Top Stories IN THE NEWS A Women's Foundation of California-funded collaborative led by Californians for Pesticide Reform in partnership with El Quinto Sol #### LINDSAY - THE SPRAYING starts at night, tractors pulling fans that blow the neurotoxin over the tops of dense, leafy orange trees. The trees surround this tiny farm community deep in the San Joaquin Valley. The chlorpyrifos - banned for domestic use since 2000 yet still used widely on crops - falls like a lethal mist, first paralyzing, then killing insects seeking a portion of Tulare County's $4.3 billion in agriculture sales. But the nights are hot, the fans are powerful, and the mist travels. And so, invariably, swamp coolers straining against the smoggy heat pull the poison into Lindsay homes. Some residents smell the pesticide's slightly sweet, slightly acrid odor and figure it will pass. Some complain of headaches and nausea. Some chalk up the asthma and balky breaths to another day in the worst air-quality region in the nation. Many will never notice. But all are likely breathing it. Read on.... IN THE NEWS Grant Partners Working for Reproductive Health and Justice Last year, California voters rejected Proposition 73, also known as the Parental Notification Initiative. Now the same proposition that sought to regulate family communication through a constitutional amendment is back on the ballot as Proposition 85. As we did in 2005, the Foundation is supporting statewide grassroots efforts to carry out crucial outreach around Proposition 85 to communities of color to help ensure reproductive health and safety for young women. Grants were recently awarded to: Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice (ACRJ), Khmer Girls in Action, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, California Planned Parenthood Education Fund, Reproductive Justice Coalition of Los Angeles and the Dolores Huerta Foundation. The strategy of funding a broad multi-cultural coalition proved successful in the defeat of Proposition 73 last year. Last year's coalition included health care providers, religious institutions, counselors, judges, elected representatives, lawyers, civil rights organizations, educators and women's groups that reached all levels of our diverse state. Despite this unprecedented effort, Prop 73 was defeated by only 334,000 votes. This tells us that every effort to oppose the initiative made a critical difference. This year, Foundation grant partners have broadened the coalition to defeat Proposition 85 even further. The Dolores Huerta Foundation's organizing was critical to the California Federation of Labor's taking an opposing position on Proposition 85. A reproductive rights coalition that includes the labor movement is unprecedented in the United State--Last year, the Federation did not take a position against Proposition 73. In addition to the Dolores Huerta Foundation, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice is effectively working to spread the word about Proposition 85 in Latina communities all across the state, as evidenced by a recent editorial opposing Proposition 85 in La Opinion, the largest Spanish language daily in California, which. REACH-LA and Khmer Girls in Action are leading community organizing efforts by and for our teens. And Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice is working with a broad range of social justice organizations to educate and inspire young Asian women to organize against the proposition. These are just a few examples of the dynamic and effective work led by our grant partners to ensure teen health and safety throughout California. IN THE NEWS Like many of us, Loy Sheflott wears many hats. She's a business owner, volunteer, wife and mother of four young children. As a working mother, Loy finds EDJe particularly relevant because it promotes economic independence, security, and equality for low-income women in California. "Many family responsibilities - childcare, to name just one - are held by women, yet women in all professions, regardless of education level, still earn less than men. That is just not right. We should invest in everyone, but the reality is, there remains a disparity in the amount of attention and funding invested in the economic security of women and girls." Loy is most interested in funding projects that are sustainable over the long haul. "I'm interested in how an organization can leverage a grant from EDJe into something that will multiply. Put another way, how will next year be different because of this grant?" Through the donor circle, Loy has learned more about the inner workings of a variety of nonprofit organizations and has become an active participant promoting their work. According to Loy, "Despite how busy we all are, the donor circle is a great way to take action on key issues, become more knowledgeable, and benefit from the perspectives of other members." Loy then added, "A huge benefit of a donor circle-which I did not fully appreciate when I joined-are the members. They're educated, committed, warm and best of all, fun. I look forward to our meetings and spending time with the group. I am also impressed with The Women's Foundation of California. They do a great job of organizing our time so we are both efficient and effective." IN THE NEWS California Gender Report Stirs Legislative Push Lieber also introduced a bill to reduce workplace toxins that is designed to protect women's health. Elevated risks of breast cancer have been documented among workers exposed to a variety of toxins in the electronics, fabricated metal, lumber, furniture, printing, chemical, textile and clothing industries, says Lieber. Her bill--AB 815--requires the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board to adopt revised or new workplace life-saving standards for any hazardous substance that the state has already determined to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. It will be voted on in the fall. "We've got to put more emphasis on the link between women's health and exposure to toxic chemicals," says Lieber, 45, an assembly member since 2002. "There is also a gap in lower-income women over 50 getting breast cancer screenings and we have to make this available to them." Lieber says a fact-finding report released this spring by the Women's Foundation of California, the "Road to Equity Tour," helped spur her commitment to the legislation. "The tour brought to the forefront many issues facing women in the state," Lieber says. "Particularly economics and health. I have been fighting to get people to realize that the minimum wage is primarily earned by adult women, predominately women who are heads of households and of color. It is important to get people to see these issues for whom they really impact: women." Maya Thornell-Sandifor, communications director for the Women's Foundation of California, a public foundation that invests in women and girls throughout the state, has launched a letter-writing campaign to get these and other bills passed. "We found that these are priority issues for women in the state and we need to get the bills passed," she says. Kuehl Pushes Sex-Ed Accuracy State Senator Sheila Kuehl, a Los Angeles Democrat, is also sponsoring numerous bills intended to help women that echo the report's findings. She recently authored SB 1471, which mandates that sex-education programs be medically accurate, current, objective, linguistically appropriate, and do not promote or teach religious doctrine. The bill passed in the Senate; the Assembly will vote on it this month. Kuehl, 67, who has served in the California Senate since 2000 after six years in the Assembly, is also working toward reforms for women in health care with SB840. The bill would make all California residents eligible for specified health care benefits under a single-payer public system and would appoint a new state health insurance agency overseen by a commissioner appointed by the governor. The Assembly will vote on the bill before the end of August. She is also tackling issues associated with teen pregnancy with SB 493 which would help provide supportive services for pregnant or parenting teens over a three-month period so they can attend and graduate high school. Ten Cities in 23 Days In May 2005 the Women's Foundation of California sent staffers roving over 2,500 miles in 23 days to 10 California cities, including San Francisco, San Jose, Fort Bragg, Redding, San Diego, Riverside, Santa Ana, Bakersfield, Fresno and Los Angeles, and talking with more than 1,000 women. Researchers found that in some ways women have made political strides. Women own 30 percent of all privately owned businesses and generate more than $406 billion in sales statewide. Girls enrolled in advanced placement math and science courses are equal to the number of boys. More women are graduating from advanced degree programs. But women are still constrained by unequal treatment and limited opportunities, the report found, and made five major recommendations for developing a statewide agenda for women and girls. The key elements included universal heath care, ending domestic violence against women and girls, ensuring a participatory democracy, ending poverty and closing the economic gap, and creating a next-generation women's leadership. Studying Schwarzenegger Race The foundation is also taking an active role in this November's gubernatorial election, in which Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is facing Democratic challenger Phil Angelides. The foundation is currently studying Schwarzenegger's policies and how they affect women and plans to circulate a document that will offer a side-by-side comparison of the two candidates on health care, reproductive policy, economic equality and violence against women. "When we have this all compiled we will be managing a grassroots effort to get the information out to committees around the state," says Thornell-Sandifor. "We need to get the vote out and arm people with knowledge." Assembly member Lieber says the women's vote in the Nov. 6 elections is more important than ever. "Women are poised to play an important part in the election and they already have," she says. "Look how the nurses hurt Schwarzenegger over the past year. He found he needs to listen to women in terms of his electorate and his own administration. Anybody that wants to get elected needs to be an advocate for women." The California Nurses Association, with 60,000 members, emerged as one of Schwarzenegger's loudest critics and its members followed him around the state and demonstrated loudly at his appearances. Schwarzenegger had ordered a rollback in the safety rules in hospitals that assure minimum registered-nurse staffing and he had also vetoed bills to expand health care coverage, reduce hospital closures, increase nursing education programs and reduce the workplace injuries of registered nurses. At one point Schwarzenegger referred to the nurses as a "special interest" group and said they were angry at him because "I kick their butt." Sandra Kobrin is a Los Angeles-based journalist who specializes in criminal justice and women's issues. Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org . For more information: Assembly Member Sally Lieber: - http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a22/default.htm State Senator Sheila Kuehl: - http://www.sen.ca.gov/kuehl - ________________________________________________________________ For any comments about this and any other story, please send a letter to the editors at http://www.womensenews.org/letters/discus.pl Copyright 2006 Women's eNews. IN THE NEWS New Board Member, Geri Yang The Board of Directors of the Women's Foundation reflects California's dynamic diversity and rich leadership pool. We are pleased to welcome five new members to the Foundation's board - Linda Griego (Los Angeles), Dr. Brenda Spriggs-Wiley (San Francisco), Bea Stotzer (San Francisco), Carol Tisson (Carmel) and Geri Yang (Fresno). Geri Yang's involvement with the Foundation began three years ago when she worked as a program intern. At that point, Geri was a college student who had spent several years as a community organizer in Fresno's Hmong community. "My interest in social justice and human rights began with my parents' struggle as refugees and immigrants," says Geri. After completing her sophomore year at Fresno State University, Geri moved to San Francisco for the summer to work at the Women's Foundation. She worked closely with former Senior Program Officer Stephanie Yang (no relation) on the Sisterhood Fund, a leadership and grantmaking program for young women. Geri's competence and fantastic energy were instrumental in the success of the program's statewide expansion. In exchange, she gained a deeper understanding of what it means to apply a gender lens to grantmaking and of fundraising. This experience with the Foundation proved to be a pivotal one. It sharpened Geri's existing interest in women's human rights and crystallized a desire to work in social justice philanthropy. "With the help of professors and mentors at the Foundation, I was able to take my passion to a whole new professional level." Since then, Geri has been director of the Leadership Development Program at Fresno State University where she created the curriculum for an intensive leadership training program for a group of 20 undergraduate students. Her work to expand this program resulted in several partnerships with Fresno-area businesses where program participants were hired as management trainees after graduation. Geri also produced V-Day events in Fresno two years running. (Nationwide, V-Day events promote increased awareness about combating violence against women.) Putting to use an aptitude for fundraising, she secured sponsorships from local businesses to support the event. Geri's involvement with the Foundation has continued. She has enjoyed two years serving on the Foundation's Grants Review Committee, and this year, Geri joined the Women's Foundation of California contingent, which included three Sisterhood Fund alumnae, at the Women's Funding Network (WFN) conference in Pittsburgh. The WFN conference paid particular attention to young women's philanthropy by hosting a Girls' Grantmaking Symposium. Geri and 35 young women from across the country convened to share experiences and develop ideas for future national youth-led collaborations in philanthropy. Geri brings to the board an entrepreneurial spirit, a deep commitment to social change for women and girls and a love for her community. Welcome, Geri! IN THE NEWS Grant Partner Successes: Women's Work and Wages May 15th marked the first day of the Pacific tropical weather season for 2006. But a storm of a different kind was brewing in Ventura, California as community organizers brought a whirlwind of activism upon the Ventura City Council in their demand for a self-sufficient living wage. Organized by Foundation grant partner Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE), the Ventura Living Wage Coalition, which is comprised of 68 organizations, rallied for five years to get to the May 15th hearing. In 2001, the City Council overwhelmingly rejected a living wage proposal. The Coalition hoped this day would be different. The Living Wage Movement might well be considered the economic justice storm of the decade. Campaigns for living wages have swept across the country and progressive leaders have seen major victories in recent years. Since the first living wage ordinance was passed in Baltimore, Maryland in 1994, over 130 ordinances have been passed throughout the country. Living wages are generally tied to city or county government contracts: where there is a living wage ordinance, any government contractor must pay the living wage, which typically ranges from $9/hour with benefits to $12/hour without benefits. Living wages tend to be significantly higher than the minimum wage and can mean the difference between poverty and self-sufficiency. Raising the minimum wage and passing living wage laws are critical strategies to ending poverty, particularly for women of color and immigrant women, who tend to be clustered in low-wage jobs. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 58% of low-wage workers in the U.S. are women. And for many women earning low wages, the high cost of childcare creates an additional layer of financial hardship. Another important strategy in moving women to self-sufficiency is helping women obtain higher-wage jobs. Foundation grant partner, Women Ventures Project of Watsonville, California, provides pre-apprenticeship training to low-income women, many of whom have faced and overcome significant life challenges. One graduate of the program has gone on to successfully establish her own "Jill-of-All-Trades" company which does everything from installing handrails for people with disabilities to pouring concrete to landscaping. Women's participation in the trades has remained low despite the high wages. In California, the average wage of a construction worker is $22/hour, which is approximately four times the average wage of a childcare worker. There are many reasons why women's participation in the trades remains low. Helen Ewan-Storey, Program Director of Women's Venture Projects, reflects that getting women into the trades is a "multi-faceted challenge." Ewan-Storey sees the impact of persistent gender stereotyping ranging "from lack of encouragement…to media images that continue to limit the 'acceptable' choices and roles for girls and women." In addition, she says that the "trades need to continue to look at how the workplace can better attract and retain women." She encourages larger employers to consider ways to support mothers in the trades by offering daycare on-site.
Back in Ventura, community members are celebrating another living wage victory. This time, the City Council unanimously voted in support of living wages. The law applies to city employees who work more than 1,000 hours per year as well as janitorial and landscape employees of companies with city contracts. They will earn a minimum of $9.75 with health benefits or $12.50 without-a wage floor that workers can firmly stand on. For more information about CAUSE, please visit www.coastalalliance.com or call Marcos Vargas at 805-658-0810. For more information about Women Ventures Project, please visit http://www.cabinc.org/WVP/ or contact Helen Ewan-Storey at 831-724-0206 IN THE NEWS First Person Plural: Voices from our Community Khmer Girls in Action, Long Beach Women are the gatekeepers to their communities. When you talk about communities of color being disproportionately impacted by various issues, you are really talking about women and girls. We find that this is especially true for the Southeast Asian community, where first-generation young women are not only the gatekeepers, but often the problem solvers for their families. Traditionally, ideas of patriarchy and sexism support men as leaders of the Asian community. Part of our role at Khmer Girls in Action is to change this dynamic and inspire more women to take on new roles. The young women leading Khmer Girls in Action are extremely committed and passionate about giving back. They have a huge sense of responsibility to their communities and get a lot of personal satisfaction from doing this work. Participating in this program also helps them build their individual leadership skills, which they are able to transfer to every aspect of their lives. The biggest issue we are working on is violence against women and young women - from sexual harassment and objectification to gang violence and sexual assault. In the last four to five years these issues have escalated to be a huge problem with young people, and in some ways they have become acceptable in mainstream culture. We are purposefully trying to build a community culture that says violence of any kind against women is unacceptable. We mobilize young women to talk about these issues in public arenas and advocate and organize around policy that supports change. One of the things we have done and continue to do is to create institutional change by holding the city government in Long Beach accountable for issues around harassment or discrimination that they ignore, perpetuate or do not provide adequate resources to address. We see our work at Khmer Girls in Action as part of a larger movement which is why we incorporate a human rights framework in everything we do because we understand that what it comes down to is the issue of the dignity and respect that every individual has a right to. IN THE NEWS Our Community: Grant Review Committee Member, Ali Sirkus Brody In March, we caught up with Alison (Ali) Sirkus Brody soon after she returned from a Grant Review Committee (GRC) training and retreat in Fresno. "It was exciting," she said. During the retreat, Ali got to re-connect with past GRC members, become acquainted with new members and delve deeper into some of the specific issues impacting Fresno and the Central Valley. Ali exemplifies the notion of the "activist-donor." She had been a donor to the Foundation for several years and was invited to join our GRC three years ago because of her considerable work experience in the nonprofit realm as both a grant seeker and proposal evaluator. "I am passionate about helping women and girls develop their economic and political power, and confront the economic, political and social marginalization they face. Serving on the Women's Foundation's of California's GRC helps me do this," Ali explained.
IN THE NEWS Los Angeles Donor Circle Announces 2006 Grant Partners Donor circles provide members with a meaningful experience in community activism and strategic philanthropy. This was certainly in effect on February 21st when the Foundation's Los Angeles Donor Circle (LADC) hosted a luncheon to announce the Circle's 2006 grant partners. Said Pilar Pinel, Executive Director of ELLAS, “This Women's Foundation of California L.A. Donor Circle grant is ensuring that Latina youth benefit by ELLAS’ educational and leadership workshops to develop critical thinking skills and a sense of community and civic responsibility.” For the 2006 grant cycle, the LADC awarded $110,000 to organizations working to enhance young women’s and girls’ economic opportunities, specifically their understanding of how to earn, manage and grow money. 2006 Los Angeles Donor Circle Grant Partners Embracing Latina Leadership Alliances (ELLAS), Long Beach Girls and Gangs, Los Angeles Imani Phi Christ Sorority, Culver City Junior Achievement of Southern California, Los Angeles For more information about Donor Circles, contact Cathy Schrieber at cathys@womensfoundca.org or (415) 837-1113, ext. 301. IN THE NEWS On Wednesday, January 11th, the Foundation - along with the Ford Foundation, the Libra Foundation, the Rosenberg Foundation and the US Human Rights Fund - hosted a day-long convening about building the human rights movement in the U.S. The convening, "Human Rights at Home," fostered dialogue around such questions as: What is the history of the human rights movement in the United States? What is a human rights framework? What are some of most effective strategies for using this framework? What does it mean to apply a human rights lens to social justice work? The convening was both a hands-on learning opportunity for those interested in the application of the human rights framework and a movement-building vehicle to strengthen the social change work of foundations, nonprofit organizations and activists. Attendees were encouraged to think about how their organization or program fits within a bigger framework of cross-issue, cross-sector social change work. As Foundation President and CEO Patti Chang noted in her opening remarks, "We are here today because, as funders, we realize that building a human rights movement in the U.S. is made even more difficult if we attempt to do it in isolated "silos." Whether your issue is economic security, environmental health and justice, transportation justice, reproductive rights or health rights, these all fall under a larger framework for political and social change, and that is human rights." Dynamic speakers and panelists took part in a day filled with information, inspiration and strategy. Author of Eyes Off the Prize and academic Carol Anderson gave a phenomenal keynote address, laying out the complex history of human rights activism in the United States. This was followed by Widney Brown of Human Rights Watch, who presented a "Human Rights Framework 101" training. The lunchtime speaker was Monique Harden, Co-Director of Advocates for Environmental Human Rights. Monique gave a stirring account of campaigns in New Orleans where human rights litigation strategies are being employed with some success at the intersection of issues related to race, class and the environment. The afternoon started off with a presentation about US Women Without Borders, an innovative example of an online strategy that connects human rights with movement-building. This led us into a panel discussion exploring strategies currently being used by leaders in the human rights field, Krishanti Dharmaraj of WILD for Human Rights, Karen Musalo of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, Penny Newman of Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice and Lourdes Rivera of the National Health Law Program. Following the panel Q&A, participants discussed with each other the challenges and successes of their work in moderated breakout sessions. The day ended with Larry Cox, long-time human rights activist and Senior Program Officer at the Ford Foundation, offering his thoughts on where the movement in the United States is headed.* Many of the 140 attendees left the convening telling us they gained a deeper understanding of what it means to use a human rights framework in the United States. Thanks to the speakers, attendees also acquired various strategic tools to apply to their work. We would like to thank our co-sponsors for making this event possible and all of our invited speakers and panelists for their expertise and generosity. Most importantly, we hope that this convening advances the emerging collective movement around ensuring human rights in this country and creating sustained social justice for all. * Transcripts of remarks by Carol Anderson, Widney Brown, Monique Harden and Larry Cox will soon be available for download on our website. To hear a radio interview with Carol Anderson for New Amercian Media. IN THE NEWS Institute shows women how to navigate the Capitol maze By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER During a policy training at the Family Violence Law Center in Oakland, associate executive director Cherri Allison discovered a loophole in state laws protecting domestic violence victims. No law directly protected such victims from being fired by bosses who fear a security risk or just do not want the hassle. "I was thinking, 'Wow, wouldn't it be good if DV victims were protected as a class,' it's something to think about ... but that's not something I would've even thought I could do," she said. Now she is thinking again. As one of 27 2005-06 fellows of the Women's Policy Institute - including five from East Bay nonprofits - Allison is getting a crash course in how to develop, enact, implement and oversee public policy. "It's just given me a good sound basis for understanding how policy gets implemented and how legislation gets drafted, the whole humongous maze that you have to go through to get something passed," she said. "As an average citizen, I had no idea how complicated that process is." The nonpartisan WPI is a project of the Women's Foundation of California, a San Francisco-based advocacy and philanthropic group working to improve women's and girls' lives. Each class of fellows - the current one is the third - spends 12 months in the program, including four four-day retreats. During their first retreat in October, the fellows got to know each other before reviewing the mechanics of how a bill becomes law and how advocates can affect the process. Some of last year's fellows presented case studies. State Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, and Assemblywoman Carol Liu, D-La Canada Flintridge, spoke to them about women's specific policy perspectives and shared their own priorities for the coming year. Then the fellows formed area-of-interest teams to begin choosing policy projects. WPI's staff brought in more than 30 speakers with expertise on issues from economic development to reproductive rights to discuss policy opportunities and priorities. By the end of the fourth day, each team had come up with three policy project ideas to research before the next retreat. When they reconvened earlier this month, they further refined their projects by talking with lawmakers and Capitol staffers about possible partnerships. They also heard legislative staffers and experts speak about the do's and don'ts of policymaking. The next retreat will be in February. Foundation spokeswoman Maya Thornell-Sandifor said the WPI received about 75 applications for this year's program. "Usually, the criteria is that they have some experience doing policy or advocacy work within their organization - it might be more grass-roots, ... but we want some base knowledge of what it means to be an advocate," she said. Fellows are chosen for a class that reflects the state's geographic, ethnic, age and issue diversity. "Every retreat, we leave really energized and inspired and also a little bit overwhelmed by the details," said fellow J. Parker Dockray, executive director of the Women's Health Rights Coalition in Oakland. "It is complex, it is a maze and you really need a program like this to walk you through the details ... and demystify the process." To learn more about the WPI, go to http://www.womensfoundca.org and click on "Grantmaking and Programs," and then "Women's Policy Institute." Past fellows helped draft or push bills making convicted drug felons eligible for food stamps, ensuring domestic violence victims have a right to a counselor or support person present during police or legal interviews, improving community college access for CalWORKs students whose primary language is not English, requiring disclosure of carcinogens in cosmetics and barring sale or rental of violent video games to minors. "Our goal is to look at finding ways to increase access to information," Dockray said, especially among populations with high teen-pregnancy rates and limited access to prenatal and abortion care. Monastersky said she sees the project as both exciting and timely, and she is grateful to WPI for giving her not only an introduction to the process but a forum in which she can affect policy, with the "safety net" of WPI's experience beneath her. "The people I've talked to have said 'You're going to change California,'" she said. "It's baby steps, but it is exciting to be part of the process." Other East Bay participants in the current WPI class include Aimee Durfee, program manager for Californians for Family Economic Self Sufficiency at the National Economic Development and Law Center in Oakland, Sharon Fuller, founder of the Ma'at Youth Academy in Richmond, and Walnut Creek's Rita Wustner, from the American Association of University Women's California branch. Five women from San Francisco-based agencies are also taking part. IN THE NEWS Recent Grant Partner Wins The tireless efforts of three Foundation grant partners; Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ), Breast Cancer Action and Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST); were instrumental in the recent passage of several pieces of legislation. These policy wins exemplify the power of sustained advocacy and grassroots coalitions to create change that supports women’s health and well-being. Foundation grant partner Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCEAJ) experienced two policy wins with regard to neighborhood environmental contamination from rail yards and diesel trains in California. Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 1222 (Jones), the Air Pollution Remote Sensing Pilot Program Act, which establishes a pilot program for measuring pollution from train locomotives. This was one of three bills that CCAEJ and the Modesta Avila Coalition had sponsored. Although successfully deployed in Europe, this remote sensing program has been used not domestically until now. Another policy victory for CCEAJ was the adoption of regulatory Rule 3503 — Emissions Inventory and Health Risk Assessment for Railyards — by the Governing Board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Rule 3503 requires railyard operators to submit inventories of air pollutants within their railyards and to submit facility-wide health risk assessment plans. Passage of the Safe Cosmetics Act is a big success for co-sponsors Breast Cancer Action, Breast Cancer Fund and the National Environmental Trust. In September, Governor Schwarzenegger signed SB484 (Migden), the Safe Cosmetics Act. The law requires cosmetics manufacturers to disclose to the California Department of Health Services (DHS) all cosmetic and personal care product ingredients that are on state or federal lists of chemicals that cause cancer or birth defects. It also requires manufacturers to provide the DHS with health-related information about cosmetic ingredients and allows the California Occupational Safety and Hazards Administration (CalOSHA) to regulate the products to protect salon workers if CalOSHA suspects a safety risk. Human trafficking is one of the most egregious violations of a person's human rights. Yet, it remains a $9.5 billion criminal business worldwide. Many of us don't realize that nearly 20,000 people are trafficked into the United States each year. Eighty percent of those trafficked across borders are women and girls. On September 21, 2005, both AB 22 (Lieber); the California Trafficking Victims Protection Act — and SB 180 (Kuehl); the Human Trafficking Collaboration and Training Act — were signed into state law. These two pieces of groundbreaking legislation establish a comprehensive statewide response to human trafficking. The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, a pioneer in the anti-trafficking movement in the United States and a Foundation grant partner, was a co-sponsor of AB 22. IN THE NEWS What’s cookin’ San Francisco Bay Guardian IT'S A MONDAY afternoon in the Mission District, and the modern, gleaming commercial kitchen La Cocina (2948 Folsom, SF. 415-824-2729) is bustling with women. A small, multicultural group, they cheerfully swap stories and encouragement, though each remains intently focused on her own work. At one station, South African pie-maker Yumna McCann pulls from the convection oven a tray of savory steak puff pies that smell heavenly. Four months ago, McCann walked into La Cocina with one of her mother's recipes and an idea. Today, the fully trained and licensed owner of the catering company Mystipied (415-533-6360, www.mystipied.com) is working hard to keep up with demand and just landed her first wholesale account, with Oakland's Pizza Rustica. "I have worked four jobs at a time before and have never been this tired," she says with a laugh. "It's a seven-day-a-week, 25-hour-a-day job, but for the first time I feel like an active participant in my own life." Like other commercial kitchens, La Cocina — with its 4,400-square-foot facility — offers the full range of industrial cooking equipment necessary for large-scale food and catering production: mixers, ovens, professional ranges, slicers, and commercial-size freezers. Unlike for-profit kitchens in the Bay Area, however, these shared facilities are affordable, convenient, and reserved for low-income Latinas in particular (they also help low-income immigrant women). Established last year through fiscal sponsorship from the Women's Foundation of California (415-837-1113, www.womensfoundca.org) and additional funding from an impressive list of private donors and organizations, La Cocina's Mission location is no accident. When gentrification and escalating rent during the late 1990s forced many Latino families out, one anonymous donor provided the idea, financial backing, and her own piece of property to help neighborhood women create sustainable micro-enterprises. She and Women's Foundation president and CEO Patti Chang discussed how many neighborhood Latinas were creating and selling food products from their own homes. "We thought, what a marvelous way for them to rise from an underground economy and position themselves in a way where they can truly succeed and help support their families," Chang explained in a telephone interview. Planners completed construction in April, though prospective participants began the application and training process back in 2004. Gaining admission to La Cocina's program is no cakewalk. Applicants must submit an idea for a viable product, along with a solid business plan. Those with a history of working in restaurants and catering businesses are also taken into consideration. Once accepted, program participants benefit from La Cocina's low, hourly rent — from $10 to $15 on a sliding scale, substantially less than the rate at Coop Kitchen, a for-profit enterprise in Emeryville that charges roughly $18 an hour. Within approximately the first three months, participants must apply for a business license and insurance, for which the program offers translation, course work, and other helpful services. Under the guidance of chef and program director Laurie Mackenzie, they learn to mass-produce and market their product. A staff of four and a high-profile list of advisors – including chef-owners Traci des Jardins, of Jardinière, and Patricia Unterman, of Hayes Street Grill – offer invaluable consultation. The results are inspiring — and delicious. La Cocina's star baker, Michaella Olavarri, a once-struggling single mother of seven, now provides luscious guava pastries to Cafe lo Cubano (3401 California, SF. 415-371-9933), one of many venues for which she personally makes deliveries via public transportation. Peas of Mind owner Jill Litwin's organic, healthful, tasty toddler food has caught on at 15 Bay Area stores in four months (415-407-2578, www.peasofmind.com). Mexican cook Veronica Salazar represents another local success story. She once informally sold fresh antojitos – including authentic empanadas and huaraches — from her San Francisco home. With the help of La Cocina's translation services and workshops, she passed her licensing exams. Now she is brainstorming bilingual marketing materials and keeps a proud, popular booth at the Alemany Farmers Market (100 Alemany, SF). Surrounded by her new friends and fellow women entrepreneurs in the kitchen, Salazar explains La Cocina's impact. "They make my dream true," she says. Food entrepreneurs and industry experts interested in volunteering at La Cocina should contact Valeria Perez-Ferreiro at (415) 824-2729. Commercial clients are also welcome to inquire. Joanna Currier is a Bay Area freelance writer.
IN THE NEWS
Los Angeles Times — California Section On the street, they could be enemies. One has a tattoo, "Chicana Pride," stitched across her neck. The other holds a knife. They are from different gangs. The two young women glare at each other. Others notice. No one says a word. The one with the knife draws it up and brings it down — into a big, red onion. All at once, they laugh."It's so hot," the tattooed woman says. "My eyes sting." "Keep going," says the one with the knife. "Gotta keep going. You can do it." "Can't slow down," a third says. "Lotta people out there." They might be from different neighborhoods and different gangs, but in this cramped kitchen at the back of a small restaurant just east of downtown Los Angeles, they put fights and guns and jail cells behind them. They make sandwiches, bake cookies, wait tables and run the cash register. This, they will tell you, is almost a miracle. "Hard to believe," says Joanna Flores, 18, who has been in and out of jail since she was 12. "If some of the girls here were walking in my neighborhood — before I knew them, before we came here — there would be problems. It wouldn't have been good. But it's cool now. Now we're homegirls." Welcome to the Homegirl Cafe, a 10-table breakfast and lunch spot on a hilltop boulevard in Boyle Heights. In a city teeming with small, quirky, homespun restaurants serving inexpensive food with flavors from different lands, this one stands apart. There is the food, Mexican with a twist. But it's the help that makes the difference. Where else can your frothy bowl of fideo soup — noodles, peas and cilantro — be prepared by a girl from the Lynwood gang, served by a woman from the Maravilla gang and cleared from your table by a smiling mother from the 18th Street gang? Finally, there is Patty Zarate. She watches over the homegirls, always. She is 47, shy but strong, with short silver hair and keen, roving eyes that hardly miss a thing. She is from Mexico. Not long ago she was trying to find solid ground in this country and figure out whether her talent for cooking could be turned into something profitable. Now she is the boss, chef, and, in a symbolic way, the mother here. Her new trainees — girls and young women who have listened to few people in their lives — listen to her. She calls almost all of them mija, "my daughter." She prods them with sweetness. "Can we maybe go a little faster with the chopping, mija?" "That's good, mija, that's beautiful." "We're so busy now, mija. Please." "Thank you, mija, much better; you are learning." Zarate doesn't own the restaurant any longer; that is part of her story. But make no mistake, this is her place. The homegirls would not be here, the yellow-walled cafe that smells of red pepper and roasted garlic would not exist, if not for her dream. |
