2005–2006 Women's Policy Institute Fellows
Twenty-seven outstanding women working in health, environmental health, reproductive rights and economic development and justice from all over California were chosen to participate in the 2005–2006 class.
Cherri N. Allison, Family Violence Law Center
Marie Auyong, Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team
Emily Chen, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum/My Sister’s House
Rocio L. Córdoba, California Coalition for Reproductive Freedom
Aimee Durfee, National Economic Development & Law Center/CFESS
Barbara Ellis, Families of Incarcerated Loved Ones
Marisol Franco, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice/Community Health Councils, Inc.
Sharon Fuller, Ma'at Youth Academy
Tahra Goraya, Day One
Ann Hayman, Mary Magdalene Project, Inc.
Anaí Ibarra-López, Coalition for Clean Air
Sara Mendoza, Los Angeles Indigenous Peoples' Alliance
Shaila Mistry, American Association of University Women–CA
Nicole Monastersky, Pharmacy Access Partnership
Karin Pally, Los Angeles County Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program
J. Parker Dockray, ACCESS/Women's Health Rights Coalition
Jennifer Rakowski, Community United Against Violence
Sylvia Richards-Swan, Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment
Daphne R. Scott, United Way of Sonoma-Mendocino-Lake
Lacy M. Serros, Latino Issues Forum
Elaine Sierra, Nevada County Citizens for Choice, Inc.
Jacqueline Snowden, Older Women's League of California
Mia Villanueva, Realistic Education in Action Coalition to Foster Health
Silvia Viramontes, The Coalition for Economic Survival
Emily Waterbury, Earned Assets Resource Network
Rita Wustner, American Association of University Women-CA
Astrid Zometa, Mission Economic Development Agency
Update on the status of 2005–2006 Women’s Policy Institute policy projects:
SB 1569, Human Services Eligibility (Kuehl)
SIGNED into law on September 29, 2006.
Would extend eligibility for certain state and local benefits, including refugee cash assistance, Medi-Cal, and employment social services to qualified noncitizen victims of trafficking, domestic violence, and other serious crimes.
AB 2695, Domestic Violence, (Goldberg)
SIGNED into law on September 26, 2006.
Because providers of domestic violence services are themselves often threatened with violence, harassment or stalking by perpetrators of domestic violence, we support AB 2695 (Goldberg). This bill would enhance workplace safety by permitting employers to obtain protective orders for the entire worksite when an employee or employees experience violence or a credible threat of violence in the workplace.
AB 2917, Corrections and Rehabilitation, (Goldberg and Liu)
VETOED by the Governor.
Would codify a Gender Responsive Strategies Commission (GRSC) within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). The GRSC, composed of a diverse group of stakeholders, will evaluate and make recommendations to the CDCR on strategies designed to reduce recidivism within California's female prison population.
SB 1471, Sex Education Programs, (Kuehl)
VETOED by the Governor.
Sex education is a critical factor in preventing teen pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted disease among those aged 13 -20. This bill would require that any state operated or state-funded program that provides education to prevent adolescent or unintended pregnancy or to prevent sexually transmitted disease infection must be medically accurate, current and objective. The bill further stipulates that the program cannot promote or teach religious doctrine and must be culturally and linguistically appropriate for the target audience and anyone administering the program must be appropriately trained.
2005 – 2006 Year in Review
RETREAT ONE: October 11–14, 2005
One of the innovations of the Women’s Policy Institute’s curriculum design is the way learning opportunities are embedded in the program in both subtle and overt ways. As much comprehensive information as the Fellows are given by Women's Policy Institute Director Marj Plumb, mentors, speakers and legislative staffers over the course of nine months, it is participants’ own active engagement and advocacy on behalf of their policy projects that have the deepest impact. Past years’ Fellows have described the Institute as a great journey. For the 27 Fellows of the 2005–2006 Women’s Policy Institute, this journey began when they gathered for the first retreat in October.
Day One: Building Community
Institute Fellows spent the first day getting to really know one another. They each shared their backgrounds and stories with the group. Consultant Elizabeth Seja Min also led the Fellows through a series of exercises and discussions that focused on community building.
Day Two: Policy 101
The focus of Day Two was on learning an effective model for policy advocacy. Participants reviewed the mechanics of how a bill becomes a law and how the policy advocacy timeline operates. Three past Fellows presented case studies of their policy projects from the 2004–2005 Institute. They discussed important successes, challenges, critical lessons learned and recommendations with the current Fellows.
Later that evening, Fellows, trainers and Foundation staff members gathered for a 2005–2006 Women's Policy Institute kick-off celebration dinner. The theme for the evening was “Women in Policy”. Both Senator Deborah Ortiz and Assemblywoman Carol Liu—great supporters of the Institute—spoke at the dinner about the unique perspectives that women bring to policy work and why it is so vital for women to be involved in policy development. Senator Ortiz and Assemblywoman Liu also shared with the Fellows their own policy priorities for the upcoming year.
Day Three: Issue Experts
Perhaps the most important objective of this first retreat is that Fellows form a team with others in their area of interest and begin choosing a policy project. To help Fellows in this process, Women’s Policy Institue Issue Coordinators invited over 30 speakers with expertise in the topics of women’s health, reproductive rights, environmental health/justice and economic development/justice. The Issue Coordinators were Vivian Huang, Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality; Jennifer Sigafoos, California Family Health Council; Angela Johnson Meszaros, California Environmental Rights Alliance and Michael Herald, Western Center on Law and Poverty. These speakers provided a full day of issue-focused presentations on policy-related opportunities and priorities in California for the coming year.
Day Four: Developing Policy Projects
During the final day, Fellows formed teams within their issue area of focus, which was chosen based on the information given to them during the full-day intensives and their own individual passions. Teams spent the rest of the day brainstorming possible policy project ideas. By the end of the fourth day, teams had narrowed their attention down to three policy project ideas. Between now and the next retreat, teams will continue to conduct research and discussions and further refine their project idea via email and teleconferencing until they have decided on one. Fellows will reconvene as a full group for the second retreat on December 7–9, 2005.
RETREAT TWO: December 7–9, 2005
The journey continues for the 27 Fellows in the 2006 Women's Policy Institute. At the conclusion of the first retreat in October, Fellows broke up into teams and selected their legislative policy projects. Teams met via conference calls in the weeks before their next retreat and developed draft statements about the purpose of—and solutions to be provided by—their chosen policy projects. These statements will become important when Fellows conduct their first round of legislative visits. They reconvened in early December for the second of four retreats in Sacramento.
Michael Herald of the Western Center on Law and Poverty kicked off the second retreat with an energizing tour of the capitol building. As Fellows navigate through the legislative process over the course of the Institute, they will become familiar with where key offices are located, especially some of the informal meeting places where policy advocacy can and often does happen. In fact, during the tour one of the teams (working on improving services for pregnant inmates and their newborns) made a connection with a legislative staffer during the tour by bumping into them in the hallway.
In the afternoon, Fellows dug into the most important objective of the retreat—hands-on training for conducting meetings to secure legislative support of their policy projects. Marj Plumb, Womens' Policy Institute director, and Jennifer Sigafoos of the California Family Health Council began this training by outlining the skills needed to conduct legislative visits and meetings with other advocates. Fellows then honed these skills in lots of role-play exercises. An exercise that Fellows always find lively and important is "the opposition" role-play.
Day Two saw Fellows taking their draft purpose and solution statements and refining them into formal advocacy plans to present to lawmakers, legislative staffers and other advocates. Fellows then put their meeting skills to practice and teams made their first round of scheduled legislative visits throughout the afternoon. Teams were exploring either working with lawmakers already pursuing legislation that fit within their project or pitching their policy project for legislators to author. That night at dinner, teams reported to the larger group about the impressive progress they made on their policy projects during their visits.
State and federal lobbying regulations were the focus of Day Three with presentations by Diane Fishburn of Olson, Hagel & Fishburn and Rosemay Fei of Silk Adler Colvin. For Fellows, the lobbying training is important because it provides the regulatory parameters for what they can do on behalf of their policy projects and beyond for their organizations.
The retreat concluded with a preview of Retreat Three in February. In the meantime, Teams will continue to work on securing project sponsorship and refining their projects' purpose and solution, including drafting comprehensive budget analysis. Fellows will also prepare testimony to present at a Mock Legislative Hearing.
RETREAT THREE: February 8–10, 2006
The journey continues for the 27 Fellows in the 2006 Women's Policy Institute. Institute Fellows reconvened in February for the third, and some say most important, retreat of the program.
Presenting testimony in legislative committee hearings is an important strategy for policy change. As the legislative process shifts into high gear, Institute Fellows will have to persuasively advocate on behalf of their six policy projects in front of elected committee members at legislative hearings. Preparing for their testimony was the focus of the February retreat.
Read about Retreat Three in a personal account by Institute Fellow Daphne Scott.
On Thursday, February 9, the Foundation hosted a reception at the State Capitol. The informal reception provided Institute Fellows a chance to mingle and network with legislators, staffers, other policy advocates as well as former Fellows who were on hand to lend their support. Several elected officials, including Assemblyman Mark Leno, Senator Deborah Ortiz, Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña, Assemblyman Pedro Nava, Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, Assemblywoman Patty Berg, Assemblyman Bill Emmerson and Senator Jack Scott were eager to meet—or in some cases reconnect with—Institute Fellows.
The keynote speakers at the reception were State Senator Sheila James Kuehl (D) and Bonnie Reiss, Senior Advisor to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Given the intensive leadership development, policy advocacy training and real-life policymaking experience provided by the Women's Policy Institute, Senator Kuehl urged Fellows to consider running for office in the future. Bonnie Reiss thanked the Fellows in the room for their important work and offered, "My door is always open to you, and the Governor's door is always open to you."
The 2005–2006 class selected the following six policy projects:
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Improving care for pregnant inmates and their newborns;
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Defending the California Environmental Quality Act;
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Strengthening enforcement of laws that protect abortion clinic employees and women who work in shelters from violence;
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Instituting “good operator” codes at liquor stores to require better lighting, cleaner stores, storefronts and parking areas and stronger fines for selling liquor to minors;
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Expanding access to services for survivors of human trafficking; and
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Establishing guidelines for sex education programs in public schools.
RETREAT FOUR: May 3–5, 2006
Read about the fourth retreat. Fellow Daphne Scott continues her Women's Policy Institute experience diary.
While the formal learning journey may have ended earlier this month for the 27 Institute Fellows at the fourth and final retreat in Sacramento, the endeavor to deftly steer policy projects through the legislative process continues. Fellows will be putting their newly acquired advocacy skills into practice over the next crucial weeks. At this point in the legislative cycle, daily vigilance is necessary to move a bill through a committee's process and onto the floor for a vote.
Teams continue to hold regular conference calls and confer with legislative staffers. Fact Sheets need to be updated as amendments are made to bills, letters of support need to be faxed to lawmakers' offices and follow-up calls made to ensure the necessary votes. In many cases, Fellows will soon be returning to Sacramento for additional rounds of testimony at committee hearings.
2005–2006 Program Speakers, Mentors, Legislative Staff and Supporters
We would like to sincerely thank all of the speakers, mentors, legislative staff and supporters whose invaluable time and expertise contributed to the caliber of the Institute during this past year. Thank you!
Women's Policy Institute Director:
Marj Plumb, Plumbline Coaching and Consulting, Inc.
Speakers:
Vicki Atwood, California Commission on the Status of Women
Barbara Baran, California Budget Project
Caroline Barlerin, Level Playing Field Institute
Pat Braziel, Office of Sacramento Supervisor Don Nottoli
Jose Carmona, Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technology
Carole D'Elia, Little Hoover Commission
Anastasia Dodson, Senate Budget Committee
Michael Endicott, Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials
Rosemary Fei, Silk, Adler & Colvin
Diane Fishburn, Olson, Hagel & Fishburn LLP
Ana Gamiz, National Council of La Raza
Bill Gausewitz, Office of Administrative Law
Angela Gilliard, Western Center on Law and Poverty
Heather Halsey, Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxics Material
Wendy Hill, National Association of Social Workers
Sheila Kuehl, California State Senator (D-Los Angeles)
Agnes Lee, Senate Office of Research
Julia Liou, Asian Health Services
Carol Liu, California State Assembly
Charlotte Maxwell Newhart, Charlotte Maxwell Newhart & Associates
Katrina Mediola, National Council of La Raza
Kathleen Mossburg, Kathleen Mossburg & Associates
Deborah Ortiz, California State Senator (D-Sacramento)
Giannina Perez, Children Now
Shankar Prasad, California Environmental Protection Agency
Bonnie Reiss, Office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Jean Ross, California Budget Project
Justine Sarver, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California
Joanne Seavey-Hultquist, Girl Scouts of Santa Clara County
Elizabeth Seja Min, Trimtab Consulting
Valerie Small-Navarro, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California
Julie Spezia, Housing Works
Lilly Spitz, Planned Parenthood Association of California
Janey Stevens, California Partnership to End Domestic Violence
Jeffrey Thomas, Office of Representative Barbara Lee
Terri A Thorfinnson, Office of Women's Health
Stephanie Upp, EARN & Asset Policy Initiative of California
Rachel Weinstein, Office of California State Senator Don Perata
Tracy A Weitz, Bixby Center for Reproductive Health Research & Policy
Eileen Wenger Tutt, California Environmental Protection Agency
Jane Williams, California Communities Against Toxics
Jeannette Zanipatin, California Immigrant Rights Coalition
Mentors:
Michael Herald, Western Center on Law and Poverty
Vivian Huang, Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
Angela Johnson Meszaros, California Environmental Rights Alliance
Jennifer Sigafoos, California Family Health Council
Legislative Staff:
Olivia Calderon, Office of Assemblymember Jenny Oropeza
Gracielo Castillo, Office of Assemblymember Lloyd Levine
Reichel Feicht, Office of Assistant Speaker pro Tempore Sally J. Lieber
Kendra Harris, Office of Assemblywoman Carol Liu
Tam Ma, Office of Senator Sheila Kuehl
Josefina Ramirez, Office of Assemblymember Jackie Goldberg
Jennifer Richard, Office of Senator Sheila Kuehl
Erin Ryan, Office of Senator Jackie Speier
Nicole Vazquez, Senate Committee on Health and Human Services
Selection Committee:
Elmy Bermejo, Office of the President pro Tempore of the CA State Senate, Senator, Don Perata
Kim Carter, Time for Change Foundation
Connie Chan Robison, Center for Collaborative Planning
Namju Cho, Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking
Vivian Huang, Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
Mary Wiberg, Commission on the Status of Women
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