Apr

24

YNPN & Women’s Funding Network conferences

Filed Under Social Entrepreneurship, Women's Issues | Leave a Comment

After a nutty week of travel to Florida, Illinois and Indiana, yesterday I took a crack ‘o dawn flight back to Denver to attend some important conferences.  Yesterday was the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (@YNPN) conference, which brought together social entrepreneurs from across the USA to talk about strategy, progress and change. There were some awesome workshops, and I was especially moved by the lunchtime keynote given by Robert Eggers, founder of DC Central Kitchen. He was so smart, so excited, so fond of young people. He believes we can – no we MUST – lead the charge for social enterprise in the U.S. and abroad. Robert’s awesome non-profit combines several major areas of social innovation into one kick-ass organization including helping the homeless, food recycling, job training and empowering young people. (Read more about DC Central Kitchen here.) After he was done speaking, I kinda wanted to kidnap him for the weekend and ask him ten million questions, because his fresh take on banding together and working efficiently spoke volumes to me. (Don’t worry – he’s not in my trunk.)

Last night I could barely sleep with all these new and innovative ideas swirling about. Today at 7am I awoke bright-eyed (or more like puffy-eyed) and ready to volunteer at the Women’s Funding Network conference. Women from all over the WORLD came to this weekend gathering to discuss necessary measures to get money into projects and non-profits that will advance women’s safety, economic stability and overall gender equality. Being in a room with so many people from around the globe is intoxicating in it’s ability to make you think bigger and wider…

For me, the highlight of today was listening to one of my personal heroines speak, named Zainab Salbi (@zainabsalbi). She is the Founder/CEO of Women for Women International which is a non-profit that helps women who have been affected by war, in rebuilding their lives. They have programs active in Iraq, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Afghanistan just to name a few.  Zainab was incredibly inspiring, and spoke of the need to affect a woman’s economic status, the imperative of working with MEN to help women and collaborating with others to make change. Afterward I bought one of her books, and met Zainab during the book signing. She was kind enough to answer some of my questions about teaching self-defense to women in war-torn regions of the world. I asked her if she believed it was something we should investigate as Girls Fight Back begins talking to major funders about expanding outside the USA. Smiling energetically, she responded, “Why not?!”

Do you have a big idea that could change the world? What’s holding you back? I say do it.

After all…why not?

Apr

6

How to start a movement

Filed Under Social Entrepreneurship | 1 Comment

Apr

5

Does self-defense work?

Filed Under Safety & Self-Defense | 2 Comments

Most people don’t ask me this question outright, but I know they are thinking it: Does self-defense really work?

That’s like asking the Sham-Wow guy if his towel really holds 12 times its weight in liquid, right? Hey, I welcome the believers and doubters alike, and I have more to offer you than my belief in the effectiveness of self-protection measures. But first, let’s figure out why it’s so hard to believe a woman can fight back and win.

I believe that doubt over the effectiveness of self-defense comes from a few places. First, many women feel insecure about their ability to fight back, simply because they have never received any training.  This is why we need to make self-defense training more available to all women, and introduce it earlier in life. Second, bad advice like “fighting back will only make him mad” seems to permeate trickle-down wisdom through generations. This advice is not only inaccurate, but also dangerous.

The NIJ (National Institute of Justice) commissioned a study in 2005 called The Impact of Victim Self Protection on Rape Completion and Injury, authored by Gary Kleck and Jongyeon Tark. Click here to read the entire 77 page study, or just read the highlights below.

  • Potential victims who resisted their attackers, either physically and verbally, decreased the odds of being raped.
  • Fighting back does not mean a woman is more likely to be injured.
  • Self-defense significantly reduces the chances of being raped.
  • Certain self-defense techniques reduce the risk of rape more than 80 percent compared to doing nothing.
  • According to victims, the most effective ways to fight back include: attacking or struggling against their attacker, running away, and verbally warning the attacker.
  • If your idea of self-defense is stalling, cooperating or screaming from pain or fear – these approaches actually increase your risk of injury. So if you’re going to protect yourself, it’s gotta be forceful and strong!

Kinda makes you re-think just how dangerous you can be with even simple self-protection measures! If you’ve been putting off learning self-defense, don’t delay any longer. Click here to read about some of my favorite self-defense programs who offer classes in cities across the USA.