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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

Women's leadership development encourages female leaders

Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer speaks during a panel for Leadership for Social Activism Thursday at City Hall. Fuentes-Rohwer is a chairperson of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education-Monroe County and South Central Indiana. She spoke on how to improve the education system for growing children.

In celebration of Women's History Month, the City of Bloomington's Commission on the Status of Women brought together leaders in the community to discuss public education, gun control and racial justice during the annual Women’s Leadership Development event.

The event was educational and sought to assist women who wanted to be more involved with the local community, Sue Owens, program specialist for the City of Bloomington, said.

“It’s for everybody, but of course the focus is geared towards women," Owens said. "Women who are interested in getting engaged in civic involvement, women who are interested in making a difference for the community through joining various boards and commissions and through advocacy. "

Debby Herbenick, chair for Bloomington Commission on the Status of Women, said Bloomington has strong capable women in its government.

During the event, the 2016 Emerging Leader Award was given to Laura Ingram.

Ingram has a private practice as a counselor, is the adopted mother of two teenage girls and is the youth program director for Prism Youth Community. She began the program in 2014 with the goal of celebrating sexual and gender identity diversity for students aged 12 through 20,  Owens said.

Ingram was not present to receive her award, so Becca Smith accepted it on her behalf. Smith is the vice president of the Prism Youth Leadership Council. When Herbenick announced the award, Smith approached the podium.

“When Laura first asked me to accept this award on her behalf, she asked me not to speak about her too much,” Smith said. “But I’m sorry Laura, I can’t do that. Thank you for having me tonight, and on behalf on Laura Ingram, thank you for this award.”

Panelists included Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer, the chairperson of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education of Monroe County and South-Central Indiana. Fuentes-Rohwer spoke about public education in Monroe County and the county as a whole.

“The primary place for change in this, as with anything, is in the voting booth,” Fuentes-Rohwer said. “Public schools are failing — we hear this all the time. Let’s look at that. Where are they failing? The corporate takeover of our schools has everything to do with the corporate takeover of our democracy.”

Another panelist was Rachel Guglielmo, the Bloomington group leader for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, which started as a Facebook page by an Indiana woman named Shannon Watts, now has over 3 million members from all 50 states, she said. Her portion of the event focused on gun control and regulation.

“It is a grassroots organization led by American moms that want to increase gun responsibility in America,” Guglielmo said. “We also support reasonable restrictions on how, when and where people can carry guns.”

There are 30 homicides and 50 suicides involving guns every day, Guglielmo said. She said her group has a wide range of activities and is grateful for any amount of time people put in to helping with their goals.

The third panelist was Katrina Overby, a fifth year doctoral candidate at IU’s media school researching race, gender, sexuality and class in the media. Racial justice was the focus of Overby’s talk.

Overby is part of the Black Graduate Student Association and is the current adviser on the Black Student Union.

“We are also advocates of social and racial justice,” she said. “Part of the activism I’m involved in is so ingrained into my own being, but we reach out to other issues, we never want to see anyone not get the help that they need, so that’s what keeps me going.”

Several local nonprofits attended an information session, including Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, during the event for anyone interested in involvement. Signs, t-shirts and buttons adorned the table of the organization ran by Guglielmo who saiid is not against gun ownership, but advocates gun ownership responsibility.

The event did not consist completely of women, though. Monte Simonton attended the event to support his coworker, Marcella Ettinger, who was one of four Leadership Scholarship Initiative recipients that gave descriptions of their learning experiences.

“The efforts of this organization are huge and powerful, and they should be supported by everyone," Simonton said. 

Along with Ettinger was Danielle McClelland, Layla Ramirez and Stephanie Solomon. However, Ramirez was absent from the event.

“In this society we still have a long way to go to offer women opportunities, and this event does that,” Herbenick said. “We provide them with ways to get involved in the community. There’s nothing we can do about history, but that’s why it’s so important to look forward.”

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