Chang Takes the Reins as New CEO of BS of California Fdn

Chang brings dynamic leadership experience in federal, state, and community health

SAN FRANCISCO (Feb. 12, 2020) ­ Blue Shield of California Foundation announced today the appointment of Debbie I. Chang as president and chief executive officer, overseeing its programs of more than $30 million in annual grantmaking to meet the diverse health needs of all Californians and to address the root causes of poor health and violence. 

Chang takes the reins.
Blue Shield of California Foundation Names Debbie I. Chang as President and CEO. (photo credit: Blue Shield of California Foundation)

Chang, currently senior vice president and chief policy and prevention officer at Nemours Children’s Health System, which is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, with operations in five states and Washington, DC, has an extensive history of developing innovative national programs, leading ambitious health partnerships, and advocating policies to promote the health of children and families.

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NoVo Foundation Announces $10 Million in Life Story Grants

(Jan 28, 2020) The NoVo Foundation is honored to announce the recipients of The Life Story Grants: a $10 million, three-year investment in fifteen projects that open exit ramps and close on-ramps to commercial sexual exploitation across the U.S. 

The Life Story Grants follows the launch of The Life Story: Moments of Change, a survivor-centered examination of 13 moments that can shape — or change — the trajectory of how girls and women enter the sex trade — also referred to as “the Life”.

life story

NoVo remains committed to deepening our understanding of systemic barriers faced by survivors and lifting up the work that will be a catalyst for change. The Life Story Grants aims to support and expand the efforts of underserved leaders across the country and foster collaboration among national and community organizations that seek to address the short-term needs while supporting long-term solutions. Funding for these projects will address how systems such as foster care, healthcare, immigration, housing and law enforcement can shift and respond to survivors and their communities. 

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United for Girls: DICK’S Fdn Invests $5 Million in Girls Soccer

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert; actor, director, and producer Katie Holmes; sports journalist Christine Brennan; and best-selling author and journalist Elaine Welteroth, among others, joined DICK’S Sporting Goods today to discuss the challenges and opportunities girls experience accessing sports and the impact sports and fitness have had on their lives

DICK’S announced its 2020 Women’s Initiative highlighted by The DICK’S Foundation’s $5 million grant to U.S. Soccer Foundation’s ‘United for Girls’ Initiative

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At its 2020 Women’s Initiative at the ‘Here for Her’ Summit, DICK’S Foundation announced a three-year $5 million grant to the U.S. Sports Foundation to support girls in soccer. (Stuart Ramson/AP Images for DICK’S Sporting Goods)

NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Today, DICK’S Sporting Goods and The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation hosted a Here for Her Summit in New York City, a focused and collective effort to champion women and girls in sports and fitness.

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Vital Voices Teams Up with wiseHer to Grow Women in Business Globally

(February 4, 2020) wiseHer and Vital Voices Collaborate to Accelerate Impact of Women Entrepreneurs Across the Globe

New partnership provides personalized advice and financial support to Vital Voices’ network of social entrepreneurs and women business leaders, expands wiseHer’s global reach

Vital Voices and wiseHer have announced a new collaboration aimed at helping women business owners with mentoring and professional development. (Image Credit: wiseHer)

Framingham, MA: wiseHer, a female-founded global knowledge marketplace that helps women business owners and professionals advance through 1:1 access to expert advice, is proud to announce a new partnership with Vital Voices, a global movement that invests in women leaders who are solving the world’s greatest challenges.

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Melinda Gates Wants Cities to Get Gender.Equality.Tech

New City-Based Initiative to Increase Women in Tech in the U.S. Kicks Off in Chicago

January 28, 2020 Pivotal Ventures, together with Break Through Tech, SecondMuse, and several leading social organizations, announced today a new initiative, Gender Equality in Tech (GET) Cities, designed to accelerate the representation and leadership of women in tech through the development of inclusive tech hubs across the U.S. With a $50 million investment from Pivotal Ventures, the initiative will focus on three U.S. cities over five years – kicking-off in Chicago in January 2020. 

An image of Chicago with words typed over which read Gender. Equality. Tech.
The GET Cities project will invest $50 million in three cities over five years. (Image credit: Pivotal Ventures)

As local tech ecosystems grow, GET Cities looks to engage students from the first college course, to women in the current workforce, to female founders and investors. The initiative aims to create collaborative models that can be replicated in other growing innovation hubs by bringing together key stakeholders to invest and align resources and create shared goals for women in tech across academia, non-profit, government, venture capital, and business sectors in each selected city. The goal is to maximize the impact of local women-in-tech efforts, crowd in other funders, and foster local coordination that can accelerate the pace of change, nationally.

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Jeannie Sager is Women’s Philanthropy Institute’s New Director

The Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI has named Jeannie Sager director. She previously served as director of philanthropy at the Indiana University Health Foundation.

jeannie sager
Jeannie Sager, Incoming Director of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the University of Indiana Lilly School of Philanthropy. (Photo credit: WPI)

An established philanthropy leader, Sager brings a wealth of expertise and more than 25 years of nonprofit leadership and development experience in a variety of fields, including higher education, independent schools and healthcare. She has held key executive positions at several large nonprofit organizations.

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Emerge Names A’shanti Gholar Incoming President

Washington, DC—Emerge, the nation’s premier organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office, announced today that it has named A’shanti Gholar as its next president. In this role, Gholar will lead the organization and steer its overall strategy and direction, overseeing a national staff as well as affiliates across the country. This announcement comes after an extensive, nationwide search for candidates across the country.

A'shanti Gholar
A’shanti Gholar will serve as President of Emerge, an organization which trains Democratic women candidates. (photo credit: Emerge)

“The board and I are extremely confident that A’shanti is the right person to lead Emerge into the future,” said Rashmi Yadav Marya, Emerge’s National Board Chair. “She is a highly respected political leader and has a deep understanding of the organization.  We are extremely fortunate to have her as our next president.”

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WFN Announces Leadership Transition as CEO Steps Down

WOMEN’S FUNDING NETWORK BOARD OF DIRECTORS ANNOUNCES LEADERSHIP TRANSITION 

San Francisco, Calif. ― After six years at the helm of one of the oldest women’s philanthropy organizations in the world, Cynthia Nimmo will be stepping down from her role as President and CEO of the Women’s Funding Network (WFN), effective Feb. 17, Julie Castro Abrams, Governance Chair of the organization’s Board of Directors announced today. 

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Elizabeth Barajas-Roman will be the incoming President and CEO of the Women’s Funding Network (Image Credit: WFN)

“I am so proud of what we have accomplished at WFN,” Nimmo said. “We are on a strong trajectory for continued growth and expansion. After 13 years with the organization, the last six as President and CEO, I believe that this is the right moment to create space for new leadership to build off of this momentum and take WFN into 2020 and beyond.”

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Gender Equality Index Tracks More Companies, Expands Metrics


GEI data reveals female-led companies have more women in other top roles, and that companies are increasingly focusing on attracting – and retaining – female customers

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The 2020 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index included 325 companies, up from 230 companies in last year’s index. (Image Credit: GEI)

New York, January 21, 2020 – Today Bloomberg announced that 325 companies headquartered across 42 countries and regions are included in the 2020 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI), up from the 230 companies across 36 countries and regions in last year’s index. The GEI tracks the financial performance of public companies committed to supporting gender equality through policy development, representation, and transparency.

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Progress for Gender Equality in the European Union: How’s it Going?

Editor’s Note: This article about gender equality in the European Union was produced by the European Institute for Gender Equality.

It is almost a quarter of a century since the Beijing Platform for Action was adopted by 189 governments following a landmark UN conference in 1995. New research from EIGE shows that no EU country has yet fully implemented this blueprint for women’s empowerment, with issues such as ageing societies, migration and climate change bringing new challenges.

european union
The European Institute for Gender Equality discusses the progress for gender equality in the European Union. (Image Credit: EIGE)

“The ageing population of the EU brings new challenges for gender equality as women continue to be the main providers of care. While unpaid care work is indispensable to the wellbeing of individuals and wider society, its contribution to economic growth is largely invisible,” says Virginija Langbakk, EIGE’s director.

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