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| Women of Vision partnered with others to present the “Beijing +5 Forum.” The Forum provided input from the Northwest to the United Nations Special Session – Women 2000 – held in June in New York City. Topics focused on the 1995 Platform for Action established at the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. WNET, Women’s Network for Entrepreneurial Training, mentors and supports women business owners. Women of Vision joined government groups and private organizations to present a program series that includes workshops on financing your business, small business legal issues, basics on operating a home-based business, customer service, and contracting with the federal and state governments. Continuing the work between Washington State University Cooperative Extension and women in Siberia, Board member, Nancy Baskett, 4H volunteer Catherine Bartholomew, and past President of the American Rabbit Breeders Association and 4H volunteer Cindy Wickizer traveled to Novosibirsk and the Altai Republic in the center of Russia. They worked on leadership skills with 4H Clubs developed by participants in the 1998-99 Connective Leadership Project and provided seminars on rabbit culture for local rabbit breeders. Nancy Peregrine and the Russian Microcredit team organized and registered The Siberian International Microfinance Association (SIMA) with programs in Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, and the Altai Republic. The group hosted an exploratory tour of potential microcredit sites in all four areas by Alex Counts, President of the Grameen Foundation U.S.A. Tatiana Klepikova from the Russian Microcredit team spent six weeks in Bangladesh studying the Grameen Bank approach to microcredit. The Grameen Bank, founded by economist Mohammed Yunus, has been successfully operating in Bangladesh for over 25 years. |
| Renate Norman reports to the Future Search Conference |
| Left to right--Naomi Tsu, Margge Lueders, Sherry Williams, Estelle Davis, Judae Bostian, Alice Tramill act out their vision of the ideal future. |
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| Building the Global Women’s Network · The Connective Leadership Project of Women of Vision again sponsored an exchange between Siberian and American women. Two groups of Siberians visited the Seattle/Tacoma/Olympia area in the spring of 2001. The first group studied Advocacy Politics by visiting the Washington State Legislature and various lobbying groups as well as programs developed in response to the prevalence of domestic violence. Despite the February earthquake, which closed the legislative building and forced the legislators to double up in overcrowded offices, women Senators in particular warmly welcomed the Russian women and helped them understand the important role of the citizen lobbyist. The second group studied responses of domestic violence in both urban and rural settings visiting Seattle, Tacoma, Yakima, TriCities, and Colville, Washington. · A team of six American women visited Novosibirsk, Tomsk, the Altai Republic, Irkutsk, and Ulan Ude providing organizational development consulting services to women’s non-profit organizations. A week-long seminar was also 2001 Building the Global Women’s Network · The Connective Leadership Project of Women of Vision again sponsored an exchange between Siberian and American women. Two groups of Siberians visited the Seattle/Tacoma/Olympia area in the spring of 2001. The first group studied Advocacy Politics by visiting the Washington State Legislature and various lobbying groups as well as programs developed in response to the prevalence of domestic violence. Despite the February earthquake, which closed the legislative building and forced the legislators to double up in overcrowded offices, women Senators in particular warmly welcomed the Russian women and helped them understand the important role of the citizen lobbyist. The second group studied responses of domestic violence in both urban and rural settings visiting Seattle, Tacoma, Yakima, TriCities, and Colville, Washington. · A team of six American women visited Novosibirsk, Tomsk, the Altai Republic, Irkutsk, and Ulan Ude providing organizational development consulting services to women’s non-profit organizations. A week-long seminar was also held in Novosibirsk providing intensive training in organizational leadership including conflict resolution, project management, teamwork, strategic planning, fund raising, grant writing, working with young women, etc. · Another round of mini-grants enabled the Siberian women to further disseminate what they had learned and bring their projects forward another step. · WNET, Women’s Network for Entrepreneurial Training, provided another successful series of workshops for women entrepreneurs. Woman Talk series brought women’s issues around the world to local, Tacoma audiences. Judie Fortier and China Fortson of the Women of Vision Board work with Marthay Watson of the Phambili Women’s Shelter in George, South Africa to prepare a grant proposal for a Domestic Violence Institute to support the work of women in Tacoma and in South Africa. The grant was approved so planning began for the exchange. Women of Vision co-sponsored a discussion of Afghan refugees with the Women’s Center at Pacific Lutheran University. |
| Siberia and Tacoma Microcredit trainers, Nancy Peregrine and Ellen Homan, traveled to four Siberian cities in the Spring of 1999 to complete the USIA-funded, Connective Leadership Project. They presented follow-up workshops and met with key decision-makers identified from the earlier microcredit training in Novosibirsk, Gorno Altaisk, Irkutsk, and Krasnyarsk. Galina Ermolina, a school teacher from Novosibirsk Academgorodock School 204, worked for three weeks in Pierce County with Board member, Nancy Baskett, and the staff of the Washington State University Cooperative Extension on youth leadership development through 4H. This was partially funded by the USIA grant. Five mini-grants from the Women of Vision USIA-funded Connective Leadership Project were given to Siberian women to disseminate what they had learned during their 1998 internships in Tacoma. Irina Bryzgolova from the Siberian Academy for Public Administration and Tatiana Klepikova from Irkutsk State Technical University received grants from IREX to study microfinance for three months in Tacoma and Seattle during the Fall of 1999. Their training program was supervised by Nancy Peregrine. One result was a University Partnership grant application to form a partnership between the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy at the University of Washington and their Russian universities for development of a microfinance curriculum. |
| The Connective Leadership Project Women of Vision’s partnership with Russian women took a giant leap forward when funding was received from United States Information Agency (USIA) for an exchange dedicated to women’s leadership development. For three weeks in October and November, fourteen Siberian women participated as interns and trainees in Tacoma, Vashon Island, Bremerton, and Seattle. The fourteen women were divided into three groups: 1) politics, advocacy, and women’s rights 2) microenterprise and microcredit 3) teaching youth life skills through the 4H program and by raising rabbits. Over 300 Americans assisted by providing homes for the visitors, meals, entertainment, transportation, and opportunities to visit businesses and programs. During July, twelve women from the Puget Sound region presented the “Leadership Development Institute” in three Siberian cities: Novosibirsk, Gorno Altaisk, and Irkutsk. Women from these cities and the surrounding areas met, networked, and explored the issues facing them in the New Russia. Workshops focused on women’s legal rights, women in politics, issues of violence in the family, microenterprise and microcredit, raising rabbits for fun and profit, teaching life skills to youth through 4H activities, overcoming internal barriers to leading for change, leadership of social change organizations, and building networks and alliances. |
| January 1997 "Advancing Women as Leaders in the 21st Century" A multicultural, intergenerational group of women leaders from the Puget Sound region met for three days at Highline Community College to generate ideas for the continued advancement of women in the 21st century. The women, ranging in age from 14-81, looked at the past and present situation for women as leaders, then envisioned an ideal future and designed action projects to realize that future. The format of the conference was a future search, a method developed by Marvin Wiesbord and Sandra Janoff to help diverse groups with strategic planning. The conference was sponsored by Women of Vision and managed by Jan Secor. The data collected was published in a booklet provided to each of the participants. The data was further analyzed by Jan Secor for her doctoral dissertation. |
| Cultural Exchange and Conferences · In November, Women of Vision hosted a group of ten Russian women from Novosibirsk in Tacoma, Seattle, and at Sleeping Lady Retreat Center outside Leavenworth. In Tacoma they visited schools, churches, businesses and social agencies. In Seattle, they visited the Seattle Office for Women’s Rights; the Church of Mary Magdalene for homeless women; and the YWCA as well as sightseeing from the Fremont troll to the Pike Place Market. |
| Kurdish women demonstrate at the UN Habitat Conference in Istanbul, Turkey Photo by Jessie Walker, Women of Vision delegate to the UN Habitat Conference. |
| UN Fourth World Conference on Women · Women of Vision was accredited as an international NGO to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China September 4-15. Five official participant/observers were selected – Judie Fortier, Jan Secor, Lori Wada from the U.S. and Marina Tyasto and Larisa Cherepanova from Russia. Unfortunately, the Russian women were unable to attend because of problems with hotel reservations and visas. Several other women also attended the NGO Forum from Tacoma and Pierce County. · "Think Globally, Act Locally: Beijing and Beyond" October 13-14 Women of Vision held a follow-up conference and youth forum “Think Globally, Act Locally: Beijing and Beyond” was held at Tacoma Community College to report on the results of the Beijing conference and NGO Forum. The keynote speakers were Kathleen Hendrix, U.S. State Department, member of the U.S. delegation in Beijing and Arvonne Fraser, US Representative to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, 1993-94. Workshops focused on global perspectives on women’s issues and developing local action. “Issues and Action ’95: The Prelude to Beijing Continues” was a series of three public forums sponsored by Women of Vision held at Tacoma Community College. The forums discussed issues to be presented at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Topics included health and population issues, violence and the impact of conflict on women, and economic equity and education issues. |
| “Prelude to Beijing” April 22-24, 1994 “A Women’s Global Forum 1994: Prelude to Beijing” was held at the Executive Inn in Fife. The first day of the forum was the official U.S. Northwest Preparatory Conference to obtain input for the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. It was co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor with Women of Vision as the local sponsor. Keynote speakers were Karen Nussbaum, Director, U.S. Women’s Bureau and Arvonne Fraser, U.S. Representative to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Students from Evergreen State College, Tacoma Campus, prepared information on the key issues to be discussed in Beijing. They also took notes during the break-out sessions to help prepare the final report. A booklet was produced after the conference including this final report and transcripts of all major speeches. |
May 1993, a conference, “Women and Leadership: Redefining Power” was held in Cork, Ireland co-sponsored by Women of Vision and the Cork Federation of Women’s Organisations. Twenty American women attended as delegates, coordinators, or presenters. Delegates also attended from Ireland, Japan and the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, the seven delegates from Russia were unable to obtain the visas and travel documents required to attend. The conference provided a public forum for discussion of the Second Commission Report on the Status of Women in Ireland, which had only recently been released by the Irish government. Leaders of national stature in Ireland spoke including Maureen Quill, T.D.; Frances Fitzgerald, T.D.; and Ministers Mervyn Taylor and Joan Burton. President Mary Robinson sent a special greeting to the conference. On March 6, “A Multi-Cultural Gathering – Listening to Our Voices” was held at Allen AME Church. The concept for the conference was that “our collective future and the health and well—being of all of our children depends on our ability to create just, equitable and pluralistic communities.” The format centered around individuals sharing stories of their lives that addressed issues of ableism, racism, sexism, heterosexism, and other forms of oppression and their influence on women. |
| Russians and Ukrainians visit Tacoma, Seattle, and Spokane In November Women of Vision assisted with the visit of fifty Russians who toured Tacoma and celebrated the landing of a Russian space capsule of the coast of Washington. The capsule was fulled with symbolic gifts of peace for America. Twenty-four women from Russia and the Ukraine visited Tacoma, Seattle, and Spokane March 8-29,. The exchange was designed to provide opportunities to examine American methods and approaches used in particular professions as well as to exchange cultural and social experiences. Delegates came from Moscow, Mahachkala, and Novosibirsk in Russia; Yalta and Kiev in the Ukraine. Professions in business, banking, education, health, and social services were explored through visits to local businesses and agencies. Shopping became the primary extracurricular activity. March 14 a public forum, “Making a Difference in the ‘90’s” was held to acquaint Tacoma residents with women’s issues in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Helen Shiskina of the Russian Sister Cities Committee spoke on the status of Russian women. A trade show of crafts and goods from the CIS and Tacoma/Pierce County women’s groups was also featured. |
·Women of Vision co-sponsored an International Women’s Forum in Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russia October 20-26, 1991. An American delegation of 31 women joined an Irish delegation of 6 women to meet with women from all over Russia. Women from Great Britain and Japan planned to attend but were unable to get visas. Discussions were divided into four topic areas: business, education, health care, and social services. The participants visited various institutions such as schools, hospitals, factories, resorts, and social service agencies in the city and in the mountain village of Gunib. Following the conference, participants traveled to Durbent, the oldest city in Europe, for sightseeing and fellowship. The American delegation also took an excursion to Moscow and St. Petersburg. We will always remember the overnight train adventure. A one-day conference, “Relationships in a Changing World” was held April 13, 1991 at Tacoma Community College. Dr. Pepper Schwartz, Daisy Stallworth and Dawn Lucien spoke on issues surrounding relationships that women experience in their personal and professional lives. |
During the 1990 Goodwill Games, Women of Vision hosted eight Soviet and twelve American delegates for a ten-day Citizen’s Initiative Conference. The conference focused on roles and expectations in our changing environment. In round table discussions and informal interaction, the delegates exchanged ideas concerning the similarities and differences between the roles of women in the US and USSR, examined the influence of government, economics, environment, and culture on these roles, and explored strategies to enable the women of both countries to work together to improve the status of women around the world. More than 1,000 Tacoma-area residents helped to entertain our guests. |
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| March 24, 1990 a one-day conference, "Setting a Public Policy Agenda," was held at Pacific Lutheran Unversity Center. Participants were invited to celebrate our achievements, review the present and plan our future. Keynote speakers were Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder, National BPW President LaVerne F. Collins, and Tacoma Mayor Karen Vialle. A policy agenda was developed during workshops on health care, legal issues, spirituality, peace, women's roles, emplyment, family issues, environment, education, international issues, finance, and politics. |
| Congresswoman Patrica Schroeder and Women of Vision founder, Judie Fortier |
| April Hill reports to the Future Search Conference |
| Cece Funkhouser, WOV founder, talking with Svetlana Shevenchenko, Deputy Mayor of Khabarovsk, Russia. |
Board member Jan Secor spent the 1999-2000 academic year as a Fulbright scholar in Novosibirsk, Russia. She served as a consultant to the Siberian Academy for Public Administration on leadership development at the grassroots and community level. She also continued Women of Vision’s work with Siberian women by giving workshops and seminars in Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, and the Altai Republic. Jan advanced our work by giving workshops in Vladivostok, and Ulan Ude as well as renewing previous ties in Kharbarovsk. |
| Women of Vision Board 1999 (left to right) Gloria Stancich, Judie Fortier, Sarah Cross, Lavonne Hoivik, Jan Secor, Sinoun Hem, Diane Mikhlin, Nancy Baskett send Jan off to Siberia. |
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| Korean delegation protests against sexual harassment. |
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| Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder and Cece Funkhouser |
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| On March 2, Diane Mikhlin and Marina Tyasto accept a Proclamation from Mayor Bill Baarsma honoring Women of Vision for 15 years of service to Tacoma through our international work. |
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| Domestic Violence Institute During Phase I, The Domestic Violence Institute completed an exchange with women in Tacoma’s sister city of George, South Africa. A group of eleven traveled from Tacoma to George and CapeTown, South Africa April 3-15. They shared multifaceted strategies in community focus groups, meetings with elected officials, and in specialized workshops on developing policies to strengthen women, communities and families around the issues of violence against women. During Phase II of the Domestic Violence Institute, April 27-May 8, twelve South Africans visited domestic violence programs, the court systems in the Tacoma area and attended seminars on related issues. · |
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| On March 2, guests from the Russian Far East and their interpreters enjoy some Tacoma sunshine with Mayor Bill Baarsma on the deck outside his office. |
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| Judie Fortier plays with children outside the Phambili BPW Refuge in George, South Africa. |