Service / Advocacy

Service Committee Chooses local Programs from the following agencies to be Funded in 2008:
Pacific Treatment Alternatives
Project Self-Sufficiency
Providence Intervention Center
Interfaith Association
YWCA
ARC of Snohomish County
Village Community Services
Deaconess Children's Services
Housing Hope
Center for Battered Women

Additional donations:

Zonta International
ZisVaw
Lester B. Pearson College
Amelia Earhart Fund
Jane Klausman Scholarship
Women in Transition Scholarship
Young Women in Public Affairs Scholarship

Thank you to all who donated to our January Club Service Project, collecting work appropriate women's clothing for the YWCA Working Wardrobe.  The program provides free professional clothing to women who live in Snohomish County and are preparing for an interview or job.  In 2005, 782 women seeking enployment received interview appropriate clothing from the Working Wardrobe.

Our ongoing service/advocacy project for 2007 is the distribution of business cards displaying the local Domestic Violence hotline.  We are asking ALL businesses to make available these cards where women would normally gather (clinics, medical offices, spas, etc.)  If anyone is interested in acquiring some of the cards to distribute, please call 425-348-3501 or e-mail info@zontaeverett.

The Zonta Club of Everett participated, on March 17, at the Edmonds Community College a one-day discussion of gender, feminist and social justice issues. The conference, "Creative Leadership Across Cultures and Generations," included a mix of social activities, dialogues and presentations on topics such as health and wellness, social justice and diversity and finance and business.

Books for Babies: In support of literacy, we will be stuffing bags with several items, including a book for a baby, to be distributed to the new mothers at Providence Hospital. The gatherings are to be held at the downtown Everett Public Library, Please call 425-348-3501 or email info@zontaeverett.org  if you are interested in participating.

CEDAW letter campaign: The members of the Zonta Club of Everett are writing letters to their respective legislators to request ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. For more information see below.
SJM 8009 - DIGEST
Requests that President Bush and the Secretary of State
place the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women in the highest category
of priority in order to accelerate the treaty's passage
through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the full
United States Senate with the goal of ratification by the
United States; and that the Washington State Legislature
exhort the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to pass this
treaty favorably out of Committee and urge it be approved by
the full Senate.
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2007&bill=8009

For International service projects please see www.zonta.or

Governor Gregoire signs Proclamation October 31, 2007; Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon signs Proclamation November 19th; Everett Mayor, Ray Stephenson signs proclamation November 14th

    In response to the Zonta Club of Everett’s request, Governor Christine Gregoire has proclaimed November 25, 2007 the Day for Eliminating Violence Against Women in Washington State (Proclamation attached).  Everett Mayor, Ray Stephenson, and Snohomish County Executive, Aaron Reardon, will also be declaring November 25, 2007 as a day set aside to address the need to end gender based violence throughout our city and county.    
     The Zonta Club of Everett was chartered in 1929 and is affiliated with Zonta International, a worldwide service organization of business and professional executives dedicated to advancing the status of women worldwide.  Zonta International has selected the eradication of violence against women of all generations as a focus locally and internationally.  The Zonta Club of Everett contacted local and state officials and requested that they join Zonta’s worldwide campaign to end the violence
    Violence is inflicted against women all over the world: in the United States a woman is battered every 15 seconds and 700,000 women are sexually assaulted annually; in Washington State one in five women reports being injured by domestic violence sometime in her lifetime; in Snohomish County; between July 2005 and June 2006 alone, the only confidential domestic abuse hotline in Snohomish County received 5,981 calls for help. 
Violence against women disrupts and destroys lives in our homes, schools, workplaces and throughout our society.  By drawing attention to this alarming and pervasive phenomenon, Zonta International hopes to reduce the numbers of women and children whose lives are damaged and improve the quality of life for all of us.
The opportunities for service are endless in our community. Through the Zonta Club of Everett and through Zonta International, we can help women and girls reach their dreams through educational opportunities, to help stop violence against women and girls, and to improve women's lives through a variety of local and international service projects. Through Zonta International, projects are in four parts of the world: Bolivia, Niger, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. We encourage our members to participate in Zonta programs at all levels. See www.zonta.org

 The first "IGNORE NO MORE" Forum: 05/07/08

The first "Ignore no more"Forum sponsored by the Zonta Club of Everett was held. Our guest speaker, along with a panel of guests, was Dr. Nuket Kardam, professor at the Monterey Institute for International Studies.Prof. Kardam has conducted research on organizational change in donor agencies, on how to make development organizations more accountable, and the problems of collaboration between donor and recipients. She has designed and implemented surveys to assess women’s economic status, liaised with women’s NGOs and NGO constituencies, for the purposes of collaboration and the development of capacity building activities. At the national and regional levels, she has advised the United Nations Development Programme on gender mainstreaming strategies, gender and good governance programs and projects and offered a training program at OECD on the same topics. She has further participated at many UNDAW, UNRISD and INSTRAW sponsored workshops as a gender expert, prepared reports and papers, edited books and offered advice in the area of gender, good governance, accountability, and civil society building. She has recently worked in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. In the fall of 1999-2000, she was affiliated with the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey as a Fulbright research scholar. In the spring of 2002, she conducted a program evaluation of a Women’s Human Rights Education Program designed by a Turkish NGO, Women for Women’s Human Rights and implemented in partnership with the Turkish government across the country. Prof. Kardam’s research interests include gender, democracy and governance, gender and institutional change, and theory and practice of development assistance. Her publications include a book titled Bringing Women In: Women's Issues in International Development Programs, a number of articles on change in international organizations, gender issues at the global level, and on Turkey. Nuket Kardam's latest article appeared in International Feminist Journal of Politics, titled "The Emerging Global Gender Equality Regime from Neoliberal and Constructivist Perspectives in International Relations, Vol. 6, No. 1, March 2004. Her latest book is titled 'Turkey's Engagement with Global Women's Human Rights', London: Ashgate Publishers, 2005. Details will follow at a later date.

Zonta Club of Everett Supports the GROWTH Act

Right now a groundbreaking bill that has the potential to help lift millions of women in the developing world out of poverty is before Congress. On July 10, 2007, Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) re-introduced the Global Resources and Opportunities for Women to Thrive Act (GROWTH Act, HR-2965) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Then, on September 19, it was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) (S.2069), bringing it one step closer to becoming a reality for women worldwide! The GROWTH Act is an innovative bill that, if passed, would make the U.S. a leader in reducing poverty and promoting opportunities for women and families around the world.