Empower Women, Empower the Community!

I had the pleasure of going to the Women's Foundation of Colorado Luncheon last Thursday at the Colorado Convention Center. The Women's Foundation of Colorado's goal as a philanthropist in the community, is to help women and girls become economically self-sufficient. Their vision also helps with changing the lives of women and girls so that they are equal individuals. The first presenter to speak was the CEO of WFC, Louise Atkinson, she gave a huge thanks to supporters and talked about scholarship opportunity. After a couple of organizers and sponsors of the event spoke, Alfre Woodard, actress and activist and a founder of Artists for A New South Africa. The topic of the luncheon was "Empowering Girls to be Next Generation Leaders". The most interesting thing about her presentation was that I felt she was speaking to me. Since I am a young women, I liked that she focused on the impact and importance of education for young generation women, which range from ages 5-35. Using her own organization as an example,Woodard elegantly said that we must give and put our knowledge to women. This means that access to leadership roles and power in our community, is an essential thing to allow women and girls a say in the decision making. When we look at females in past generations, there has been enormous accomplishments towards an equal society. Ms. Woodard spoke of that, but she also put on the table that the women of today, still do not have equal pay. I met a lot of prominent and passionate women in Colorado that day. Networking and talking with them made me feel very strong as a young women and helped me to understand that women have grown into higher positions and power in the workforce. This luncheon was not only a day of ultimate women power, shown by the amount of intellect and business suits but also a time of reiterating that there still are inequalities between the sexes and that we need to take action! I felt empowered by the people I met, the conversations that I started and the message that was brought to attention. I was very excited to be a part of a luncheon that held truth and social justice into account. I leave you with a quote by Margaret Mead that says,"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

If you would like more information about The Women's Foundation of Colorado please go to: http://www.wfco.org or to learn more about Artists for A New South Africa go to:http://www.ansafrica.org/

Thanks for reading!

Rachelle

Media/Events Assistant

Center for Urban Connections