Yesterday was the Oklahoma Women's Coalition Annual Meeting and Issues Forum. We met at Francis Tuttle Technology Center in Oklahoma City (Building 7) which was beautiful; I highly recommend this facility for events. Ned's catered and the food was perfect. We had a great turnout of extraordinary Oklahoma women leaders from across Oklahoma. We began with a quick business meeting - elected new officers and board for 2010-2011. (I've stepping down as Chair but will stay on the board and chair the Leadership Development Committee,) We did special recognitions for Faye Henson's service as Treasurer, Quin Tran Dykstra's wonderful leadership as chair of the Communications Committee. And had a lovely award for Representative Kris Steele for his leadership sponsoring House Bill 2998 which creates a program that diverts non violence, low risk women offenders away from prison into an alternative facility where they can receive drug treatment, job raining, etc.
And then we had three excellent panels during which you could hear a pin drop (so I think people were interested)! The first panel was "Legislative Update: What Happened This Session (That Impacts Oklahoma Women and Girls)?"
Oklahoma State Senator Susan Paddack (pictured here with CEO of YWCA OKC Jan Peery (left) and Executive Director of Girl Scouts of Eastern Oklahoma Karen Morgan (right) talked about the 2010 Oklahoma legislative session and offered tips on advocating, etc. while Jan Gilmore Loftis (left in second image), the Oklahoma Women's Coalition Administrator, talked about bills impacting women in the session just ended. Our Advocacy Committee (chaired by Jan Peery) and board of directors elected to be conservative this year and only officially support two bills and one budget initiative - all of which passed.
The second panel was entitled "Connecting the Dots Between Education, Poverty and Incarceration." I moderated and opened with statistics on women and poverty in Oklahoma. Erin Taylor, Academic Project Coordinator at the Oklahoma State Regents for higher Education described
Project SMART (Single Mothers Academic Resource Team) which she directs. Debbie Boyer with the Division of Female Offender Operations, Oklahoma Department of Corrections gave a great talk on characteristics of incarcerated women in Oklahoma.
Our final panel was on "The State of Domestic Violence in Oklahoma." Jan Peery moderated and made opening remarks that set the tone. Jackie Steyn, LPC, Chief Programs and Compliance Officer at the YWCA of OKC and Andrea Hamor Edmondson, Administrative Program Officer with the Injury Prevention Service, Oklahoma State Department of Health (and the Coordinator of Rape Prevention Education Program) spoke. All three presentations were riveting.
Donna Lawrence (right in final image), incoming Coalition Chair, closed the program by sharing ways Oklahomans can get involved in the Coalition. I received the Coalition's first Pioneer Woman Award (see picture) - pretty sweet, huh?!?
Why are you not a member of this organization yet?!? $25; $10 for students. We'd love to have you as a member -- men,too!
You can join the Oklahoma Women's Coalition online by clicking HERE.
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I really "took off" this weekend and just played with family. My younger step-daughter, Margy, came from Austin, TX to attend the Woman of the Year banquet Friday night with her older sister, Adena, my amazing husband, Larkin and me. We were joined by friends Lindsay LaFevers Archer and Debbie Yoeckel. It was a fun night and a relaxed weekend of getting caught up on family news and just futzing around.
Tonight Cindy Simon Rosenthal was selected the Journal Record's 2010 Woman of the Year.Rosenthal is Mayor of Norman, OK and Director of the Carl Albert Center at the University of Oklahoma. You can view her faculty bio here.
Did you know there is a resource center for teen parents in Oklahoma City whose mission is to help our Oklahoma teen parents "Get Back on Track"?
Fletcher School District Superintendent Kathryn Turner has been named Oklahoma's 2010 "Superintendent of the Year." She was honored June 10 during the Oklahoma Association of School Administrators Annual Conference hosted by the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration in Oklahoma City. Turner has 24 years of experience in education and has served as superintendent at Fletcher for the past six years. She was recognized for numerous accomplishments including adding a new library, additions to the agricultural building and renovations to the high school gym. She also started an after-school program for enrichment and remediation and a free summer academy for children in the school idstrict. Read more here.
Here are a few more places that you can go to read about Oklahoman Hannah Atkins who died June 17, 2010. She was such a smart, gracious woman and brave, honest public servant. I have only the warmest memories of working with her. I am so sad that she is gone. My thanks to Diane Blank with the League of Women Voters of Norman, OK who provided the links below:
I love my ZOMM. It was a little pricey but NOTHING compared to replacing a lost iPhone. And with my ZOMM, I never get more than 30 feet away from it without it letting me know. Now The New York Times has given it a nice review and you can read the review here. This product was invented by Laurie Penix and her husband - who live in Tulsa; you can follow Laurie on Twitter (@theZOMM).
The second panel was entitled "Connecting the Dots Between Education, Poverty and Incarceration." I moderated and opened with statistics on women and poverty in Oklahoma. Erin Taylor, Academic Project Coordinator at the Oklahoma State Regents for higher Education described Project SMART (Single Mothers Academic Resource Team) which she directs. Debbie Boyer with the Division of Female Offender Operations, Oklahoma Department of Corrections gave a great talk on characteristics of incarcerated women in Oklahoma. 
Donna Lawrence (right in final image), incoming Coalition Chair, closed the program by sharing ways Oklahomans can get involved in the Coalition. I received the Coalition's first Pioneer Woman Award (see picture) - pretty sweet, huh?!?
