Kristie Halsey Holmes
Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy, Social Work, Research, Training and Development
KRISTIE HOLMES, PhD, LCSW, specializes in topics related to global health, gender and media, as well as technology’s impact on relationships. She has spent a significant amount of time in the past 13 years working on projects related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Global Goals) and human rights with Zero Mothers Die and the Millennia 2025 Foundation. Kristie served as the United Nations Civil Society Co-Chair of Press & Media Subcommittee (Salt Lake City, Utah event). Up next: International Youth Conference 2024 https://www.internationalyouthconference.org/. Please share widely for this record-making event that is free of charge to attendees.
She has a passion for helping other women use their voice and has acted as moderator for NGOs at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, as well as participated as a panelist at the Women Leaders Forum (3 years) as part of the United Nations General Assembly.
She headed up the Team He for She project (U.S.) that created opportunity for teens to engage in discussion on gender equality, and served 3 terms on the board of United Nations Women U.S. National Committee (UN Women USA).
She is a Lead on the Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Team that deploys nationally in crisis situations, and was a Congressional Candidate in 2014 in California’s District 33. She served as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy for a three-year term, and now serves on the Advisory Board.
She is serving her neighborhood council for the third term to give back closer to home (Los Angeles) and is representing Public Schools.
Taught (Graduate Level): Merging Policy, Planning and Research for Change in Families, Global Dimensions in Social Policy and Social Work Practice, Practice, Human Behavior & Violence Against Women, Diversity, Global Development, Clinical Practice for 13 years as a graduate-level professor.
Other Skills: Risk Management, fraud, pattern recognition in admissions documents. I deal with backstories of headlines in my day- to -day work.
Phone: 323-459-5685
Address: Los Angeles, California, United States
Taught: Merging Policy, Planning and Research for Change in Families, Global Dimensions in Social Policy and Social Work Practice, Practice, Human Behavior & Violence Against Women, Diversity, Global Development, Clinical Practice for 12 years as a graduate level professor.
She has a passion for helping other women use their voice and has acted as moderator for NGOs at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, as well as participated as a panelist at the Women Leaders Forum (3 years) as part of the United Nations General Assembly.
She headed up the Team He for She project (U.S.) that created opportunity for teens to engage in discussion on gender equality, and served 3 terms on the board of United Nations Women U.S. National Committee (UN Women USA).
She is a Lead on the Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Team that deploys nationally in crisis situations, and was a Congressional Candidate in 2014 in California’s District 33. She served as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy for a three-year term, and now serves on the Advisory Board.
She is serving her neighborhood council for the third term to give back closer to home (Los Angeles) and is representing Public Schools.
Taught (Graduate Level): Merging Policy, Planning and Research for Change in Families, Global Dimensions in Social Policy and Social Work Practice, Practice, Human Behavior & Violence Against Women, Diversity, Global Development, Clinical Practice for 13 years as a graduate-level professor.
Other Skills: Risk Management, fraud, pattern recognition in admissions documents. I deal with backstories of headlines in my day- to -day work.
Phone: 323-459-5685
Address: Los Angeles, California, United States
Taught: Merging Policy, Planning and Research for Change in Families, Global Dimensions in Social Policy and Social Work Practice, Practice, Human Behavior & Violence Against Women, Diversity, Global Development, Clinical Practice for 12 years as a graduate level professor.
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Lectures & Conference Presentations by Kristie Halsey Holmes
Date: Thursday, 18 July 2019
Time: 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: Conference Room 3, UNHQ New York
The session will be telecast live on UN Webcast (webtv.un.org)
The purpose of this Townhall is to hold consultative sessions on the draft Outcome Document and Youth Declaration for the upcoming 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference.
Session 1: Welcoming Remarks
11:00 - 11:03 a.m. Maher Nasser, Director, Outreach Division, Department of Global Communications (DGC) (3 Min)
11:03 - 11:06 a.m. Maruxa Cardama, Conference Chair (via Phone) (3 min)
11:06 - 11:09 a.m. Ben Kolendar, Salt Lake City (via Phone) (3 min)
11:09 - 11:12 a.m. Bruce Knotts, NGO/DPI Executive Committee (3 min)
Session 2: Consultation session on the Conference Outcome Document
11:12 – 11:47 a.m. Lori Hudson (via Phone), Bruce Knotts and Annie Deng, Co-chairs, Outcome Document Sub-committee (35 minutes)
Session 3: Consultation Session on the Youth Declaration
11:47 - 11:50 a.m. Earlene Cruz, Member, Youth Sub-committee, Servas Youth Representative to DGC (3 minutes)
11:50 – 11:57 a.m. Vlada Yaremenko, and Rebecca Hardenbrook, Co-chairs, Youth Sub-committee (via Phone) (5 – 7 minutes)
11:57 a.m. – 12:02 p.m. Annie Deng, Youth Outcome Sub-Task Lead, Youth Sub-committee; City College of New York Youth Representative to DGC (5 minutes)
12:02 - 12:25 p.m. Q&A Session
Session 4:
12:25 – 12:30 p.m. Final comments by Maruxa Cardama (via Phone), Conference Chair
There are significant challenges associated with SDG 11 monitoring given that majority (13 out of 15) of SDG 11 indicators are new with no formal data being collected at the local, city, and national levels. Less than 30 per cent of Member States are consistently collecting data through the national statistical systems on the urban dimensions of the SDGs. This is far below the threshold of 50 per cent (97) of Member States required to make meaningful analysis at the regional and global levels.
While formal data collection and standardization are a primary responsibility of National Statistical Offices, in the case of SDG 11 data being collected informally by relevant government departments, civil society, academia, local governments and other stakeholders is not integrated into the national statistical systems. Remarkably, National Statistical offices are not aware of data collected by other stakeholders.
Civil society and other stakeholder groups have a critical role in contributing to the data gaps and in advocating for the prioritization of SDG11 implementation, monitoring and reporting. This session will provide an opportunity for civil society to share their experience. It will also explore approaches required to enhance monitoring of SDG11 indicators, including recognition of data and information collected by civil society.
Attend this session if you are interested in: Capacity building, partnerships, advocacy, civic engagement in urban planning and governance, and good practices on data collection in the areas of housing, slum-upgrading, access to land and security of tenure, air pollution, transport and mobility, waste management, public space, safety and security, cultural heritage, resilience and disaster risk reduction, climate change, and national urban policies. (Full Video Now Available)
Facilitated discussion to follow the reading.
This year, we concentrate specically on Sustainable Development Goal 11: "to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable by 2030." We underscore the need to understand cities and communities as place-making, social cohesion, equitable prosperity and environmental spaces central to the achievement of all SDGs and not only SDG11. We uplift the importance of inclusivity, peace, education, and the youth; explore the ethical development of economy, infrastructure and technology needed to support sustainable and balanced rural and urban growth; and highlight the collaboration of governments, civil society, and the United Nations in this work. We stress the urgency for climate action. For each of these, we arm our beliefs, urge others to partner with us, and commit to action in order to uplift the human spirit, create humane cities for people to ourish and enhance the quality of life for all.
Livestream recording at UN TV first week of September 2019.
Congratulations, you have been selected to serve as the Co-Chair for the Press & Media Sub-committee for the 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference.
Today 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas and that figure is expected to reach 68% by 2050.
.
As the complexities of urban life grow, communities and local leaders are at the forefront of finding
sustainable solutions to poverty and inadequate housing, hunger and health, clean water, energy,
environmental degradation and climate change, infrastructure, transport, education, migration, violence and
gender equality. These and other challenges are interconnected with similar issues in rural areas and
municipalities of all sizes, where activists and civil society organizations partner with governments and the
private sector to ensure that communities are inclusive, equitable and sustainable.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a blueprint for action, advocacy and partnership, and a
compass to ensure that no one is left behind, including those who are poor and vulnerable. Women and
young people are seizing opportunities to participate fully and prominently as leaders in these efforts, and
there are numerous examples of local action contributing to achieving national frameworks and bringing
about global impact. The SDGs were designed with direct participation from more than 10 million people
globally over a three-year period and were launched in 2015 with the support of all 193 UN Member States.
Civil society is key to promoting understanding of these ambitious Goals and achieving them by 2030.
Against this backdrop, this year’s UN Civil Society Conference
, reflecting Salt Lake City’s leadership and
demonstrated commitment on sustainability issues, will focus on SDG 11, “to make cities and human
settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable by 2030”. The agenda will explore the interlinkages
among all 17 Goals, including critical issues relating to gender.
The three-day conference, co-hosted by the UN Department of Global Communications, Salt Lake City,
and the NGO Executive Committee, will feature opening and closing plenary sessions, interactive thematic
sessions, NGO-sponsored workshops, exhibits and a youth hub. Speakers and attendees will include leaders
and other representatives from NGOs, UN agencies, academia, faith traditions, the public and private
sectors and youth from around the world.
University of Southern California
USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
323-459-5685
Cardiac issues will end our lives as females 33% of the time- more than breast cancer ever will, despite incredible awareness campaigns that have convinced us otherwise. Symptoms like fatigue, frequent urination, shortness of breath and headaches are easily ignored by patients as well as providers.
Educational objectives:
1. Increase knowledge of cardiac issues pre, during, and post birth.
2. Increase knowledge of signs and symptoms to refer immediately as a mental health provider, including "impending doom".
3. Increase knowledge of clear action items to raise awareness in participant's network that will save lives.
4. Increase knowledge of maternal mortality rate in the US as compared to other countries in the world and how California has reversed the national trend.
Macro- I want you to go further up the ladder. It’s also important to say today that disaster response includes gun violence and mass shootings.
I’m going to have a special guest today whose expertise I have come to greatly rely on. I’ve narrowed it down to six questions for her but I am sure that you will have more for both of us. Feel free to tweet them, Facebook inbox them or plain old email them to us and I will try to get them answered as soon as I can - perhaps even during this session.
Another point I want to make before we even get going is: you are Qualified. Even if you are not a clinician, LCSW, nurse or M.D. You can get involved on many levels including local chapters of the Red Cross, NASW and even UN Women US national committee.
For all the clinicians out there excited to use your skills as well as for those who are scared to death to get out there and provide mental health disaster relief, everyone can be encouraged. You have to know going in there that This is simply psychological first aid. This is not a three month psychotherapy investment. It’s more like : bleach, gloves, rake, jokes, tissues, trash bags, mold?
You learn quickly by looking around outside peoples homes that Have been flooded out and the very few items they care about saving… Generally printed pictures —- some albums and saved children’s work that was created when they were in elementary school.
The giant piles are all of the things no one really cares about after a disaster including appliances, furniture and other things we invest so much time and money into.
<SLIDES>
Challenge the status quo and the “it’s always been done this way“ way of thinking. Some of it may work, much of it will not any longer. We will lose the younger generation through a gap we create on her own. Wisdom comes from experience, and to be perfectly frank- children are experiencing something different than we ever did, so we need to learn from them. This is what consulting with the community looks like.
https://twitter.com/DrKristie/status/976180574443380736
Kristie Holmes & Angela Henderson
Questions:
1. Most of us have heard about human trafficking as it relates on a global scale. But, can you tell us how it can effect our local youth?
2. Human trafficking has expanded to the internet with websites like BackPage. 3 out of 4 victims of sex-trafficking are sold on the internet.What are some of the warning signs that a youth is being trafficked or recruited for sex trade?
3 Can you tell us some of the mental or physical issues victims face as a result of being trafficked?
4. a) How can we help raise awareness to this issue and reduce the stigma associated with victims in trafficking?
b) Dr. Holmes, I know from a previous presentation you gave on this subject that you believe awareness is not enough. Can you elaborate on this idea?
5. a) What evidence based practice models have you found helpful in counseling with victims of youth trafficking?
b) Are there any coping strategies that you have found to be effective?
6. Building trust with any client can be difficult. In your experience have you found a best practice strategy for building trust?
7. What would be one takeaway that you would want to leave the audience with today?
Bio’s for panel presenters
Terri O’Donnell has been a mental health therapist since 1998. She has extensive experience working with women and men with histories of trauma and addiction. She worked in an addiction treatment center for women for 8 years and is now working with Project Respect as the therapist for victims of human trafficking. She is also in private practice.
Kristie Holmes, PhD, LCSW, specializes in topics related to global health, gender, and media and the impact of technology on social relationships. She has spent a significant amount of time in the past eight years working on projects related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (previously MDGs), which included work with Zero Mothers Die and Millennia 2025 Foundation. She has acted as moderator for NGOs at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and participated as a panelist at the Women Leaders Forum as part of the United Nations General Assembly. Currently, she serves on the board of the United Nations Women U.S. National Committee and works with Give an Hour, which donates clinical time to veterans in need of services who are often on a waiting list. Currently she teaches Global, Gender and Clinical Practice courses at the graduate level at University of Southern California. Holmes ran for Congress in 2014 in California's District 33.
Jan Miyasaki is the director of Project Respect, a Dane County, Wisconsin-based social service agency that provides services to adults and juveniles victimized in sex trafficking and prostitution since 1993. She holds a J.D. from Marquette University Law School and has received numerous awards for her work at Project Respect, including the Individual Excellence Award from the Madison Community Foundation, the Woman of Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Women of Color Network, and the Partnership in Building Trust Award from the Madison Police Department. With Miyasaki’s leadership, Project Respect has led the discussion in Wisconsin to promote an understanding of issues faced by sexually exploited women. Conferences on “Female Sexual Slavery” (1994) and “Prostitution and Pornography as a Violation of Human Rights” (1997) brought nationally recognized experts to the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In 2004, Respect clients participated in ground-breaking research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social Work. Each participant described her experience of having been sex trafficked and gave her perspective on what services are helpful. Participants described their experiences at Respect as transformative and affecting their sense of self which allowed them to see their worthiness to receive care.
In 2006, Miyasaki was a founding member of the Wisconsin Anti-Human Trafficking Consortium (formerly known as the Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance Anti-Human Trafficking Committee). In 2008, the Consortium published “Hidden in Plain Sight: a baseline survey of human trafficking in Wisconsin which led to the passage of the Wisconsin anti-human trafficking law.
In 2010, Miyasaki co-founded the Coordinated Community Response to the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children which has led the response to domestic minor sex trafficking in Dane County through education, research, community consensus building and development of social services for victims. She is the lead author of the 2012 report, “Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: Dane County Needs Assessment”. Also in 2012, through her work on the Consortium, she drafted the victim services chapter and edited the Wisconsin Human trafficking Protocol and Resource Manual. She is a member of the State of Wisconsin Department of Justice, Department of Children and Families Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force charged with designing curriculum and setting competencies for training and service provision in response to child sex trafficking in Wisconsin.
Description of Project Respect
This project addresses local prostitution in the City of Madison and Dane County and was opened by ARC as a project in the community in 1986. This project is jointly funded by the City of Madison and Dane County and provides diversion services on an outpatient basis for women involved in prostitution as processed by the City of Madison and Dane County District Attorney’s Offices for the violation of loitering and other prostitution related ordinances and statutes in lieu of fines, court appearances and jail time, and also provides services for women who have voluntarily come to RESPECT for counseling and assistance in leaving the life of prostitution. RESPECT provides a safe space and peer support as well as advocacy, case management, counseling and crisis intervention on an outpatient basis in order to assist women in leaving prostitution and to help them into essential community services in order to address a woman’s health, economic, and family needs so she can develop a safe, constructive lifestyle.
RESPECT also does outreach for HIV Prevention Intervention for high-risk behaviors as a result of funding from the Madison AIDS Network, the State Department of Public Health and Center for Disease Control.
CRISP Growth Prompts Board of Directors
Reorganization and Strategic Plan
Contact: Kristie Holmes March 6, 2017
Communications
Chair, Board of Directors, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE http://crispinc.org/
WASHINGTON D.C. – The Congressional Research Institute of Social Work and Policy members of the Board of Directors shared organizational changes that best reflect areas of expertise for each member of the board as well as specific commitments from the board of advisors. Upcoming events such as National Social Work Day on the Hill, where spaces sold out early, has emphasized both the need and interest in training social workers for public life. Professional Social Workers are already equipped with many skills to navigate the world of politics, but application training for many is necessary in order to support the nearly one million professional social workers in the United States. Social Workers will be trained to have an impact on American politics, mainly through mobilizing communities. One of the primary goals of the organization in the coming year is to fully fund needed staff in order to meet the need of the profession.
“Investing in programs such as CRISP and strengthening the connection between accredited university programs as well as directly with legislative offices is key in moving the profession of social work forward to make public impact. Over the years we have certainly increased impact in the academic research arena, but it needs to translate to empowerment of clients and communities. Post election cycle is an opportune time to refocus and commit stakeholders to the overall profession’s goal of client and community self determination,” said Holmes. “Gaps abound between academia and policy practice, public service and public intellectuals. CRISP has a renewed mission to ensure there is a training balance in place not only for graduate level students, but for seasoned professionals who lack practical tools in order to be able to organize and impact communities on a Macro level. “
A live panel will take place via livestream from the National Press Club in Washington DC at 9am EST on March 8th. It will be later archived at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxFTkpkVBy4
END
children to school when she began experiencing
symptoms that became increasingly severe—
including shallow breathing and weakness. Kristie
was able to call 9-1-1 on speakerphone. With
her children in the car listening, Kristie calmly
explained her symptoms and was told she might
be having a panic attack. As a clinical social
worker, Kristie knew this was more serious and
urged the operator to call for immediate care.
The paramedics arrived swiftly and Kristie was
rushed by ambulance to Cedars Sinai in Los
Angeles. There, physicians discovered that she
had suffered a massive heart attack due to
two large tears in her heart—better known as
a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection.
Kristie’s body was in cardiogenic shock, which
meant her heart could not pump enough blood
to perfuse the end organs of the body.
Immediately upon arrival, physicians inserted
an Impella CP heart pump through the femoral
artery in her groin to help supplement her
weakened heart. After a few days, the physicians
decided to replace the fi rst pump with a new
Impella CP device which was inserted via an
axillary artery near Kristie’s collarbone. The
axillary placement would allow her to leave her
hospital bed and walk around, which would
ultimately help Kristie regain her strength.
She remained on Impella device support for
multiple days and not only survived the ordeal,
but regained enough strength to return home
with her native heart.
Today, Kristie is an active mom, professor at the
University of Southern California, and is on the
board of the United Nations Women U.S.
National Committee.
KRISTIE HOLMES
I M P E L L A C P ® T R E AT E D PAT I E N T | L O S A N G E L E S , C A
“ Women need to become advocates for themselves when it comes to their health;
I knew I was having a heart attack. I am glad I was able to benefit from support with
Impella which enabled my heart to rest after I went into cardiogenic shock, or else
things might be very different today.” - KRISTIE HOLMES
We tend to dismiss those in the age bracket that will have the greatest impact in the world in just a few years time. We need to start partnering with them now.
(Video Link Below, begins at approximately minute 5)
Transcript:
Hi everyone, and welcome. My name is Kristie Holmes, and I'm a board member for the US
National Committee for United Nations Women. I'm excited that I get to focus on something I
really care about today--helping other women find their voice, especially younger women.
Today, I'll be introducing Rowan.
We created Team HeForShe by chance, or by an avalanche of great introductions.- I didn't meet
Rowan until another #teamheforshe member Barbi introduced us by way of another team
member, Max.
But the first thing I read about her impressed me immediately. A magazine had photoshopped
her teeth, and she called them out on it! I knew then that this was a young woman I wanted to
work with. I know so few people who have that kind of courage. It may seem a small thing. But
to call attention to a so- called flaw in one's self publicly sent an impactful message out to
millions of girls that worry about how they look.
What was seen as unlikely partnerships of people ---who all have influence in different areas--
we decided we just wanted to do something meaningful together. We didn't have a lot of rules.
Just reaching out with this amazing young woman, Rowan --met US with reaching more than 8
million in just the first 4 days. We've also had great support from Facebook, Instagram and
Talkwalker.
The 78 cent campaign with global he for she and Clinton's #NoCeilings had #TeamHeforShe
trending on Twitter , and that was inspiring--it also had all ages and both genders participating--
another key to change. Here's a few of our most impactful tweets--(sharing slides). We need to
make sure we are where youth are- ages 12-24 are shown here- and that is Instagram. Most in
the room haven't even heard of Snapchat.
Speaking up in areas that you have influence, partnering with others, and not staying silent
when you know something is wrong is key to helping change the conversations on what seem
to be unmovable topics.
You don't want to be the last university who truly looks at your sexual assault problem on
campus, or the one who adds more useless programming with little deterrent for those who do
the assaulting.
They know the rules they are dealing with and the lack of enforcement that follows. I don't
want Rowan to show up at college in a few years to her dream school & find out that young
women are still dragging around mattresses.
The key is talking about the issues we face before terrible things happen, not just in reaction to
them. We know we have a problem with gun violence and that women are rarely the ones
pulling the trigger, but we don't really talk about that part either, or why the frequency is
increasing with no end in sight. One of the most sobering moments I had as a parent was two
years ago when my six year old son , when asked what he did at school that day Replied in an
entirely normal voice "oh we had active shooter drills today."
Look. The truth is, today is an exciting day. But most days when you're trying to make a
difference it's not all that exciting. Sometimes it's just writing letters, maybe working on a
school bullying policy to present to your principal --or even writing a grant so that you can
create programs that will change peoples’ lives--what most of us consider "boring" work.
But that's how it gets done.
The other thing that most of us adults aren't even doing anymore is voting. You may not be old
enough to vote but you're certainly old enough to get involved in the issues. You can talk to
your parents about who they are voting for, and why. You can read about the issues. And don't
get all of your information from one source. Consider the other side.
There are so many things, too many things to get worried and sad about so pick those that
resonate most with you. Do you want to change gun violence? Child marriage? Do you want to
feel safe on your school campus? How do you think that's going to happen?
We can all take personal responsibility for what happens next.
Without further ado, I'm honored to introduce Rowan Blanchard, who has been behind the
success of #TeamHeForShe
Rowan Blanchard:
Hello, I’m Rowan Blanchard, and today I will be speaking
about gender inequality in youth.
When I was in preschool, I played catch with the other kids,
and was told I threw “like a girl.” I have been a feminist ever
since.
I am thirteen now and balancing my education with a fulltime
acting career. On our show, I play a fourteen-year-old eighth
grader who is coming of age. My character deals with many life
lessons and challenging subjects, and it happens that this week’s
topic in gender inequality. Around this age, studies show that girls
lose interest in the STEM subjects, science, technology,
engineering and math. Unfortunately, those studies show that
one of the reasons we back away is that girls in my age group
would rather be liked than be leaders. I am extremely hopeful that
by communicating how wrong this idea is, our audience will
realize that taking advantage of a complete education is the
obvious thing to do in order to reach their full potential.
As the oldest of three children, I have seen sexism be
expressed at all ages. My nine-year-old brother has been called
“a girl” for being in touch with his emotions. My eleven year old
sister has been taught by the media that her body is an object, will
be compared to other bodies, and that it has more significance
than her mind or talents. This should not be the first thing she
learns. This should not be her first social experience.
Everyone here either has a child or knows one. And because
you are present here today, I am certain that none of you want
any child to grow up in a world where there are limitations solely
based on one’s gender.
Earlier this year I worked with TeamHeForShe through
social media, and it will please you to know that there has been
an overwhelming positive response from children and former
children of all ages. My favorite response thus far has been from
a twelve-year-old Pakistani girl who said she became interested in
women’s issues because her mother followed her dream of
becoming an engineer even though it was considered a maleoccupation.
Her mother, a woman in a restrictive society who
stood tall in the face of limiting odds to achieve a difficult goal, is a
role model for me. We are privileged to live in a country that does
not place these restrictions upon us. We must not drift away from
taking advantage of achieving whatever goal we set our hearts
on.
Unfortunately, I have also received other comments which
were less inspiring. Young women were told by teachers of both
sexes that they should not pursue a career in science or
technology because they are male oriented careers. This should
not be the education offered in a country like ours, which has
always benefitted from the best minds in the best positions.
But the most disheartening comments came from girls who do not
feel safe in their own school because of unwanted touching or
inappropriate attention. How can you expect girls to aspire to
anything when 75% of us from the ages of eleven to twenty-one
year olds say daily sexism impacts our future goals and selfconfidence?
That’s three out of four on a daily basis. I think this is
unacceptable and should be unacceptable to both genders.
My biggest dream is to one day attend The Columbia School
of Journalism. I read all I can about Columbia, and I came across
an issue that made me realize what is inappropriate in childhood
can become far worse in adulthood on a college campus. I saw
many articles about a victim of campus rape who dragged a
mattress across the stage with her when she received her
diploma to illustrate the weight she carried through those college
years. It is important for children who are forced to “carry the
weight” of gender inequality at such a young age to not fear for
their safety or education. Every society, including ours, must
examine these issues, improve these numbers, and allow all
individuals to aspire to be anything they want.
Let us no longer be imprisoned and defined by gender
stereotypes or any stereotypes. Let us be defined by our
individual actions, kindness, and decency to others. At the end of
day, regardless of who you are, each and every individual
deserves the opportunity to reach his or her full
potential. Equality of the sexes is not merely an idea, but a birthgiven
right.
In a country that has achieved marriage equality, shouldn’t
gender equality be next?
(YouTube views, 33,321)
Explanation
The need for social workers to expand participation in the political and policy arena through strategic partnership is imperative for the Social Work profession. Efforts to mitigate the challenges of both students and social workers changing practice focus from micro to macro careers in the policy and political sphere are under way to ensure that they receive the instruction and training required to increase competitiveness and raise the profile of the profession. Networked efforts on targeted issues that directly impact micro practice would reflect the difficult to qualify “generalist” practice.
The Congressional Social Work Caucus (comprised of members of Congress with social work interest) is a bridge between Capitol Hill and practicing professionals to participate more fully in deliberations on the Hill. Linking micro and macro practice outside of what many students perceive to be "dry policy" needs to be addressed in order to make impact in a fund seeking fraught professional culture post graduation.
Many early to mid career social workers are finding themselves stranded with little support and training to best fill the gaps in education and networked referrals. The Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy (CRISP) is an organization devoted to expanding those opportunities along with professional organizations such as The Association for Community Organization and Social Administration (ACOSA). Campaign Schools housed within the School of Social Work such as The University of Connecticut have already trained more than 500 professional social workers across the country. Such programs offer insight as to how to model curriculum based on outcome. In addition, programs adapted from successful trainings based on gender equality in politics would hold great value to increase significant outcomes, given that the vast majority of social work graduates are female. "In much of the world, economic, political, social and cultural forces operate unfavorably for women and girls (NASW)."
Kristie C. Holmes, Ph.D., LCSW, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, Charles Lewis Jr., Ph.D., LCSW, Congressional Institute for Social Work and Research, Washngton, DC, Tanya Rhodes Smith, MSW, University of Connecticut, West Hartford, CT and Linda Plitt Donaldson, MSW, PhD, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC
students and emerging professionals, will complement the Congressional Social Work Caucus' “Social Work Day on the Hill.”
The day’s events will provide an opportunity for students to learn how policy is shaped and how pertinent issues are addressed the affect the profession as a whole. A major focus will be the
Social Work Reinvestment Act (SWRA), a groundbreaking initiative created to address the challenges faced by social workers and recommend strategies to maximize the services social workers provide, with recommendations spanning recruitment, research funding, educational debt, and salary inequalities.
In-person training will provide an opportunity for millennials to voice ideas and concerns to legislators and congressional staff, to speak up about the need for support for professional growth and innovation in the field, and to experience the power of getting involved in direct advocacy.
Introducing our final panel was Dr. Kristie Holmes, who referenced earlier comments from Mrs. Blair, affirming that the time for talk had past; this strong statement set the tone for a productive panel focusing on concrete action and highlighting the power partnerships in the youth education and health sectors. Following Dr. Holmes was an enthusiastic Ms. Wendy Diamond, Founder of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (which will be taking place at the UN on November 19th) who moderated the panel.
Mrs. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Chief of Strategic Planning and Membership at the International Telecommunication Union, remarked on ITU’s efforts to convince world leaders, decision-makers, educators and health-care providers of the transformational power of technology which can be utilized to empower, educate and enable women to have better lives. The ITU recently launched Girls in ITC Day, which brings together 100,000 girls in 140 countries with the goal of getting girls interested in the technology sector.
Mr. Yamandou Alexander, Director of the Georges Malaika Foundation, commented on the partnerships that have helped create a strong-standing infrastructure at Georges Malaika Foundation’s school located in the Katanga province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mr. Alexander referenced partnerships with local big businesses that help provide breakfast and lunch for the girls and continually improve the remote e-learning telecommunications methods used in the classrooms; all of which has contributed to the creation of a sustainable school that serves as a safe space for young girls to be educated and empowered.
Regarding health partnerships, we first heard from Dr. Abid Sheikh, CEO at North Shore Medical Labs, who described the partnership between North Shore Medical Labs and Nortec Software. This collaborative effort provides digital healthcare services to underserved areas in the southern states of the United States. This partnership has help reduce the digital divide between rural and urban areas, and Dr. Sheikh presented an open offer to the audience members interested in creating similar partnerships.
Also commenting on health partnerships was Mr. John W. Hadden II, President & CEO of IRX Therapeutics, an immuno-oncology company that develops innovative cancer treatments. His comments recounted IRX’s small origins and how the help of powerful opinion leaders and global experts led to the company’s success and encouraged attendees to do the same.
Bringing the Forum to a close was Mrs. Lisa Darsch, Co-Founder of the CEO Collaborative Forum, who focused on moving from talk to action, specifically through financing entrepreneurs. The CEO Collaborative Forum, whose work has previously focused their efforts in Europe, is a peer-coaching forum that works to educate entrepreneurs about their options regarding financing and running their operations. Mrs. Darsch expressed her excitement and support of Mrs. Touré and the Zero Mothers Die initiative, and looks forward to aiding the mission by helping tailor business plans, investor approaches and seed funding.
Mrs. Tas Dossal of the GPF concluded the Forum and thanked speakers and attendees, on behalf of the Advanced Development for Africa (ADA) Foundation and the Global Partnerships Forum, for their continued commitment and support of the Women Leaders Forum and looked forward to welcoming them to next year's event.
(Courtesy Zero Mothers Die, Jeannine Lemaire)
This special event was developed in collaboration with ITU, UNAIDS, the Zero Mothers Die Initiative and the Geena Davis Institute for Gender in Media, as an official side event of the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
With a focus on concrete actions connecting women’s health and girl’s education to produce scalable and sustainable development, this year’s Women Leaders Forum provided a platform for inspiring and productive discussion regarding new avenues for youth participation, social impact investing and entrepreneurship. In addition to the productive dialogue, the Forum launched the new campaign, ‘Zero Mothers Die’, a global multi-partner mission to eliminate maternal and child mortality.
Special Opening Remarks were given by Her Excellency Madam Ban Soon-taek, Spouse of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who fully supported, as well as highlighted the importance of this annual event: “I am encouraged to see that the mission of the Women Leaders Forum is to share knowledge and form innovative alliances to address global challenges. I invite you to walk together to create a better world.“
GPF Ambassador Mrs. Cherie Blair, founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women stressed the need for concrete action and providing women with economic opportunities: "The value of giving women economic opportunities is not just something that benefits themselves, but investing in women will have positive benefits for their families, for their communities and for their economies."
Her Excellency Ambassador Simona Miculescu, Permanent Representative of Romania and Co-Host of the Women Leaders Forum, emphasised the importance of empowering women leaders in non-traditional ways, with the ultimate goal of achieving true sustainability. She complimented the panel organiser’s efforts of putting together a results-based agenda, and expressed her personal commitment and support.
Mrs. Nareumon Sinhaseni, President of the Women’s International Forum (WIF), briefly described WIF’s objective to promote knowledge by inviting women and men to discuss the initiatives happening at the UN along with the needs of women and girls throughout the world. She ended her remarks on a positive note, highlighting the fact that for the first time in UN history, 6 out of the 15 UN Secretary Council Members are women. She further commended, His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-Moon’s commitment to the equality and empowerment of women.
Launch of the Global Campaign for Zero Mothers Die
The Global Partnerships Forum was privileged to host the launch of the global campaign for Zero Mothers Die, which was introduced by the initiative’s co-founders, Dr. Jordi Serrano Pons, Dr. Véronique Ines Thouvenot, Ms. Fatima Touré, daughter of co-founder Dr. Coumba Touré, and advisor, Dr. Kristie Holmes, Associate Adjunct Professor of Social Work, University of Southern California.
Zero Mothers Die is a global partnerships initiative that has set out to address the unacceptably high maternal and child mortality rate that currently exists. Their mission is to equip vulnerable pregnant women, especially those living in low-resource settings, with mobile technologies that will connect them to healthy pregnancy and childbirth information in their native language, as well as provide free airtime to allow these mothers to call local health workers during emergencies.
The pink pocket-sized phone called Mum’s phone, will first be released in Ghana, but the initiative is excited to be planning phases in Mali and Zambia in the future. For more information about how you can help get a Mum’s Phone to a mother in need, please follow the link here, “Mum’s Phone.”
A number of distinguished speakers celebrated the launch of this inspiring initiative and joined the panel to lend their support and insight regarding matters of health and technologies.
Her Excellency, Dr. Christine Kaseba-Sata, First Lady of Zambia pointed out that, while much needs to be done in the way of improving women's health globally, there is progress being made in Africa. She emphasised the importance, and indeed the need for, equal care and respect for pregnant women around the world, regardless of class, creed, or social status.
Dr. Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, emphasised the significance of respecting the rights of women, and ensuring that all women have the equal right to education. In launching the Zero Mothers Die campaign, Dr. Sidibé said that we have a concrete tool to fulfill our obligation to help prevent the death of the 289,000 women who die during birth yearly.
Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union and Co-Founder of the United Nations Broadband Commission for Digital Development, reiterated ITU's commitment to maximise the use of new technologies, especially mobile technology, to provide mothers with access to information and healthcare data.
Also in attendance were two special guests, Her Excellency Madame Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, First Lady of the Gabonese Republic and Ms. Gabriela Isler, Miss Universe 2013, who came to support the mission of the Zero Mothers Die campaign.
(Zero Mothers Die, Jeanine Lemaire)
This
unique
Forum
will
focus
on
the
vital
role
Youth
Education,
Health
and
Entrepreneurship
play
in
accelerating
the
achievement
of
the
Millennium
Development
Goals.
The
Forum
will
showcase
success
stories
and
lessons
learned
from
field-‐based
initiatives,
with
an
overarching
goal
to
encourage
scaling-‐up
efforts.
This
year
we
will
announce
the
launch
of
an
exciting
new
campaign
–
Zero
Mothers
Die
–
to
address
the
unacceptably
high
maternal
and
child
mortality
rate,
with
over
287,000
women
and
more
than
6
million
children
under
the
age
of
five
dying
every
year
from
preventable
or
treatable
causes.
By
using
the
power
of
education,
health
and
entrepreneurship,
our
hope
is
to
advance
the
systematic
use
of
information
and
communication
technologies
(ICTs)
and
mHealth,
to
deliver
the
right
healthcare
information
to
the
right
person
at
the
right
time.
Date: Thursday, 18 July 2019
Time: 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: Conference Room 3, UNHQ New York
The session will be telecast live on UN Webcast (webtv.un.org)
The purpose of this Townhall is to hold consultative sessions on the draft Outcome Document and Youth Declaration for the upcoming 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference.
Session 1: Welcoming Remarks
11:00 - 11:03 a.m. Maher Nasser, Director, Outreach Division, Department of Global Communications (DGC) (3 Min)
11:03 - 11:06 a.m. Maruxa Cardama, Conference Chair (via Phone) (3 min)
11:06 - 11:09 a.m. Ben Kolendar, Salt Lake City (via Phone) (3 min)
11:09 - 11:12 a.m. Bruce Knotts, NGO/DPI Executive Committee (3 min)
Session 2: Consultation session on the Conference Outcome Document
11:12 – 11:47 a.m. Lori Hudson (via Phone), Bruce Knotts and Annie Deng, Co-chairs, Outcome Document Sub-committee (35 minutes)
Session 3: Consultation Session on the Youth Declaration
11:47 - 11:50 a.m. Earlene Cruz, Member, Youth Sub-committee, Servas Youth Representative to DGC (3 minutes)
11:50 – 11:57 a.m. Vlada Yaremenko, and Rebecca Hardenbrook, Co-chairs, Youth Sub-committee (via Phone) (5 – 7 minutes)
11:57 a.m. – 12:02 p.m. Annie Deng, Youth Outcome Sub-Task Lead, Youth Sub-committee; City College of New York Youth Representative to DGC (5 minutes)
12:02 - 12:25 p.m. Q&A Session
Session 4:
12:25 – 12:30 p.m. Final comments by Maruxa Cardama (via Phone), Conference Chair
There are significant challenges associated with SDG 11 monitoring given that majority (13 out of 15) of SDG 11 indicators are new with no formal data being collected at the local, city, and national levels. Less than 30 per cent of Member States are consistently collecting data through the national statistical systems on the urban dimensions of the SDGs. This is far below the threshold of 50 per cent (97) of Member States required to make meaningful analysis at the regional and global levels.
While formal data collection and standardization are a primary responsibility of National Statistical Offices, in the case of SDG 11 data being collected informally by relevant government departments, civil society, academia, local governments and other stakeholders is not integrated into the national statistical systems. Remarkably, National Statistical offices are not aware of data collected by other stakeholders.
Civil society and other stakeholder groups have a critical role in contributing to the data gaps and in advocating for the prioritization of SDG11 implementation, monitoring and reporting. This session will provide an opportunity for civil society to share their experience. It will also explore approaches required to enhance monitoring of SDG11 indicators, including recognition of data and information collected by civil society.
Attend this session if you are interested in: Capacity building, partnerships, advocacy, civic engagement in urban planning and governance, and good practices on data collection in the areas of housing, slum-upgrading, access to land and security of tenure, air pollution, transport and mobility, waste management, public space, safety and security, cultural heritage, resilience and disaster risk reduction, climate change, and national urban policies. (Full Video Now Available)
Facilitated discussion to follow the reading.
This year, we concentrate specically on Sustainable Development Goal 11: "to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable by 2030." We underscore the need to understand cities and communities as place-making, social cohesion, equitable prosperity and environmental spaces central to the achievement of all SDGs and not only SDG11. We uplift the importance of inclusivity, peace, education, and the youth; explore the ethical development of economy, infrastructure and technology needed to support sustainable and balanced rural and urban growth; and highlight the collaboration of governments, civil society, and the United Nations in this work. We stress the urgency for climate action. For each of these, we arm our beliefs, urge others to partner with us, and commit to action in order to uplift the human spirit, create humane cities for people to ourish and enhance the quality of life for all.
Livestream recording at UN TV first week of September 2019.
Congratulations, you have been selected to serve as the Co-Chair for the Press & Media Sub-committee for the 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference.
Today 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas and that figure is expected to reach 68% by 2050.
.
As the complexities of urban life grow, communities and local leaders are at the forefront of finding
sustainable solutions to poverty and inadequate housing, hunger and health, clean water, energy,
environmental degradation and climate change, infrastructure, transport, education, migration, violence and
gender equality. These and other challenges are interconnected with similar issues in rural areas and
municipalities of all sizes, where activists and civil society organizations partner with governments and the
private sector to ensure that communities are inclusive, equitable and sustainable.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a blueprint for action, advocacy and partnership, and a
compass to ensure that no one is left behind, including those who are poor and vulnerable. Women and
young people are seizing opportunities to participate fully and prominently as leaders in these efforts, and
there are numerous examples of local action contributing to achieving national frameworks and bringing
about global impact. The SDGs were designed with direct participation from more than 10 million people
globally over a three-year period and were launched in 2015 with the support of all 193 UN Member States.
Civil society is key to promoting understanding of these ambitious Goals and achieving them by 2030.
Against this backdrop, this year’s UN Civil Society Conference
, reflecting Salt Lake City’s leadership and
demonstrated commitment on sustainability issues, will focus on SDG 11, “to make cities and human
settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable by 2030”. The agenda will explore the interlinkages
among all 17 Goals, including critical issues relating to gender.
The three-day conference, co-hosted by the UN Department of Global Communications, Salt Lake City,
and the NGO Executive Committee, will feature opening and closing plenary sessions, interactive thematic
sessions, NGO-sponsored workshops, exhibits and a youth hub. Speakers and attendees will include leaders
and other representatives from NGOs, UN agencies, academia, faith traditions, the public and private
sectors and youth from around the world.
University of Southern California
USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
323-459-5685
Cardiac issues will end our lives as females 33% of the time- more than breast cancer ever will, despite incredible awareness campaigns that have convinced us otherwise. Symptoms like fatigue, frequent urination, shortness of breath and headaches are easily ignored by patients as well as providers.
Educational objectives:
1. Increase knowledge of cardiac issues pre, during, and post birth.
2. Increase knowledge of signs and symptoms to refer immediately as a mental health provider, including "impending doom".
3. Increase knowledge of clear action items to raise awareness in participant's network that will save lives.
4. Increase knowledge of maternal mortality rate in the US as compared to other countries in the world and how California has reversed the national trend.
Macro- I want you to go further up the ladder. It’s also important to say today that disaster response includes gun violence and mass shootings.
I’m going to have a special guest today whose expertise I have come to greatly rely on. I’ve narrowed it down to six questions for her but I am sure that you will have more for both of us. Feel free to tweet them, Facebook inbox them or plain old email them to us and I will try to get them answered as soon as I can - perhaps even during this session.
Another point I want to make before we even get going is: you are Qualified. Even if you are not a clinician, LCSW, nurse or M.D. You can get involved on many levels including local chapters of the Red Cross, NASW and even UN Women US national committee.
For all the clinicians out there excited to use your skills as well as for those who are scared to death to get out there and provide mental health disaster relief, everyone can be encouraged. You have to know going in there that This is simply psychological first aid. This is not a three month psychotherapy investment. It’s more like : bleach, gloves, rake, jokes, tissues, trash bags, mold?
You learn quickly by looking around outside peoples homes that Have been flooded out and the very few items they care about saving… Generally printed pictures —- some albums and saved children’s work that was created when they were in elementary school.
The giant piles are all of the things no one really cares about after a disaster including appliances, furniture and other things we invest so much time and money into.
<SLIDES>
Challenge the status quo and the “it’s always been done this way“ way of thinking. Some of it may work, much of it will not any longer. We will lose the younger generation through a gap we create on her own. Wisdom comes from experience, and to be perfectly frank- children are experiencing something different than we ever did, so we need to learn from them. This is what consulting with the community looks like.
https://twitter.com/DrKristie/status/976180574443380736
Kristie Holmes & Angela Henderson
Questions:
1. Most of us have heard about human trafficking as it relates on a global scale. But, can you tell us how it can effect our local youth?
2. Human trafficking has expanded to the internet with websites like BackPage. 3 out of 4 victims of sex-trafficking are sold on the internet.What are some of the warning signs that a youth is being trafficked or recruited for sex trade?
3 Can you tell us some of the mental or physical issues victims face as a result of being trafficked?
4. a) How can we help raise awareness to this issue and reduce the stigma associated with victims in trafficking?
b) Dr. Holmes, I know from a previous presentation you gave on this subject that you believe awareness is not enough. Can you elaborate on this idea?
5. a) What evidence based practice models have you found helpful in counseling with victims of youth trafficking?
b) Are there any coping strategies that you have found to be effective?
6. Building trust with any client can be difficult. In your experience have you found a best practice strategy for building trust?
7. What would be one takeaway that you would want to leave the audience with today?
Bio’s for panel presenters
Terri O’Donnell has been a mental health therapist since 1998. She has extensive experience working with women and men with histories of trauma and addiction. She worked in an addiction treatment center for women for 8 years and is now working with Project Respect as the therapist for victims of human trafficking. She is also in private practice.
Kristie Holmes, PhD, LCSW, specializes in topics related to global health, gender, and media and the impact of technology on social relationships. She has spent a significant amount of time in the past eight years working on projects related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (previously MDGs), which included work with Zero Mothers Die and Millennia 2025 Foundation. She has acted as moderator for NGOs at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and participated as a panelist at the Women Leaders Forum as part of the United Nations General Assembly. Currently, she serves on the board of the United Nations Women U.S. National Committee and works with Give an Hour, which donates clinical time to veterans in need of services who are often on a waiting list. Currently she teaches Global, Gender and Clinical Practice courses at the graduate level at University of Southern California. Holmes ran for Congress in 2014 in California's District 33.
Jan Miyasaki is the director of Project Respect, a Dane County, Wisconsin-based social service agency that provides services to adults and juveniles victimized in sex trafficking and prostitution since 1993. She holds a J.D. from Marquette University Law School and has received numerous awards for her work at Project Respect, including the Individual Excellence Award from the Madison Community Foundation, the Woman of Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Women of Color Network, and the Partnership in Building Trust Award from the Madison Police Department. With Miyasaki’s leadership, Project Respect has led the discussion in Wisconsin to promote an understanding of issues faced by sexually exploited women. Conferences on “Female Sexual Slavery” (1994) and “Prostitution and Pornography as a Violation of Human Rights” (1997) brought nationally recognized experts to the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In 2004, Respect clients participated in ground-breaking research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social Work. Each participant described her experience of having been sex trafficked and gave her perspective on what services are helpful. Participants described their experiences at Respect as transformative and affecting their sense of self which allowed them to see their worthiness to receive care.
In 2006, Miyasaki was a founding member of the Wisconsin Anti-Human Trafficking Consortium (formerly known as the Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance Anti-Human Trafficking Committee). In 2008, the Consortium published “Hidden in Plain Sight: a baseline survey of human trafficking in Wisconsin which led to the passage of the Wisconsin anti-human trafficking law.
In 2010, Miyasaki co-founded the Coordinated Community Response to the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children which has led the response to domestic minor sex trafficking in Dane County through education, research, community consensus building and development of social services for victims. She is the lead author of the 2012 report, “Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: Dane County Needs Assessment”. Also in 2012, through her work on the Consortium, she drafted the victim services chapter and edited the Wisconsin Human trafficking Protocol and Resource Manual. She is a member of the State of Wisconsin Department of Justice, Department of Children and Families Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force charged with designing curriculum and setting competencies for training and service provision in response to child sex trafficking in Wisconsin.
Description of Project Respect
This project addresses local prostitution in the City of Madison and Dane County and was opened by ARC as a project in the community in 1986. This project is jointly funded by the City of Madison and Dane County and provides diversion services on an outpatient basis for women involved in prostitution as processed by the City of Madison and Dane County District Attorney’s Offices for the violation of loitering and other prostitution related ordinances and statutes in lieu of fines, court appearances and jail time, and also provides services for women who have voluntarily come to RESPECT for counseling and assistance in leaving the life of prostitution. RESPECT provides a safe space and peer support as well as advocacy, case management, counseling and crisis intervention on an outpatient basis in order to assist women in leaving prostitution and to help them into essential community services in order to address a woman’s health, economic, and family needs so she can develop a safe, constructive lifestyle.
RESPECT also does outreach for HIV Prevention Intervention for high-risk behaviors as a result of funding from the Madison AIDS Network, the State Department of Public Health and Center for Disease Control.
CRISP Growth Prompts Board of Directors
Reorganization and Strategic Plan
Contact: Kristie Holmes March 6, 2017
Communications
Chair, Board of Directors, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE http://crispinc.org/
WASHINGTON D.C. – The Congressional Research Institute of Social Work and Policy members of the Board of Directors shared organizational changes that best reflect areas of expertise for each member of the board as well as specific commitments from the board of advisors. Upcoming events such as National Social Work Day on the Hill, where spaces sold out early, has emphasized both the need and interest in training social workers for public life. Professional Social Workers are already equipped with many skills to navigate the world of politics, but application training for many is necessary in order to support the nearly one million professional social workers in the United States. Social Workers will be trained to have an impact on American politics, mainly through mobilizing communities. One of the primary goals of the organization in the coming year is to fully fund needed staff in order to meet the need of the profession.
“Investing in programs such as CRISP and strengthening the connection between accredited university programs as well as directly with legislative offices is key in moving the profession of social work forward to make public impact. Over the years we have certainly increased impact in the academic research arena, but it needs to translate to empowerment of clients and communities. Post election cycle is an opportune time to refocus and commit stakeholders to the overall profession’s goal of client and community self determination,” said Holmes. “Gaps abound between academia and policy practice, public service and public intellectuals. CRISP has a renewed mission to ensure there is a training balance in place not only for graduate level students, but for seasoned professionals who lack practical tools in order to be able to organize and impact communities on a Macro level. “
A live panel will take place via livestream from the National Press Club in Washington DC at 9am EST on March 8th. It will be later archived at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxFTkpkVBy4
END
children to school when she began experiencing
symptoms that became increasingly severe—
including shallow breathing and weakness. Kristie
was able to call 9-1-1 on speakerphone. With
her children in the car listening, Kristie calmly
explained her symptoms and was told she might
be having a panic attack. As a clinical social
worker, Kristie knew this was more serious and
urged the operator to call for immediate care.
The paramedics arrived swiftly and Kristie was
rushed by ambulance to Cedars Sinai in Los
Angeles. There, physicians discovered that she
had suffered a massive heart attack due to
two large tears in her heart—better known as
a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection.
Kristie’s body was in cardiogenic shock, which
meant her heart could not pump enough blood
to perfuse the end organs of the body.
Immediately upon arrival, physicians inserted
an Impella CP heart pump through the femoral
artery in her groin to help supplement her
weakened heart. After a few days, the physicians
decided to replace the fi rst pump with a new
Impella CP device which was inserted via an
axillary artery near Kristie’s collarbone. The
axillary placement would allow her to leave her
hospital bed and walk around, which would
ultimately help Kristie regain her strength.
She remained on Impella device support for
multiple days and not only survived the ordeal,
but regained enough strength to return home
with her native heart.
Today, Kristie is an active mom, professor at the
University of Southern California, and is on the
board of the United Nations Women U.S.
National Committee.
KRISTIE HOLMES
I M P E L L A C P ® T R E AT E D PAT I E N T | L O S A N G E L E S , C A
“ Women need to become advocates for themselves when it comes to their health;
I knew I was having a heart attack. I am glad I was able to benefit from support with
Impella which enabled my heart to rest after I went into cardiogenic shock, or else
things might be very different today.” - KRISTIE HOLMES
We tend to dismiss those in the age bracket that will have the greatest impact in the world in just a few years time. We need to start partnering with them now.
(Video Link Below, begins at approximately minute 5)
Transcript:
Hi everyone, and welcome. My name is Kristie Holmes, and I'm a board member for the US
National Committee for United Nations Women. I'm excited that I get to focus on something I
really care about today--helping other women find their voice, especially younger women.
Today, I'll be introducing Rowan.
We created Team HeForShe by chance, or by an avalanche of great introductions.- I didn't meet
Rowan until another #teamheforshe member Barbi introduced us by way of another team
member, Max.
But the first thing I read about her impressed me immediately. A magazine had photoshopped
her teeth, and she called them out on it! I knew then that this was a young woman I wanted to
work with. I know so few people who have that kind of courage. It may seem a small thing. But
to call attention to a so- called flaw in one's self publicly sent an impactful message out to
millions of girls that worry about how they look.
What was seen as unlikely partnerships of people ---who all have influence in different areas--
we decided we just wanted to do something meaningful together. We didn't have a lot of rules.
Just reaching out with this amazing young woman, Rowan --met US with reaching more than 8
million in just the first 4 days. We've also had great support from Facebook, Instagram and
Talkwalker.
The 78 cent campaign with global he for she and Clinton's #NoCeilings had #TeamHeforShe
trending on Twitter , and that was inspiring--it also had all ages and both genders participating--
another key to change. Here's a few of our most impactful tweets--(sharing slides). We need to
make sure we are where youth are- ages 12-24 are shown here- and that is Instagram. Most in
the room haven't even heard of Snapchat.
Speaking up in areas that you have influence, partnering with others, and not staying silent
when you know something is wrong is key to helping change the conversations on what seem
to be unmovable topics.
You don't want to be the last university who truly looks at your sexual assault problem on
campus, or the one who adds more useless programming with little deterrent for those who do
the assaulting.
They know the rules they are dealing with and the lack of enforcement that follows. I don't
want Rowan to show up at college in a few years to her dream school & find out that young
women are still dragging around mattresses.
The key is talking about the issues we face before terrible things happen, not just in reaction to
them. We know we have a problem with gun violence and that women are rarely the ones
pulling the trigger, but we don't really talk about that part either, or why the frequency is
increasing with no end in sight. One of the most sobering moments I had as a parent was two
years ago when my six year old son , when asked what he did at school that day Replied in an
entirely normal voice "oh we had active shooter drills today."
Look. The truth is, today is an exciting day. But most days when you're trying to make a
difference it's not all that exciting. Sometimes it's just writing letters, maybe working on a
school bullying policy to present to your principal --or even writing a grant so that you can
create programs that will change peoples’ lives--what most of us consider "boring" work.
But that's how it gets done.
The other thing that most of us adults aren't even doing anymore is voting. You may not be old
enough to vote but you're certainly old enough to get involved in the issues. You can talk to
your parents about who they are voting for, and why. You can read about the issues. And don't
get all of your information from one source. Consider the other side.
There are so many things, too many things to get worried and sad about so pick those that
resonate most with you. Do you want to change gun violence? Child marriage? Do you want to
feel safe on your school campus? How do you think that's going to happen?
We can all take personal responsibility for what happens next.
Without further ado, I'm honored to introduce Rowan Blanchard, who has been behind the
success of #TeamHeForShe
Rowan Blanchard:
Hello, I’m Rowan Blanchard, and today I will be speaking
about gender inequality in youth.
When I was in preschool, I played catch with the other kids,
and was told I threw “like a girl.” I have been a feminist ever
since.
I am thirteen now and balancing my education with a fulltime
acting career. On our show, I play a fourteen-year-old eighth
grader who is coming of age. My character deals with many life
lessons and challenging subjects, and it happens that this week’s
topic in gender inequality. Around this age, studies show that girls
lose interest in the STEM subjects, science, technology,
engineering and math. Unfortunately, those studies show that
one of the reasons we back away is that girls in my age group
would rather be liked than be leaders. I am extremely hopeful that
by communicating how wrong this idea is, our audience will
realize that taking advantage of a complete education is the
obvious thing to do in order to reach their full potential.
As the oldest of three children, I have seen sexism be
expressed at all ages. My nine-year-old brother has been called
“a girl” for being in touch with his emotions. My eleven year old
sister has been taught by the media that her body is an object, will
be compared to other bodies, and that it has more significance
than her mind or talents. This should not be the first thing she
learns. This should not be her first social experience.
Everyone here either has a child or knows one. And because
you are present here today, I am certain that none of you want
any child to grow up in a world where there are limitations solely
based on one’s gender.
Earlier this year I worked with TeamHeForShe through
social media, and it will please you to know that there has been
an overwhelming positive response from children and former
children of all ages. My favorite response thus far has been from
a twelve-year-old Pakistani girl who said she became interested in
women’s issues because her mother followed her dream of
becoming an engineer even though it was considered a maleoccupation.
Her mother, a woman in a restrictive society who
stood tall in the face of limiting odds to achieve a difficult goal, is a
role model for me. We are privileged to live in a country that does
not place these restrictions upon us. We must not drift away from
taking advantage of achieving whatever goal we set our hearts
on.
Unfortunately, I have also received other comments which
were less inspiring. Young women were told by teachers of both
sexes that they should not pursue a career in science or
technology because they are male oriented careers. This should
not be the education offered in a country like ours, which has
always benefitted from the best minds in the best positions.
But the most disheartening comments came from girls who do not
feel safe in their own school because of unwanted touching or
inappropriate attention. How can you expect girls to aspire to
anything when 75% of us from the ages of eleven to twenty-one
year olds say daily sexism impacts our future goals and selfconfidence?
That’s three out of four on a daily basis. I think this is
unacceptable and should be unacceptable to both genders.
My biggest dream is to one day attend The Columbia School
of Journalism. I read all I can about Columbia, and I came across
an issue that made me realize what is inappropriate in childhood
can become far worse in adulthood on a college campus. I saw
many articles about a victim of campus rape who dragged a
mattress across the stage with her when she received her
diploma to illustrate the weight she carried through those college
years. It is important for children who are forced to “carry the
weight” of gender inequality at such a young age to not fear for
their safety or education. Every society, including ours, must
examine these issues, improve these numbers, and allow all
individuals to aspire to be anything they want.
Let us no longer be imprisoned and defined by gender
stereotypes or any stereotypes. Let us be defined by our
individual actions, kindness, and decency to others. At the end of
day, regardless of who you are, each and every individual
deserves the opportunity to reach his or her full
potential. Equality of the sexes is not merely an idea, but a birthgiven
right.
In a country that has achieved marriage equality, shouldn’t
gender equality be next?
(YouTube views, 33,321)
Explanation
The need for social workers to expand participation in the political and policy arena through strategic partnership is imperative for the Social Work profession. Efforts to mitigate the challenges of both students and social workers changing practice focus from micro to macro careers in the policy and political sphere are under way to ensure that they receive the instruction and training required to increase competitiveness and raise the profile of the profession. Networked efforts on targeted issues that directly impact micro practice would reflect the difficult to qualify “generalist” practice.
The Congressional Social Work Caucus (comprised of members of Congress with social work interest) is a bridge between Capitol Hill and practicing professionals to participate more fully in deliberations on the Hill. Linking micro and macro practice outside of what many students perceive to be "dry policy" needs to be addressed in order to make impact in a fund seeking fraught professional culture post graduation.
Many early to mid career social workers are finding themselves stranded with little support and training to best fill the gaps in education and networked referrals. The Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy (CRISP) is an organization devoted to expanding those opportunities along with professional organizations such as The Association for Community Organization and Social Administration (ACOSA). Campaign Schools housed within the School of Social Work such as The University of Connecticut have already trained more than 500 professional social workers across the country. Such programs offer insight as to how to model curriculum based on outcome. In addition, programs adapted from successful trainings based on gender equality in politics would hold great value to increase significant outcomes, given that the vast majority of social work graduates are female. "In much of the world, economic, political, social and cultural forces operate unfavorably for women and girls (NASW)."
Kristie C. Holmes, Ph.D., LCSW, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, Charles Lewis Jr., Ph.D., LCSW, Congressional Institute for Social Work and Research, Washngton, DC, Tanya Rhodes Smith, MSW, University of Connecticut, West Hartford, CT and Linda Plitt Donaldson, MSW, PhD, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC
students and emerging professionals, will complement the Congressional Social Work Caucus' “Social Work Day on the Hill.”
The day’s events will provide an opportunity for students to learn how policy is shaped and how pertinent issues are addressed the affect the profession as a whole. A major focus will be the
Social Work Reinvestment Act (SWRA), a groundbreaking initiative created to address the challenges faced by social workers and recommend strategies to maximize the services social workers provide, with recommendations spanning recruitment, research funding, educational debt, and salary inequalities.
In-person training will provide an opportunity for millennials to voice ideas and concerns to legislators and congressional staff, to speak up about the need for support for professional growth and innovation in the field, and to experience the power of getting involved in direct advocacy.
Introducing our final panel was Dr. Kristie Holmes, who referenced earlier comments from Mrs. Blair, affirming that the time for talk had past; this strong statement set the tone for a productive panel focusing on concrete action and highlighting the power partnerships in the youth education and health sectors. Following Dr. Holmes was an enthusiastic Ms. Wendy Diamond, Founder of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (which will be taking place at the UN on November 19th) who moderated the panel.
Mrs. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Chief of Strategic Planning and Membership at the International Telecommunication Union, remarked on ITU’s efforts to convince world leaders, decision-makers, educators and health-care providers of the transformational power of technology which can be utilized to empower, educate and enable women to have better lives. The ITU recently launched Girls in ITC Day, which brings together 100,000 girls in 140 countries with the goal of getting girls interested in the technology sector.
Mr. Yamandou Alexander, Director of the Georges Malaika Foundation, commented on the partnerships that have helped create a strong-standing infrastructure at Georges Malaika Foundation’s school located in the Katanga province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mr. Alexander referenced partnerships with local big businesses that help provide breakfast and lunch for the girls and continually improve the remote e-learning telecommunications methods used in the classrooms; all of which has contributed to the creation of a sustainable school that serves as a safe space for young girls to be educated and empowered.
Regarding health partnerships, we first heard from Dr. Abid Sheikh, CEO at North Shore Medical Labs, who described the partnership between North Shore Medical Labs and Nortec Software. This collaborative effort provides digital healthcare services to underserved areas in the southern states of the United States. This partnership has help reduce the digital divide between rural and urban areas, and Dr. Sheikh presented an open offer to the audience members interested in creating similar partnerships.
Also commenting on health partnerships was Mr. John W. Hadden II, President & CEO of IRX Therapeutics, an immuno-oncology company that develops innovative cancer treatments. His comments recounted IRX’s small origins and how the help of powerful opinion leaders and global experts led to the company’s success and encouraged attendees to do the same.
Bringing the Forum to a close was Mrs. Lisa Darsch, Co-Founder of the CEO Collaborative Forum, who focused on moving from talk to action, specifically through financing entrepreneurs. The CEO Collaborative Forum, whose work has previously focused their efforts in Europe, is a peer-coaching forum that works to educate entrepreneurs about their options regarding financing and running their operations. Mrs. Darsch expressed her excitement and support of Mrs. Touré and the Zero Mothers Die initiative, and looks forward to aiding the mission by helping tailor business plans, investor approaches and seed funding.
Mrs. Tas Dossal of the GPF concluded the Forum and thanked speakers and attendees, on behalf of the Advanced Development for Africa (ADA) Foundation and the Global Partnerships Forum, for their continued commitment and support of the Women Leaders Forum and looked forward to welcoming them to next year's event.
(Courtesy Zero Mothers Die, Jeannine Lemaire)
This special event was developed in collaboration with ITU, UNAIDS, the Zero Mothers Die Initiative and the Geena Davis Institute for Gender in Media, as an official side event of the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
With a focus on concrete actions connecting women’s health and girl’s education to produce scalable and sustainable development, this year’s Women Leaders Forum provided a platform for inspiring and productive discussion regarding new avenues for youth participation, social impact investing and entrepreneurship. In addition to the productive dialogue, the Forum launched the new campaign, ‘Zero Mothers Die’, a global multi-partner mission to eliminate maternal and child mortality.
Special Opening Remarks were given by Her Excellency Madam Ban Soon-taek, Spouse of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who fully supported, as well as highlighted the importance of this annual event: “I am encouraged to see that the mission of the Women Leaders Forum is to share knowledge and form innovative alliances to address global challenges. I invite you to walk together to create a better world.“
GPF Ambassador Mrs. Cherie Blair, founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women stressed the need for concrete action and providing women with economic opportunities: "The value of giving women economic opportunities is not just something that benefits themselves, but investing in women will have positive benefits for their families, for their communities and for their economies."
Her Excellency Ambassador Simona Miculescu, Permanent Representative of Romania and Co-Host of the Women Leaders Forum, emphasised the importance of empowering women leaders in non-traditional ways, with the ultimate goal of achieving true sustainability. She complimented the panel organiser’s efforts of putting together a results-based agenda, and expressed her personal commitment and support.
Mrs. Nareumon Sinhaseni, President of the Women’s International Forum (WIF), briefly described WIF’s objective to promote knowledge by inviting women and men to discuss the initiatives happening at the UN along with the needs of women and girls throughout the world. She ended her remarks on a positive note, highlighting the fact that for the first time in UN history, 6 out of the 15 UN Secretary Council Members are women. She further commended, His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-Moon’s commitment to the equality and empowerment of women.
Launch of the Global Campaign for Zero Mothers Die
The Global Partnerships Forum was privileged to host the launch of the global campaign for Zero Mothers Die, which was introduced by the initiative’s co-founders, Dr. Jordi Serrano Pons, Dr. Véronique Ines Thouvenot, Ms. Fatima Touré, daughter of co-founder Dr. Coumba Touré, and advisor, Dr. Kristie Holmes, Associate Adjunct Professor of Social Work, University of Southern California.
Zero Mothers Die is a global partnerships initiative that has set out to address the unacceptably high maternal and child mortality rate that currently exists. Their mission is to equip vulnerable pregnant women, especially those living in low-resource settings, with mobile technologies that will connect them to healthy pregnancy and childbirth information in their native language, as well as provide free airtime to allow these mothers to call local health workers during emergencies.
The pink pocket-sized phone called Mum’s phone, will first be released in Ghana, but the initiative is excited to be planning phases in Mali and Zambia in the future. For more information about how you can help get a Mum’s Phone to a mother in need, please follow the link here, “Mum’s Phone.”
A number of distinguished speakers celebrated the launch of this inspiring initiative and joined the panel to lend their support and insight regarding matters of health and technologies.
Her Excellency, Dr. Christine Kaseba-Sata, First Lady of Zambia pointed out that, while much needs to be done in the way of improving women's health globally, there is progress being made in Africa. She emphasised the importance, and indeed the need for, equal care and respect for pregnant women around the world, regardless of class, creed, or social status.
Dr. Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, emphasised the significance of respecting the rights of women, and ensuring that all women have the equal right to education. In launching the Zero Mothers Die campaign, Dr. Sidibé said that we have a concrete tool to fulfill our obligation to help prevent the death of the 289,000 women who die during birth yearly.
Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union and Co-Founder of the United Nations Broadband Commission for Digital Development, reiterated ITU's commitment to maximise the use of new technologies, especially mobile technology, to provide mothers with access to information and healthcare data.
Also in attendance were two special guests, Her Excellency Madame Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, First Lady of the Gabonese Republic and Ms. Gabriela Isler, Miss Universe 2013, who came to support the mission of the Zero Mothers Die campaign.
(Zero Mothers Die, Jeanine Lemaire)
This
unique
Forum
will
focus
on
the
vital
role
Youth
Education,
Health
and
Entrepreneurship
play
in
accelerating
the
achievement
of
the
Millennium
Development
Goals.
The
Forum
will
showcase
success
stories
and
lessons
learned
from
field-‐based
initiatives,
with
an
overarching
goal
to
encourage
scaling-‐up
efforts.
This
year
we
will
announce
the
launch
of
an
exciting
new
campaign
–
Zero
Mothers
Die
–
to
address
the
unacceptably
high
maternal
and
child
mortality
rate,
with
over
287,000
women
and
more
than
6
million
children
under
the
age
of
five
dying
every
year
from
preventable
or
treatable
causes.
By
using
the
power
of
education,
health
and
entrepreneurship,
our
hope
is
to
advance
the
systematic
use
of
information
and
communication
technologies
(ICTs)
and
mHealth,
to
deliver
the
right
healthcare
information
to
the
right
person
at
the
right
time.
Terry Mizrahi, Kristie Holmes; Letter in Response to Social Activism Article, Social Work, Volume 63, Issue 4, 1 October 2018, Pages 379–380, https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swy037
IOS Press is an international science, technical and medical publisher of high-quality books for academics, scientists, and professionals in all fields.
Some of the areas we publish in:
-Biomedicine
-Oncology
-Artificial intelligence
-Databases and information systems
-Maritime engineering
-Nanotechnology
-Geoengineering
-All aspects of physics
-E-governance
-E-commerce
-The knowledge economy
-Urban studies
-Arms control
-Understanding and responding to terrorism
-Medical informatics
-Computer Sciences
She currently teaches Global Development, Violence Against Women, Human Behavior and Grant Writing at the University of Southern California and has been published in peer review journals such as Ethnicity and Disease and RAND.
Kristie has a passion for helping other women find their voice. She has acted as moderator for an NGO at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, as well as participated as a panelist at the Women Leaders Forum as part of the United Nations General Assembly. Currently, she serves on the board of United Nations Women U.S. National Committee, the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy and works with Give an Hour, which donates clinical time to veterans in need of services who are often on a waiting list. Holmes ran for Congress in 2014 in California’s 33rd Congressional District."
The panel, comprised of experts in media and gender issues, advertisers and marketers, will engage in a lively and insightful discussion on what advertisers can do, and are doing, to more positively shape the perceptions of women and girls to advance gender equality.
Panelists:
Leslie Yazel, Executive Editor, Cosmopolitan
John Osbourn, President & CEO, BBDO
Shenan Reed, President Digital North America, MEC Global
Judy John, CEO & CCO, Leo Burnett Toronto
Seema Patel, SVP / Account Director of COVERGIRL, Grey Advertising
Shakthi Jothianandan, Researcher, Vogue
Moderator:
Warren Hoge, Senior Advisor for External Relations, International Peace Institute; former New York Times journalist
Tweet at us using the #WomenInMedia hashtag now through the end of the event to ask questions to our panelists! (Our handle is @UNWomen_MetroNY and the official CSW hashtag is #CSW59.)
The campaign began online conversations on Twitter and Instagram in February 2015 among males and females on the topics of equality, bullying, sexual assault, and abuse in the home-- where girls feel the most unsafe.
In April 2015, #teamheforshe was trending in the US and had generated more than 21,000 pledges (equal pay conversation #78Cents).
See: https://www.academia.edu/12907067/Creating_Unlikely_Partnerships_for_Impact_Team_He_for_She_United_Nations_Women_U.S._National_Committee_
UN Youth Envoy Twitter Event May 22, #teamheforshe generated 616,148 impressions with 184 tweets. (#YouthNow)
@DrKristie Holmes explains stresses caused by sheltering in place during #COVID19, plus strategies to cope.
Whatever stresses you may be facing today, learn tips to manage them: https://bddy.me/2JzcsHy #ElectionDay #selfcare
https://www.facebook.com/attn/videos/2096182420450535?vh=e&sfns=mo
Front Page NYTimes.com August 28, 2019
Categories:
-Editor's Pick
-Most Popular
-Most Emailed
The countdown to a historic event in Salt Lake City, Utah is on. How can you and your discipline contribute to the Global Goals?
#ActNow #GlobalGoals #UNCSC2019 #ActLocalGoGlobal http://webtv.un.org/
http://bit.ly/2JsECli
https://medium.com/@DrKristie_58642/how-to-volunteer-for-the-biggest-issues-humankind-is-facing-67367547ce63
https://soundcloud.com/stevenbanuelos/dr-g-engaging-minds-122318
This week we are talking about “Making Your New Year's Resolutions Stick." This will be a woman-powered show with three female contributing experts in the areas of psychology, financial planning and nutrition.
In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, the media’s attention has been focused on the devastation: the physical damage, the lives disrupted and the long road ahead to rebuild the affected areas. And indeed, firefighters, first responders and everyday heroes have played a crucial role in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
But in the weeks and months to come, Harvey survivors will need not just basic amenities like food, shelter and electricity, but also emotional and mental health support to grapple with the losses they’ve endured. Two of our faculty members, Adjunct Associate Professor Kristie Holmes and Clinical Assistant Professor of Field Education Laura Cardinal, recently spent a week in Beaumont, Texas, with other mental health professionals to provide relief services to the area’s residents. This is their firsthand account of the experience.
by Keith Demolder
Kristie Holmes
Diagnosed with a rare heart condition after delivering her third child in 2016, Kristie Holmes, adjunct associate professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, learned first-hand that attentive care can be the difference between life and death.
“I had no reason to ever check my heart,” she said. “No family history of heart disease or problems. I went to physical therapy after birth for neck pain, back pain, jaw pain, cold sweats – which turned out to all be symptoms for women’s cardiac issues.”
Holmes nearly lost her life to post-natal complications. She was placed on a United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) list and will eventually require a transplant.
However, her experience with advocacy for post-natal care started in the lobby of a convention center halfway around the world. Nearly five years earlier, at the Global Health Dynamics Roundtable in Geneva, Switzerland, Holmes became part of a technology-based breakthrough in women’s health care.
According to recent statistics from the World Health Organization, about 830 women die each day due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth, and nearly all occur in developing countries. To combat these loses, eHealth and gender-based health experts Drs. Coumba Touré, Véronique Inès Thouvenot and Jordi Serrano Pons founded Zero Mothers Die (ZMD), a global partnership initiative to save the lives of pregnant women, new mothers and their babies by implementing access to health care programs through mobile technology. The initiative is part of the United Nation’s next phase of sustainable development goals for 2030 – to reduce infant and maternal mortality, now global goal number three.
“The whole family is affected when a mother dies,” Holmes said. “The whole family is affected when they lose a child. Everyone wants to put it into a gender basket, but child care costs affect the entire family.”
ZMD’s mobile app provides essential maternal and newborn health information to both expectant and new mothers, as well as health care workers providing care to their communities.
“The app has made it so mothers, community health workers, public health workers and providers are all connected,” Holmes said. “If they have a smartphone, they can connect to a lot of information at their fingertips to get better help.”
ZMD distributes about 10,000 phones per year to women globally who are considered to be at high risk, delivering important pre- and post-natal information at the right time, with a goal to distribute 100,000 phones by 2030. Women in the ZMD program also receive free minutes donated by Airtel.
In some parts of the world, a woman having a valuable smartphone can be dangerous, so to thwart potential black-market theft and re-sale of these mobile phones, ZMD made them pink to discourage men from wanting them.
Holmes’ work as a researcher and ZMD representative has allowed her to develop programs in multiple African countries, assisting thousands of women and their children. Her own near-death experience has provided further motivation for her to ensure that no more mothers die from a lack of proper medical attention.
“Before I was focusing on research, and now I’m focused on advocacy,” she said. “I’m a mother trying not to die, so I’m doing what I can to make sure that mothers all over are receiving the care they deserve.”
USC School of Social Work!
We will be launching a new department of nursing, leading two
nationwide Grand Challenges, and introducing a professional doctorate
– the DSW. And for the first time in many years, the university will be
honoring one of our esteemed alumna this spring. We are transforming
the fields of social work and nursing and extending new knowledge in the
community every day.
is fall, we will become the rest school of social work in the world to
house a graduate nursing department. Beginning with Family Nurse
Practitioner training, we will harness the bio-medical training of
advanced nursing practice with a commitment to community and social
justice. We expect to develop entirely new settings for nursing practice,
move our graduates into positions of influence within the Affordable Care
Act, and bring new understanding to the social determinants of health.
Our faculty has demonstrated its commitment to the best possible
education of our students through a complete revision of our social work
curriculum – the rst in 40 years. e new curriculum is based on the
science of social work, advancing evidence-based practice as a signature
of our school. Our innovations in eld education are now recognized
everywhere, impacting the 7,000 agencies in which our interns practice
their skills.
Our level of research funding has never been higher, rejecting the
exceptional value of the studies we have underway. Our faculty continue
to receive national and international attention for their achievements that
bring improved practice to schools, health care, mental health, foster care,
treatment of addictions, and other areas of society.
At the heart of the USC School of Social Work are our alumni. So when
one of our own is recognized for signficant contributions to the eld and
the character of our school, we cannot help but feel immense pride. e
2016 USC Alumni Awards will honor Suzanne Dworak-Peck, MSW ’67,
for her outstanding body of work and we congratulate her!
As societal needs change, so must we, as educators and leaders. I believe
the strength of the USC School of Social Work is our ability to always
evolve on the cutting-edge of research, innovation and education.
Throughout this issue of Partners are illustrations of our impact in all
three of these areas.
I look forward to what we will discover and achieve together, this year and
beyond.
“If there are not social workers in Congress or the Senate, our interests are less likely to be heard or funded,” she said. “Social workers tend to lack the one thing that wields the most power in politics: money. However, we do have nearly a million of us in the United States. If we start networking as a power bloc of voters – and not just ourselves but influencing our communities to also show up at the polls – there is a great deal of changing power to be had. This way we won’t just be dealing with election outcomes and budget cuts; we will be influencing and lobbying for increased funding and accountability.”
Holmes also encourages social workers to pay close attention to candidates running for local office, not just for president.
“Those are the impacts that will touch them, their clients and communities most directly,” she says. “Who’s running for state offices, school boards, measures on the ballot, what judges are up for re-election…What most go in to the voting booth having not read much about is where the power to change things is often hiding.”
How can social workers make an even bigger impact? Make sure public officials hear your voice.
“Almost all representatives use an official Twitter address now and are likely to answer you publicly as it is Google-searchable,” she says. “And rarely does anyone call up their offices these days, so if there is something on your mind, you should call and place your concern. It will get tallied.”
Adjunct Associate Professor Kristie Holmes has been named one of 12 honorees by the National Women’s Political Caucus, Los Angeles Westside, a grassroots organization dedicated to increasing women’s participation in the political process. The honorees have made significant contributions to achieving equality for all women through their political participation.
Holmes serves on the U.S. National Committee for United Nations Women and has acted as moderator for an NGO at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, as well as participated as a panelist at the Women Leaders Forum as part of the United Nations General Assembly. She has spent a significant amount of time in the past five years working on projects related to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and human rights with Zero Mothers Die and Millennia 2025 Foundation, and is now active in helping shape post-2015 goals. Holmes ran for Congress in 2014 in California’s District 33.
Today we hear a different take on the negotiations process. Dr. Kristie Holmes is an Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Southern California. She also serves on the Board of the United Nations Women U.S. National Committee and is an Advisor for NGOs working with the UN on the post-2015 agenda.
So tell us a little bit about what you do and your role in the negotiations?
*I’m on the Board for UN Women – US National Committee, but I’m based in Los Angeles. I’m viewed as a little strange as a result. They don’t take us as seriously, but it might be good to have some representation out here.
I’m a professor at USC and my background is in social work, but I have also been working with Zero Mothers Die and the Milennia 2025 Foundation for about five years.
*It’s nice to talk to someone who is outside the UN bubble! How do you see these negotiations then, not being in New York or DC every day?
I bring in a different way of thinking. Immigration issues are much more of a hot topic these days for us out in California.
It’s definitely been a different perspective too, to implementing [the SDGs] in the US and across the world. The UN has certainly been more welcoming than academia when it comes to actual action implementation following data collection. No matter how obnoxious the meetings are, people really are trying to make a difference. I still hold on to the idealism. People are trying to do this work no matter what but [there needs to be] more flexibility in thinking.
*Dr. Kristie Holmes speaks on a panel at the 58th Commission on the Status of Women
*Tell us a bit more about the work of Zero Mothers Die.
We’re the pink phone women. We launched last during the General Assembly and are supported in part by UNAIDS and several of the First Ladies of African countries.
We give phones to rural women in various African countries. The phones are kind of blackberry style and ‘smartish.’ There’s not a touch screen, but it is a color screen. They come pre-loaded with maternal, midwife, and pre-natal health information. If the baby is breach, what do you do? Information on how to stem the bleeding. We have already nearly halved infant mortality, but we still have a long way to go. Zero Mothers Die is the ultimate goal.
We also have a lot of name brand support, donated time from Airtel, monthly SMS alerts, but now we need money…more than $2 million USD to do what we want to do.
*What are some of the on-the-ground challenges you think implementation of the SDGs will have to tackle? We heard a lot of high-level speak during the meetings, but are there some specific issues that need to be addressed that you’ve seen through Zero Mothers Die?
As usual, it’s always the money! Right now, our group just wants to get these women the phones on the ground. Just get the funding for the actual hardware and let them do what they want [with them].
It also surprises me how little westerners think of failed technology. Technology makes things a lot easier but only if [women] can access it.
One example is that sometimes these phones are worth more than the female, which is why we made them pink because they are a lot less attractive to men if they’re pink. What was happening was that other NGOs would drop off phones in a village and the men would take them before the women could get to them, negating any purpose.
*What do you mean when you say “do what they want” with the phones? Are the women not using the information pre-loaded on the phone?
I can give you a general example. There was a group in the EU that brought in all these phones [to communities] in rural parts of Africa. The villagers politely said thank you, but with limited access electricity what’s the point? They put them in a shed and the phones sat there for nearly two years, because what they had stated as their need was radio. The NGO as rescuer thought there was a “better way”.
At some point, a young boy came by and thought he could use the hardware for something, so he re-wired them and changed them into radios. The villagers actually use the phones now, but in a totally different capacity.
At all these meetings [with UN-affiliated NGOs] you hear “you don’t need to keep sending us those stupid donated (mismatched) phones!” They are essentially electronic trash for most even though well-intentioned. Donated phones from the West are gathered at different manufacturing dates, capability, not to mention various carriers that can only be used with say, a major carrier in the US.
Basically we, meaning donor countries, have this great technology, but we’re not listening to what they really need.
*Dr. Kristie Holmes attends the post-2015 negotiations. UN Headquarters, NY
We’ve heard a lot about the developing country perspective, obviously for good reason, but what are some of the challenges to being on the American/donor side of UN Women?
We keep thinking of ourselves as the Great Western (and often) White, Provider. The intentions are so genuine most of the time but $1 million to spend on unused tech is a waste. All they accessed was the radio. They were really specific on what they needed and we just didn’t listen.
We also rely a lot on red-dot mapping, but then they only really show averages. We are totally missing these three or four rural pockets because there is not enough impact to see on a map, but that doesn’t mean help is not needed there.
*Do you think that’s a problem within the UN as well and not just NGOs?
It’s a different issue within the UN. With UN Women, the launch for He for She was great! But I remember when Phumzile [Mlambo-Ngucka, Executive Director of UN Women] was talking about our goals, she said she wanted to sign up 1 billion men.
We couldn’t give away a billion cars to men to support [women’s rights]! The website is pretty but they are five steps to get them to sign up. Let’s not set ourselves up for failure.
I ran for Congress once…we teach all these things without a real clue about how things really work. The higher up you get the less you see what goes on on the ground. You have so many people who just want to please these directors and give them an inaccurate picture, so there’s no accountability built in to any of this from the bottom up.
I’m glad for [ambition] but I don’t want to see unrealistic goals, there has to be [something] really concrete.
*Women’s rights are always controversial in certain countries. What was it like trying to get consensus on the NGO side in the SDG negotiations? It seems like it would have been almost as challenging as getting countries to agree.
Herding cats!
The messaging has been difficult to coordinate because it is difficult to set some goals that are reasonable but also inspiring.
Coming from the U.S., I heard a lot of “they’re always telling us what to do and they’ve never even had a woman as in second-in-command.” We’re not even taking care of our own very well so it makes it hard to go into a meeting and tell others how to achieve these goals.
I was talking with a delegate from Finland once and she mentioned to me how she was ashamed that the percentage of women in their Parliament was only around 40% or something like that. We’re not even near that here in the U.S.
The view is so different but that also they’re not going to agree with something just because they have something to prove like we might.
*What do you think is the biggest issue with the SDG outcome document?
It’s the pro and con of working with so many different countries. Little phrases: “as nationally appropriate”, “voluntary” and “country-led”. That almost deletes it for those who don’t want to do it
*What’s your hope for post-2015?
Top Down responsibility – how do we make it easier to say we’re failing?
I think there should be more freedom for side effects that are positive or negative rather than fudging numbers. We want full accountability in implementation, but also flexibility.
For instance, a country like Rwanda can’t say they have no more orphans just because they got rid of all the orphanages and may have placed children back in dangerous situations.
Money is very powerful and that is kind of the over-arching issue. Countries and NGOs will do what they have to do to stay funded, but we have to be careful what that means in terms of implementation.
I also wish there [was] more youth focus. Those who will be accountable to measure what we actually want to measure and achieve are teens now …because they have a real stake in the future.
Also on hand was presumed presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who opened the event at the UN after addressing questions about why she used her personal email account when she was secretary of state.
The two-day event drew more than 6,000 participants to discuss concrete steps to advance gender equality in the workplace and in communities across the globe.
- See more at: http://www.nycitynewsservice.com/2015/03/conference-tackles-gender-equality/#sthash.do5cr4nE.dpuf
Adjunct Associate Professor Kristie Holmes has accepted a Board of Directors position with the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work & Policy based in Washington, D.C. The organization is committed to expanding the participation of social workers in federal legislative and policy processes. She is also serving as co-chair of events at the United Nations Commission Status on Women on March 9 as part of her responsibility with UN Women. This ties in to the campaigns she has been working on for positive messages in media for women, including the #HeForShe solidarity movement, for which actress Emma Watson is the global ambassador. Holmes will also be on a panel at the Library of Congress for Social Work on the Hill Day on March 17.
By Jimy Tallal / Special to The Malibu Times May 22, 2014
Six Democratic candidates for the U.S. Congressional 33rd District sat on a small, crowded stage of the Point Dume Clubhouse last Sunday morning, eager to share their election platform with a Malibu audience of about 75 Democrats.
The six represent just one-third of the 18 names on the crowded ballot for the job, which also includes four Democrats who did not attend Sunday’s event, three Republicans and five others.
Seventeen names will appear on next month's ballot, plus a write-in candidate. As many candidates as that is, one political expert is surprised there aren't even more.
Most of the candidates hoping to succeed Representative Waxman posed for a group photo before they took part in a forum held at Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills on May 14.
Waxman decided to step down after 40 years in Congress, representing parts of the Westside, South Bay and the San Fernando Valley, leaving his imprint on major health and environmental issues.
Big shoes to fill, according to Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles.
"The 33rd Congressional District is losing perhaps the most effective member of the House of Representatives -- I am quite serious about this -- in the last 50 years in Henry Waxman," said Sonenshein.
33rd District Congressional Candidate Forum - Santa Monica Beat
No, your organization or University's department Twitter account doesn't count- I'm talking about your own voice.
You don't want to have that much information "out there"? That's OK- make up an interesting name and pick a photo of a tree, it doesn't really matter (well it does, but more on that later- I at least want you to give it a try).
Whatever you do, don't leave it the standard profile photo of an egg.
We are keeping this short, so please arrive with an account already set up. http://www.twitter.com
If you want to look really motivated, find 5 other social workers to follow, and two news sources.
I know, I'm giving you almost zero notice.
See you tomorrow.
Here's the Google link: Works Best with Chrome (can participate and ask questions here)
https://plus.google.com/events/c6ep3vm8rgf0oq2uel2n0pgiono
Youtube Link to watch only (now archived): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nidnvg0D3o
Social workers are some of the best prepared professionals to tackle issues on a national and global scale. The election of Donald Trump has impacted not only the National conversation, but the global one. Up for discussion was the Trump Effect -- from the Micro to Macro level as well as practical steps to get involved in your community to make a difference where it matters to you, and how to have a voice in what happens next.
Below are a few highlights of ideas discussed, a video clip and the full panel recording.
Find at least 2-3 people "from the other side" to follow on social media so you can continually keep your perspective in check and use common language that helps focus on accomplishing a specific ask.
Explored what protests are "more acceptable" and why (Pipeline vs. Black Lives Matter)
Understand WHO is in charge of what. Online petitions, tweeting and form letters are only impactful as the specific, actionable item shared.
What constitutes a "fit" president? Are we in a "post truth" society?
A good example of specific asks being made in an efficient way via social media: https://vimeo.com/196037577
Panelists:
Barbi Appelquist(Attorney, Women in Politics) @appelgardner Patriotic Opposition in line with American History and Alexander Hamilton's Federalist No. 68
Dr. Charles Lewis (Former Professor, President of Congressional Research Institute for Social Work & Policy) @CharlesELewisJr Millenials, Gen X and Civic Engagement
Darshann Wienick, (Attorney, Military) @honeybadgerLA Emoluments Clause
Dr. Angela Henderson (Professor, Activist) @ASH_CRISP Advocacy and Protests
Moderator:
Dr.Kristie Holmes (Professor, Women in Politics) @drkristie https://youtu.be/EM2d017V1aw
Hashtag for online discussion: #MacroSW
Panelists:
Barbi Appelquist @appelgardner
Patriotic Opposition in line with American History and Alexander Hamilton's Federalist No. 68
Charles Lewis @CharlesELewisJr
Millenialls, Gen X and Civic Engagement
Darshann Wienick @honeybadgerLA
Emoluments Clause
Angela Henderson @ASH_CRISP
Common Ground and Protests
Mit Joyner @Mittjoy Ethics in Action
Moderator:
Kristie Holmes @drkristie
Action Items
https://youtu.be/EM2d017V1aw