2012 is also a year setting a record in the number of 28 minority women elected: 13 African American, 9 Latinas, and 6 Asian/Pacific Islanders.

The Huffington Post summarized women’s impact on the election:  Women proved once and for all that female voters are paying attention, and that their support wins elections.  Obama would not have been able to win the election without the support from women – female voters made up 54% of the electorate and favored the President by 11%, resulting in an 18-point gender gap.

In a country that is more than half female (50.8%) with an electorate over half, one in five Senators will be women, and 18.13% of Representatives will be female – nearly an 8% increase since the 2008 election.

We’ve come a long way since Jeannette Rankin was elected as the first female in Washington in 1917…but there’s a long way yet to go.

Jeannette Rankin (right) on April 2, 1917, with Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, at the group’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Later that historic day, Rankin was officially sworn into the 65th Congress.

To read the article from policymic:  http://www.policymic.com/articles/18780/mazie-hirono-and-tammy-duckworth-women-make-history-on-election-night

Thank you for working on behalf of 50.8% of our population with 110% of your energy.

Remarks from Terry Hernandez's Women of Influence Acceptance

According to Webster, INFLUENCE means power, persuasion, inspiration, affecting change.

I believe that this is the basis for all we are in this world. It's about relationships. And it's about sharing “me” and all the mysterious, odd, frustrating, delightful things that make me me.

I guess it took me 40 to 50 years to unlearn what I thought I knew about me –

·          as a girl growing up, I knew how to cover up pimples, how to avoid folding the clothes or cleaning my room, how to be “cool” –

·          as a woman, I knew how to shade my long nose with blush, hide cellulite, keep my mouth shut and know my place –

…how many women can you think of that, like me, knew they would never be president; knew they would never make as much money or have as much “clout” as a man; knew they would never be as thin, pretty, tall, or glamorous as they’d hope; knew how to feel guilty about choosing to raise a family instead of running a company…

I am so fortunate to do the work of Chrysalis, which is all about influence – it is about inspiring and encouraging – it’s about helping girls and women unlearn what they may know:

·          to teach girls to be themselves instead of worrying about what the media – or their peers – say they should be…

·          to teach young women to reject the notion that to be liked and accepted, they have to look and act like Britney Spears, Lady Gaga or (in my day) Madonna…

·          to help other women understand they are not objects and will not be treated as such…

·          to help girls and women celebrate their strengths rather than focusing on their weaknesses.

I’ve found in our work that the more limited the financial resources, the more abundant and creative the human resources are.

We say the work of Chrysalis is to “inspire to aspire” – it’s all about influence, and it’s been on our radar for decades. It continues to lead each of us to influence – to make change. And change is certainly not difficult if you are open to it.

So, here are my suggestions to you to continue to be a person of influence: treat people kindly, pay attention, respect others, offer assistance, ask for help, do good deeds, practice solid values, be a good friend, listen-listen-listen, volunteer in the community, and mentor the next generation.

Don’t just follow the rules.  Follow your heart.

I'm grateful to continue this important work and appreciate the passion we all share.

The Rest of the Story...

During her visit, Dr. Trent shared many stories about the extreme challenges she faced to achieve her goal of completing an education.  Since there was so much to be told, I want to share with you more of the remarkable story of her life, as blogged by NY Times Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Nicholas Kristof.  As they say, here is “the rest of the story:”

November 15, 2009

Op-Ed Columnist

Triumph of a Dreamer

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Any time anyone tells you that a dream is impossible, any time you’re discouraged by impossible challenges, just mutter this mantra: Tererai Trent.

Of all the people earning university degrees this year, perhaps the most remarkable story belongs to Tererai (pronounced TEH-reh-rye), a middle-aged woman who is one of my heroes. She is celebrating a personal triumph, but she’s also a monument to the aid organizations and individuals who helped her. When you hear that foreign-aid groups just squander money or build dependency, remember that by all odds Tererai should be an illiterate, battered cattle-herd in Zimbabwe and instead — ah, but I’m getting ahead of my story.

Tererai was born in a village in rural Zimbabwe, probably sometime in 1965, and attended elementary school for less than one year. Her father married her off when she was about 11 to a man who beat her regularly. She seemed destined to be one more squandered African asset.

A dozen years passed. Jo Luck, the head of an aid group called Heifer International, passed through the village and told the women there that they should stand up, nurture dreams, change their lives.

Inspired, Tererai scribbled down four absurd goals based on accomplishments she had vaguely heard of among famous Africans. She wrote that she wanted to study abroad, and to earn a B.A., a master’s and a doctorate.

Tererai began to work for Heifer and several Christian organizations as a community organizer. She used the income to take correspondence courses, while saving every penny she could.

In 1998 she was accepted to Oklahoma State University, but she insisted on taking all five of her children with her rather than leave them with her husband. “I couldn’t abandon my kids,” she recalled. “I knew that they might end up getting married off.”

Tererai’s husband eventually agreed that she could take the children to America — as long as he went too. Heifer helped with the plane tickets, Tererai’s mother sold a cow, and neighbors sold goats to help raise money. With $4,000 in cash wrapped in a stocking and tied around her waist, Tererai set off for Oklahoma.

An impossible dream had come true, but it soon looked like a nightmare. Tererai and her family had little money and lived in a ramshackle trailer, shivering and hungry. Her husband refused to do any housework — he was a man! — and coped by beating her.

“There was very little food,” she said. “The kids would come home from school, and they would be hungry.” Tererai found herself eating from trash cans, and she thought about quitting — but felt that doing so would let down other African women.

“I knew that I was getting an opportunity that other women were dying to get,” she recalled. So she struggled on, holding several jobs, taking every class she could, washing and scrubbing, enduring beatings, barely sleeping.

At one point the university tried to expel Tererai for falling behind on tuition payments. A university official, Ron Beer, intervened on her behalf and rallied the faculty and community behind her with donations and support.

“I saw that she had enormous talent,” Dr. Beer said. His church helped with food, Habitat for Humanity provided housing, and a friend at Wal-Mart carefully put expired fruits and vegetables in boxes beside the Dumpster and tipped her off.

Soon afterward, Tererai had her husband deported back to Zimbabwe for beating her, and she earned her B.A. — and started on her M.A. Then her husband returned, now frail and sick with a disease that turned out to be AIDS. Tererai tested negative for H.I.V., and then — feeling sorry for her husband — she took in her former tormentor and nursed him as he grew sicker and eventually died.

Through all this blur of pressures, Tererai excelled at school, pursuing a Ph.D. at Western Michigan University and writing a dissertation on AIDS prevention in Africa even as she began working for Heifer as a program evaluator. On top of all that, she was remarried, to Mark Trent, a plant pathologist she had met at Oklahoma State.

Tererai is a reminder of the adage that talent is universal, while opportunity is not. There are still 75 million children who are not attending primary school around the world. We could educate them all for far less than the cost of the proposed military “surge” in Afghanistan.

Each time Tererai accomplished one of those goals that she had written long ago, she checked it off on that old, worn paper. Last month, she ticked off the very last goal, after successfully defending her dissertation. She’ll receive her Ph.D. next month, and so a one-time impoverished cattle-herd from Zimbabwe with less than a year of elementary school education will don academic robes and become Dr. Tererai Trent.

I am so proud to work with Chrysalis, and with leaders like each of you, as you share Dr. Trent’s belief in the power of girls and women.  Thank you for all you do.

Chrysalis (as part of the Iowa Women's Leadership Project) presents Report

This week Chrysalis Executive Director Terry Hernandez presented statistics from our new report, SHE MATTERS: 2012 Status of Women and Girls in Iowa, to over 900 women attending the Iowa Women’s Leadership Conference in Coralville.  She also had an opportunity to participate as a guest on “Talk of Iowa” on the Iowa Public Radio station as we shared some of the significant findings of this report, and over the weekend will present the report findings at the Iowa Business and Professional Women’s annual conference here in Des Moines.

We have done this report in partnership with the Iowa Women’s Leadership Project, a network of organizations from around the state with a vested interest in the success of women; Terry Hernandez researched and wrote the report, and Mary Ann Lee, Chrysalis Research Associate, provide a significant amount of reference material you’ll find in the report.

The partnership met roughly one year ago, called together to find ways we can work together to improve conditions for females in our state.  We believe this report will provide a starting point for our shared work, and an opportunity to benchmark progress (or not) in important areas for women and girls’ success.  The report will be updated annually, and next fall, our website will include an interactive tool to research a range of data concerning women and girls – this will be available to all interested organizations, corporations, decision-makers, and community members.

If you’d like to hear the Iowa Public Radio interview:  http://iowapublicradio.org/news/news_story.php?story=3660

Thank you for making this work possible!

An Event to Benefit the Chrysalis Foundation

7th Annual Mother's Day Soiree Please join us for another fun year of celebrating women! Live music, complimentary food and beverages and many beautiful auction items from your favorite fashion designers. Tickets are $25, all proceeds support chrysalis and its work on behalf of the girls and women in our community. Tickets are available for purchase at aimee or available at the door the evening of the event.   Date: Friday, May 11 Time: 5:30 - 8 pm  Location: aimee - East Village   Kindly RSVP to aimeersvp@hotmail.com by Tuesday, May 8 Questions? Please contact aimee by calling (515) 243-0045, or chrysalis, (515) 255-1853

Rekha Basu Reports on the Screening of Miss Representation

From the Des Moines Register, Written by Rekha Basu, April 20, 2012
The New York Times reported last Sunday on women so desperate to lose weight before their weddings that they’re going on feeding tubes for eight days at a time to avoid eating.
My husband was on a feeding tube before his death. The tubes deliver fluids to people too sick to chew or swallow food. They prolong life but replace some of its most sensual pleasures. What a subversion of life-saving technology to use it for streamlining a figure. And what a distortion of medical ethics for a doctor to participate.
Enhancements that once sounded extreme in their invasiveness, risk factors and costs have become normalized in pursuit of female bodily perfection and to forestall the inevitable signs of aging. Feeding tubes for weight are just the latest twist in the continuum of purging and starvation, Botox and facelifts, buttock implants and breast augmentations.

Not all woman are going to those lengths, but every woman who watches television or music videos, or reads fashion magazines gets The Memo. The one that says “Look sexier, skinnier, younger or risk being ugly, unloved and irrelevant.”
Even women who take pride in their accomplishments and had rejected the idea of going under the knife or getting injected with botulism admit, in a film called “Miss Representation,” to succumbing in order to stay viable as actresses.
The movie was screened at Drake University Tuesday night by the Chrysalis Foundation for Women and Drake’s Student Activists for Gender Equality (SAGE). It focused on the role of mass media in perpetrating unrealistic images of beauty and sex appeal and the sexism underlying them.
Commercials sell images, part of whose goal is to keep us feeling insecure about how we look so we’ll keep buying the products. It works at all age and income levels.
“It’s obscene, the spending,” said Sheila Brassel, the president of SAGE of how much even college women pay to primp themselves up. “If you’re struggling financially, the last thing you will cut as a college student is the specific salon brand shampoo you use.” For some, it’s nail care. Even spending on high school proms has hit $1,078 on average, according to USA Today.
Brassel’s organization tries to get students to look critically at those idealized images and persuade young women not to hang their sense of self-worth on male acceptance. But she says some women balk at the idea of feminism, fearing that to call themselves that will make them unattractive to men.

Some of the TV talking heads carrying on about how a woman looks, or should, or what she might have done to look that way, are themselves women. Actress Ashley Judd was recently provoked to fight back at the gossip and speculation surrounding her puffy face after she’d been on steroids for a sinus infection. The 44-year-old who appears on television’s “Missing” was being accused of having plastic surgery.
In the April 9 Daily Beast, Judd wrote, “This abnormal obsession with women’s faces and bodies has become so normal that we (I include myself at times — I absolutely fall for it still) have internalized patriarchy almost seamlessly. We are unable at times to identify ourselves as our own denigrating abusers, or as abusing other girls and women.”
Not that women are alone. Men can be especially hard on aging actresses and female politicians. When actress Demi Moore was hospitalized in January, two months after breaking up from her younger husband, Ashton Kutcher, a male commentator informed us her real problem was being 49.
For those of us who grew up in the women’s movement, these discussions bring a frustrating sense of déjà vu. Didn’t we learn to value ourselves beyond our looks and to support one another instead of competing and back-stabbing? And didn’t men get Our Memo — the one demanding equal treatment?
“I’m pissed off,” said a woman of my generation after the screening of “Miss Representation,” recalling the sense of possibilities when sports first opened up for girls and people were picketing for the Equal Rights Amendment.

Organizers of the film showing suggested actions for young women to take, from boycotting magazines, movies and TV shows that objectify and degrade women to campaigning for female candidates to “Stop talking about your weight (especially in front of young girls).”
Women’s activism needs to be rekindled at younger ages, in middle and high schools. Girls need to be taught to stand up for themselves and not hand their power over to men. And boys need to be shown alternative models of manhood.
No woman should be raised to believe that getting thin through a feeding tube is the way to start a good marriage. Nor should any man.

Chrysalis Partners to Screen Miss Representation

On April 17, 2012, Chrysalis, in partnership with Drake University's Student Activists for Gender Equality and Department of Culture and Society hosted the public for a special screening of the documentary film Miss Representation. As part of Chrysalis' community education efforts, we would like to share the information we provided at the screening with all of you.

MISS REPRESENTATION

Presented by Chrysalis in partnership with Drake University Department of Culture and Society and SAGE (Student Activists for Gender Equality)

April 17, 2012

An average teen spends more than 10 hours daily consuming media – more than sleeping or attending school.  Messages they receive from media teach them how to view themselves and others, particularly what it means to be a woman or a man.

Mainstream media (instruments used to communicate information, including television, magazines, books, movies, music, and the Internet) bombards children and adults with constant messages that women should be beautiful and sexy; men should be powerful and often violent.  These messages can have damaging effects on self-esteem, health, and relationships, limiting children’s ideas about what is possible for them in the world.

In a society where media is the most persuasive force shaping cultural norms, the collective message that young women and men receive is that a woman’s value and power lie in her youth, beauty, and sexuality – not her intelligence or capacity as a leader.

In its continuing role to educate the public, Chrysalis presents MISS REPRESENTATION, the acclaimed documentary released in 2011 by writer, director, and producer Jennifer Siebel Newsom.  It uncovers a glaring reality facing each of us, every day – how mainstream media contributes to the under-representation of women in influential positions in America.

HERE’S WHAT WE RECOMMEND YOU DO --

1.        Boycott magazines, movies, or television shows that objectify and degrade women.

2.       Participate in a female candidate’s political campaign.

3.       Watch media with children and discuss how girls or women are portrayed and the impact this has.

4.      Avoid complimenting a woman or girl on looks (pretty, thin, sexy, “hot”) and compliment how smart, skilled, or clever she is, or what a great leader she is.

Here are a few other ideas adapted from about-face.org.  About-Face equips women and girls with tools to understand and resist harmful media messages that affect self-esteem and body image.

TEN THINGS THAT YOU CAN DO

1. Stop talking about your weight (especially in front of young girls).

Young girls listen to the way women talk about themselves, and about each other, to learn the language of womanhood.  Young women can only learn to love or even accept their bodies if they see women who love and accept their own.  Every criticism we use – about ourselves or about other women - leaves an impression on the people around us, encouraging the quest for perfection.  Differentiate between weight and health, and start talking about health.

2. Make a list of women you admire.

Think about the most important attributes a woman you admire has – is appearance one of them?  What would you like a young woman to most admire in you?  In herself?

3. Question the motives of the fashion industry.

Remember - the main objective of the fashion, cosmetic, diet, fitness, and plastic surgery industries is to make money, not to make you the best person you can possibly be. 

4. Stop weighing yourself.

The emphasis to be thin is ever-present in our society, but this focus is completely arbitrary.  Spend a day, week, or month without getting on the scale – and when you do, don’t let the number be a measure of your self-esteem.

5. Concentrate on things you do well.

It is true that if you are feeling good about your life, you are much less critical of how you look.  You aren’t changing, but your perception is!  If you’ve had a bad day and don’t want to be distressed, stay away from the mirror.

6. Get physical for fun.

Your body needs fuel and function – that’s real food and exercise!  Take walks, dance in your living room, garden, golf… try to get moving for your heart, not to decrease the size of your waist.  You may lose weight and you may not, but your body will be stronger, and your stress will be lower.

7. Value your dollars.

How much do you spend on fashion, hair, and cosmetics?  How much on specific eating regimens?  The money you spend should reflect the person you are, not the person society wants you to be.

8. Voice your opinion.

Every size and type of business is interested in your input.  Letters, e-mails, and phone calls really make a difference.  If you disagree with the way a company treats women, or if you believe a company shows a lack of respect for girls and women in any way, write a letter explaining why, and stop purchasing the product.

9. Be a role model.

Every culture and generation has its own rules and expectations for women, and there are always women who have taken risks to grow, learn, and succeed.  Wouldn’t you like to break a mold or two?  And remember – girls and women are watching you.

10. Break the barriers.

Author Sara Tisdale wrote, “We must all choose between battles: One battle is against the cultural ideal, and the other is against ourselves.”  Stop defining yourself by what popular culture dictates.  Develop your own style and uniqueness – by accepting yourself and demonstrating it, you help break the barriers.

Chrysalis Conversations Speaker Margaret Wheatley Profiled in Des Moines Register

Wheatley's Goal: Empower Women to Change the World

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120410/LIFE/304100011/Wheatley-s-goal-Empower-women-change-world

Human Trafficking the Focus at First Chrysalis Roundtable Event

3/30/12: This morning, Chrysalis held its first Community Roundtable from 7:30-9 am, on the topic of human trafficking.  We were happy to have 34 attendees who heard an informal presentation from Lieutenant Joe Gonzalez of the Des Moines Police Department, and Vivian Van Vleet of the US District Attorney’s Office.

In addition to sharing information on the situation in Iowa and state resources, they provided us comprehensive information on the definition, identification, and investigation of trafficking.  We learned about the various types of trafficking, and how complex and deep the networks can be.

Under United States law, once a person has been held in servitude, a person’s status as a trafficking victim supersedes all other smuggling or immigration questions and affords them legal protections and social services.

Here are characteristics of trafficking:

1.        Is not voluntary; one cannot consent to being trafficked or enslaved

2.       Entails forced exploitation of a person for labor or services

3.       Need not entail the physical movement of a person

4.      Can occur domestically, where citizens are held captive in their own country

5.       Is a crime against the right of each person to be free from involuntary servitude

There is a difference between trafficking and smuggling – smuggling is always international in nature, ends after the border crossing, and typically involves a fee.  Smuggling is a crime against a nation’s sovereignty.

I’ve attached the handout Chrysalis prepared for today’s event, which includes information on various types of trafficking.  Although I thought I understood the motives and types of trafficking, I learned about another type today that is occurring in rural Iowa.  Widowers – traveling to Mexico to meet and bring a young woman back to Iowa “to marry.”  Once they are here, the man does not marry (so the woman does not gain legal status through marriage) and uses the woman for sex and domestic services.  Many women are isolated by their captor, who keeps them without access to phone or internet.

A psychologist from one of our grantee partners, Youth Emergency Shelter and Services (YESS), reported that the shelter regularly sees young women who have run away from a trafficking situation (often as young as 11 or 12 years old) and have been prostituted.  The psychologist noted that although the girl may want to leave the captive situation, she is often bonded to her captor either by love, pregnancy, or threats of violence.

A major piece of our work at Chrysalis is to keep our community informed about what is happening with girls and women here in Central Iowa, and to educate others on how to recognize, respond, and report on traumas such as trafficking.  It’s about engaging our community in the being an important part of the solution.

GUEST OPINION: In complex times, persevere

From the Des Moines Business Record:

 

3/16/2012 7:00:00 AM
GUEST OPINION: In complex times, persevere

Jann Freed

By Jann Freed



“If a company is only as good as its people, companies today have much to worry about,” says Margaret “Meg” Wheatley, an internationally acclaimed writer, teacher and speaker.

As an author of several leadership books, Wheatley was one of the pioneers of “systems thinking,” viewing organizations as organic and living systems, as explained in her book “Leadership and the New Science.” In her work with organizations, communities and nations, she has encountered caring, intelligent and well-intentioned people who are finding it challenging to do what they know is best.

“We are being asked to work faster, more competitively, more selfishly, and to focus only on the short term,” Wheatley said. “These values cannot lead to anything healthy and sustainable, and they are alarmingly destructive. I believe we must learn quickly now how to work and live together in ways that bring us back to life.”

If what I have shared interests you, take advantage of the opportunity to attend Wheatley’s presentation at the State Historical Building on April 18, sponsored by the Chrysalis Foundation.

Wheatley’s conclusion that “companies have much to worry about” is based on her extensive work in large-systems change – helping organizations become more committed and productive, and with the full engagement of people at all levels.

She has witnessed how pressures on leaders have increased dramatically. Leaders no longer have time or flexibility. They feel caged and exhausted. The demand for quick results and pressure from boards of directors have left them no time for development or learning. Leaders have told her: “Forget about values, learning or participation. We just need to execute.”

Based on Wheatley’s consulting work, she concludes that leaders need to be fearless in order to tackle the complexities in today’s world. This emphasis on becoming fearless led her to write about the significance of perseverance for people at all levels so that we can each contribute to making things better for the people, places and issues about which we care the most.

Perseverance is the capacity to keep going long after the passion for our work has dissipated. It is a continuous choice not to give up, no matter how difficult the circumstances. It is a choice we make to be aware, to be awake, to take in all of the information needed to do our best work. Wheatley calls perseverance a “life-saving skill for this time.”

Drawing on wisdom, Wheatley will explain how to confront the dominant energies of our time – aggression, anxiety and fear – in a way that allows us to do good work, serve others and care for ourselves, even when exhausted and overwhelmed. Wheatley said she has repeatedly observed that in the midst of the greatest tragedies, when people are working together and feel their connectedness is when they discover true joy.

Her work complements the efforts being made in our community to practice civility at a time when so many issues are being polarized, often preventing people from working together effectively.

Jann Freed is a leadership development and change management consultant at The Genysys Group.



Read more: http://www.businessrecord.com/main.asp?SectionID=50&SubSectionID=276&ArticleID=16856&TM=35590.66#ixzz1pfmNOISt

New Event to Benefit Chrysalis Announced!

SPRING INTO BUSINESS!

JOIN US FOR AN AFTERNOON OF PAMPERING AND AN OPPORTUNITY TO SEE WHAT'S IN STYLE THIS SPRING FOR WOMEN, MEN, GIRLS & BOYS!

Enjoy hors d'oeuvres, wine tasting, and shopping with an array of local vendors!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Windsor Heights Community Center

1:30 - 4:30 pm

Registration: $20

Parking: free parking West of the venue

Raffle tickets available for purchase the day of the event for door prizes

Bring your business cards and take advantage of this
great networking opportunity!

Sponsors:
Bridgestone America's Tire Operation Ag Division
Cato
Marine Corps League Auxiliary

Scheels

Proceeds of this event will benefit local girl's and women through chrysalis

Chrysalis Foundation is a non profit organization dedicated to increasing resources and opportunities for girls and women in Polk, Warren, Dallas Counties in Central Iowa.

Media Advisory: Girls Sports Day

         DRAKE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS  |  MEDIA ADVISORY

CONTACTS

Paul Kirk, Drake Athletic Communications

(515) 271-3014 | paul.kirk@drake.edu

Heather Weems, Associate Athletic Director/Senior Women’s Administrator

(515) 271-2809 | heather.weems@drake.edu

**MEDIA ADVISORY**

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Drake Athletics Hosts 2012 Girls Sports Day Friday

Attention Media: The Drake Athletic Department invites you to join in its celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day and shine a light on the positive effects of introducing sport to young women in our community.

WHO:        Student-athletes from Drake’s women’s sports teams and the Chrysalis After-School Program

WHAT:      Drake Athletics and the Bulldogs’ women’s sports student-athletes host young women from Chrysalis After-School at the 2012 Girls Sports Day. This inaugural event celebrates both the 40^th Anniversary of Title IX and the 26^th Annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day.

WHEN:      Friday, January 27, 2012 at 5 p.m.

                 5 p.m.—Welcome and Registration

                 5:10 p.m.—Bulldog Chalk Talk with Drake Women’s Basketball Coach Amy Stephens

                 5:25 p.m.—Rotations begin, by group, for Fitness Walk, Wellness Activity and Zumba (dancing)

                 6:10 p.m.—Closing Presentation

                 6:20 p.m.—Dinner

                 7:05 p.m.—Women’s basketball tipoff vs. Bradley

WHERE:    Bell Center and Knapp Center at Drake University

WHY:        Studies show that physical activity and sport are positive influences on the health and well-being of individuals and society. Girls Sports Day is intended to introduce 5^th–8^th grade girls to fun fitness activities and the benefits derived, as well as encourage them to learn about and consider the multiple aspects of personal wellness.

ABOUT CHRYSALIS:

We believe that the best investment Chrysalis can make for the future is to invest in girls. That's why we invest 2/3 of our annual grant-making budget in a program we developed in 1998: Chrysalis After-School.

Each year, hundreds of girls at dozens of community sites are part of Chrysalis After-School. From elementary through middle school, girls meet at school and community sites each week to learn life skills, career opportunities, healthy behaviors, and the importance of education. They meet role models who influence the way they think about their future. They develop the confidence and resilience they need to become independent, contributing women.

Chrysalis After-School ensures girls' physical, educational, and social well-being. When we invest in girls, we invest in their families, their community, and our future.

When learn about our Chrysalis After-School programs and partners, or when you read about the results of our investment, you'll believe it, too.