October Bulletin

The Bella Bulletin OCTOBER 2017

T

he beauty of a network like BALI is that you have remarkable peers to rely on for assistance as you grow as students and as leaders.

In the next few weeks, most of our BALI Class of 2017 will be applying to colleges and scholarship programs. I highly encourage current seniors to reach out to those of us who have already gone through the process. In my little space here, I’ll share a few tips that were given to me. ❖ Keep in mind that there are things you can no longer control: your GPA for the past few years, your SAT scores, etc. These things are only part of who you are. Do not spend too much time thinking about them. ❖ Spend time on what you can control. Work on your essay and short answer questions. ❖ Writing tips: ❖ No matter your topic, make sure it ties back to who you are and who you want to become ❖ Reach out to trustworthy peers and teachers to review your work at least two weeks before a deadline.

❖ Do not repeat information in your activities sheet unless you are adding qualitative information ❖ Financial aid tips: ❖ Make sure to have all needed documents on hand. If you are filing without your parents, make sure they give you the documents ahead of time ❖ Visit schools after they offer you admission in order to view with a different perspective from an applicant. Why do they deserve you? ❖ Most of all, keep in mind that where you go to college is not the end all be all. Your decisions are very important – no doubt.

However nothing is entirely unchangeable.

You can love where you end up, or you can not love it and transfer. Do not stress to much over it. You are all extraordinary, ambitious young women and you will be successful no matter where you end up.

Gisselle Rodriguez Benitez Editor-in-Chief

State and Local Elections are taking place November 7th!

We’re always in need of more political op-ed articles! Please submit

If you have any ideas for social media campaigns or newsletter content, let us know!

The International Day of the girl is a day to celebrate girls everywhere. It is a day to celebrate the power, voices, and unique places in the world.

On October 11th, our Class of 2017 alumni went to the United Nations Headquarter for the Girls Speak Out International Day of the Girl Summit. The Bella Abzug Institute Co-Sponsors this event where hundreds of devoted young women and girls learn and discuss empowering and fighting for the justice of girls around the world.

As written on the Summit website, “there are so many unusual challenges girls have to deal with today, from injustice in society, their community and in the workplace, to unfairness in opportunities in education, or gender violence, sexism, war, climate change, and many others. There’s no right or wrong answer here.

What’s important is how you define “crisis” or “injustice” and how you or a girl you know dealt with it.”

This summit presents an amazing opportunity for our alumni to not only listen to other girls speaking about the concerns they fight for, but also for our girls to speak their minds. As per tradition, we were awesomely represented by one of our very own BALI girls, Martina Amate Perez. Martina focused her speech on immigration policy in the US. “Only until we all realize that we must have immigration reform put into action will the United States be a nation we can all truly be proud of,” concluded the poised and confident Aquinas High School Senior.

"Fear of failure is something that all of us face. It often deters us from our dreams. It’s what whispers ‘What if’ in our ears when we think about pursuing a dream that seems too 'unattainable'. BALI has educated me on areas such as feminism, debate, and writing. Most importantly, it has empowered me and helped me overcome my fear of failure.

When you’re surrounded by like-minded women who encourage you to go after ALL your dreams, fear seems so minuscule in comparison. BALI has helped me see my dreams as more attainable. It has taught me that I can have it all. Thanks to BALI, I will pursue my goal of becoming a surgeon AND achieve my dream of becoming an author. "

-- Johanna Martinez, 10th Grade, Phillips Exeter Academy

"I've always been an anxious and pretty insecure person, and because of this a lot of the ideas and opportunities that I've had have passed me by because I was too afraid to reach for them. The speakers at BALI, as well as all of the amazing BALI trainees and interns, really changed the way I see myself and my goals for the better. They taught me not to be afraid to pursue something I want and not to be discouraged by hard work. They also taught me the power of networking and that it's okay to ask for help when you need it. Since attending BALI, I can already feel a difference in the way I approach challenges or opportunities both big and small. I feel more confident, more eager to learn as much as I can, and most importantly, I feel like I am better equipped to help others."

-- Zoe Donovan, 10th Grade, Bard High School Early College Queens

"I wish people knew that feminism is not a way to be annoying and express the power of women. I wish they knew that equal rights is an ongoing battle amongst all men and women. We are not here to be taken a fool of. We are here to show we are equal and powerful."

-- Arianna Khemraj 8th Grade, Richmond Hill

Abiha Kazmi

Avalon Zborovsky-Fenster

Class of 2016

Class of 2017 At only 15 years old, Abiha Kazmi is already doing big things, and is excited to continue achieving her dreams.

At her school, Queens High School for the Sciences, Abiha is the president of her school’s chapter of Amnesty International and the founder of her school’s chapter of the American Red Cross.

Through her school’s chapter of Amnesty International, she aims to raise awareness about the many human rights violations occurring throughout the world, and to assist in the effort to curb these atrocities. With her work through the American Red Cross, she hopes to educate members of my school and community about disaster preparedness and to host local blood drives with the organization.

Abiha has a strong appreciation for BALI and the lessons it taught her to become her best self. “The Bella Abzug Leadership Institute taught me what it means to be a confident leader. This school year, I have undertaken two important leadership opportunities. BALI gave me the skills necessary to successfully pursue these opportunities and fulfill my responsibilities. I have become a more confident, well-rounded individual through attending BALI, and will be forever thankful to the BALI team for giving me leadership training. From teaching me the importance of taking charge of my own space to the utility of correct body language to impart a powerful message, BALI taught me how to be an effective community leader.”

Avalon ZborovskyFenster, 15, is a sophomore at The Stony Brook School.

She was inspired by the stories shared by her fellow peers at BALI as well as her own individual experiences.

She is the CoPresident of the Youth National Organization for Women on Long Island, an organization focused on the intersectional empowerment and education of young women and their peers. Avalon is also the newly appointed National Director of Diversity (and only female on the board of directors) for Next Generation Politics.

In that role, she will be meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on October 20th to advocate for youth involvement and representation in politics, as well as working to implement a nationwide curriculum of cultural tolerance and awareness. She will be working with lawyers to implement a notolerance policy for discrimination in the bylaws of NGP. She also will continue interning with the office of Congressman Tom Suozzi as he gets closer to his re-election campaign.

Lastly, inspired and empowered to take matters into her own hands from her work with BALI, she has begun going across Long Island as a motivational speaker, focusing on issues of youth advocacy and activism for issues of social equity and awareness.

Avalon believes firmly that with perseverance, dedication, and the eagerness to learn, young women have the power to pave the path to a brighter tomorrow.

Sydney Ireland, a 2014 Summer Training Program alumna, is an extraordinary example of the ambitious and brave girls that complete our programs. For the last few years, Sydney has been featured in multiple national news outlets for her fight to allow girls into Boys Scouts.

Many argue that there is “already a Girls Scouts,” however Sydney knows better than anyone that the programs offered are just not the same. Girls Scouts tends to cater to more creative interests, while Boys Scouts teaches survival skills that are normally learned in the outdoors. Sydney firmly believed that she deserved to learn the skills that her brother had access to. Since the age of 4, she had tagged along with older brother to Cub Scout meetings.

She has been involved, yet unofficial member of Troop 414 in Manhattan.

Though it was a controversial decision, as of October, the Boys Scouts of America, will now allow girls to participate. This opens doors for girls to access opportunities like earning the highest honor – Eagle Scout Rank.

We are so proud of Sydney here at BALI. Read the following NPR article about Sydney and her devotion to this cause.

Meet The Teenage Girl Who Wants to Be A Boy Scout April 29, 2017 by Yasmeen Khan

According to the Boy Scout Law, "a Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent."

But does a Boy Scout have to be a boy?

Sydney Ireland has been involved with scouting since she was four years old, when she began tagging along with her older brother to Cub Scout meetings. Since then, she has been an unofficial, but enthusiastic, member of Troop 414 in Manhattan.

Now she is 16, and she's pushing Boy Scouts of America to allow girls like her to become official members.

Over the years, Sydney's activities with the troop have included camping trips, hiking, archery, ice climbing and, yes, knot-tying. As a city kid, she has learned to cherish a connection to the outdoors and she credits the Boy Scouts for helping to foster it.

But although the local troop has welcomed Sydney's participation, she is not able to officially earn merit badges and advance in rank along with the boys around her, because she is a girl. According to national policy, the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts only enroll boys — including transgender boys, as of earlier this year.

But Sydney is a girl. And, to her, the policy doesn't feel fair. For the last few years, she has been asking the Boy Scouts of America to let girls officially join through letters to national leadership, public op-eds and a Change.org petition.

serves boys and young men through the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, which are year-round programs specifically for boys in the first grade through age 18."

If they're identical programs, then why are they separate?

Delimarkos noted that the Boy Scouts of America does offer co-ed programs, such as an outdoor adventure initiative called Venturing. But Venturing starts only at age 14, and it does not offer the same opportunities to earn merit badges as the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts do.

Sydney specifically wants a shot at becoming an Eagle Scout, like her older brother, Bryan.

Sydney has earned ample support for her endeavor, including from fellow scouts and the National Organization for Women. But her critics inevitably ask the same question: Why don't you just join the Girl Scouts?

"I know that almost everything that the Boy Scouts do, I want to do," Sydney said. "And if they're identical programs, then why are they separate?"

The Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts are two distinct, private organizations. While there may be some overlap in activities or their core missions of fostering leadership skills, they offer different programs. Even the Girl Scouts say as much.

"No, we're not meant to be the girl equivalent of the Boy Scouts," said Andrea Bastiani Archibald, who serves as the "Chief Girl Expert," at Girl Scouts of the USA. Archibald does tout the Girl Scouts as a group that is welcoming to all girls and their interests, be it art or the outdoors.

"But if it doesn't feel right for them," Archibald said, "I really laud their parents and those girls for finding space that is."

"I just want to see a change," she said. "Right now they're discriminating against girls, and I'm just calling it as it is."

The Boy Scouts of America declined an interview and would not comment on whether the organization plans to review their policy.

However, Director of Communications Effie Delimarkos did say that the organization "continually works with Scout Executives to evaluate and improve programs to better serve youth participants."

Sydney takes scouting and the skills involved so seriously that she has sought membership in troops outside the U.S. She is a full, dues-paying member of a troop in Ontario, Canada — one of dozens of countries with co-ed scouting.

Delimarkos also wrote: "We understand the values and lessons of Scouting are attractive to the entire family. The Boy Scouts of America

But she is determined to become an Eagle Scout as a full member of Troop 414, reaching the top achievement of an organization she has been part of nearly her entire life.

In fact, Sydney recently earned the Chief Scout's Award, Canada's highest honor in scouting, and has the badge and a letter of congratulations from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to show for it.

Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Starts at Oxford, on October 10th, 2017

By Liam Stack Oct. 10, 2017 (New York Times) Malala Yousafzai, the 20-year-old Pakistani activist who was shot by the Taliban for advocating girls’ education, began her studies at the University of Oxford this week.

Ms. Yousafzai, the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate, announced on Twitter on Monday that she was attending her first classes at the elite British institution. A picture of a laptop with three school books on logic accompanied the post.

“5 years ago, I was shot in an attempt to stop me from speaking out for girls’ education,” she wrote. “Today, I attend my first lectures at Oxford.”

Ms. Yousafzai was formally accepted to Lady Margaret Hall in August. It is the same Oxford college that Benazir Bhutto, who went on to become the first female prime minister of Pakistan, attended in the 1970s.

Clare Woodcock, a spokeswoman for the university, confirmed on Tuesday that Ms. Yousafzai has enrolled at Oxford but said the school would make no further comment. Ms. Yousafzai had said in August that she would study philosophy, politics and economics.

At a young age, Ms. Yousafzai became a high-profile advocate for the education of girls. She appeared alongside her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, the owner of a girls’ school, in a 2009 New York Times documentary about the Taliban edict that forbade girls from attending classes.

Using a pen name, she wrote blog posts for the BBC about life in the Swat Valley, an area of Pakistan that was largely controlled at the time by the Taliban. In 2011, she was awarded Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize. It has since been renamed the National Malala Peace Prize.

But her efforts to bring change to the Swat Valley also made Ms. Yousafzai a target. On Oct. 9, 2012, when she was 15, a Taliban gunman boarded her school bus,

asked for her by name and shot her in the head and neck.

Severely injured in the attack, Ms. Yousafzai was transferred to Britain for medical treatment. She settled with her family in Birmingham, England, in 2013, where she continued her education, according to the Malala Fund, an organization she founded in 2013.

The next year, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, alongside the Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi, for “her struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.”

She has met privately with President Barack Obama and with Queen Elizabeth II, and on her 16th birthday gave a speech at the United Nations, which declared July 12th “Malala Day.” But even extraordinary lives have their quotidian moments, and few things bring them out like the emotional ups and downs of starting college. (Mr. Obama said last month that leaving his daughter Malia at Harvard University had brought a tear to his eye.)

Last month, just days after posting pictures from the United Nations General Assembly and the offices of United States senators like Jeanne Shaheen and Patrick Leahy, Ms. Yousafzai sent an anxious request for help to her more than 987,000 followers on Twitter.

“Packing for university Any tips? Advice? Dos and dont’s?” She asked, adding the hashtag #HelpMalalaPack.

Part of the problem? “Some say over pack and some say pack less,” she said in a follow-up post. But there were two items she said she would definitely add to her suitcase: English Breakfast tea and flip-flops for the dormitory shower.

Threat To Birth Control Access Should Transcend Politics

By Jill Maura Rabin, M.D., Northwell Health, contributor to Live Science March 22, 2017 President Donald Trump's new administration has introduced a dizzying array of dramatic policy changes, leaving many people struggling to comprehend the impact.

But it's his threat to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also called Obamacare, that affects nearly all 67 million U.S. women of reproductive age, according to the Guttmacher Institute, and their partners.

Such a repeal would jeopardize access to free, highly effective birth control. Republican, Democrat, woman or man: Everyone is put at risk from a wrongly politicized issue that has no place in reproductive health.

Previously uninsured Americans aren't the only ones who've benefited from the ACA. In addition to providing health care access to about 20 million adults and children, the act also requires most insurance plans to make free birth control available as preventive care. Even private, employer-based plans must do this. With Congressional Republicans recently defeating an amendment to maintain the birth control mandate regardless of the ACA's status, it's widely anticipated that many Americans who now receive birth control at no cost may soon have to pay some or all costs.

Purely from an economic standpoint — with emotional and psychosocial factors also at stake — this notion is objectionable. Nearly half of all pregnancies nationwide are unintended, but access to birth control is the best prevention. Unplanned pregnancies resulted in about $12.5 billion in government expenditures in 2008, according to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), one group urging Congress to keep the ACA Birth control access also fattens bottom lines in countless other realms, improving opportunities for education and employment and reducing poverty, according to Planned Parenthood.

President Trump's win in November triggered enormously higher interest among women nationwide in intrauterine devices (IUDs) and other long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), such as hormone injections and

implants, Planned Parenthood officials reported. Because IUDs can remain in place for many years, tremendously reducing concerns about unexpected birth-control costs, worried women who want to retain control over their reproductive health are rushing to get the devices while ACA coverage is still in place. I've witnessed this phenomenon firsthand in my own practice Superior to other pregnancy-prevention methods, because they are effective for up to 10 years without daily vigilance, LARCs are often unaffordable, even for families above the poverty level: The cost of the device plus the procedure to insert it can be more than $700. But one research project, the CHOICE Project in the Midwest, showed that 75 percent of women would choose LARCs if financial barriers were removed.

Where I work, in New York, more protections are in place to maintain free birth control access for state residents, despite the national headwinds. Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently made a bid for a state constitutional amendment protecting a woman's right to choose regardless of federal developments. In addition, he has said he will push for all insurance companies to continue covering free contraception for New Yorkers.

The state's PCAP (Prenatal Care Assistance Programs) and many family planning programs even outpaced the ACA by providing free reproductive care, including LARCs, to eligible women since 2007. We know that programs like these actually save money: Every dollar invested in such publicly funded family planning services in 2010 saved more than $7 in Medicaid expenditures that would otherwise have been needed to pay the medical costs of maternity and infant care, according to ACOG. As a physician treating many struggling families, I've seen firsthand what happens when contraception isn't covered. Working several jobs just to pay for rent and food, these individuals simply can't afford the extra expense of birth control, and so may opt to go without. But that's simply not acceptable.

We cannot allow our political views to supersede our humanity.

The reproductive health of our mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins and friends should be a fundamental right and not a topic for political debate.

Critical Question: 1) This article was written in earlier this year when many of these actions were mere threats, this month, the Trump administration began to expand employers’ rights to deny birth control to their employees, especially if it contradicts their religion. In the case of birth control, what is the best way to respect religion while ensuring that everyone in our country, who needs it, has access to contraception?

Las Vegas – The Deadliest Shooting in American History Sunday, October 1, 58 people were killed in Las Vegas at the Route 91 country music festival in what is now the deadliest mass shooting in American history. The shooter, Stephen Paddock was a retired mail carrier, tax auditor and gambler. Paddock’s motives still remain unknown, with no ties to a political party, or extremist group. The event has sparked new debates concerning control; most Democrats are pushing for increased restrictions on gun purchases, specifically on “bump stocks”, while most Republicans encourage waiting for more information about the event before Congress “politicizes” it. Earlier this year, the Trump administration took action to ease gun control laws by the preventing Security Social from Association reporting “mentally impaired recipients national a to background check database”, and the move to ban bump stocks is currently at a standstill.

Gill v. Whitford & The Constitionality of Gerrymandering On Tuesday, October 3, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for the Gill v. Whitford case that could determine the constitutionality of gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering is the process of redrawing district lines to favor a certain political party that is carried out through “packing” and “cracking.” “Packing” is the strategy of drawing district lines to ensure that a certain party is the while majority, “cracking” does the opposite by dividing members of a political party so that they cannot form a majority. Retired law professor William Whitford, along with other plaintiffs, argues that the redistricting efforts in Wisconsin in 2010 skewed election results to favor the Republican Party. Member of Wisconsin’s Election Commission Beverly Gill argues that the case should not be heard and that Whitford and other plaintiffs should not be allowed to sue because they

do not live in the affected districts. The Supreme Court’s verdict will be announced in June 2018.

Hollywood – Exposing the Horrors of Sexual Assault This month, almost fifty named Hollywood actresses and employees of Harvey Weinstein, film producer, former executive who cofounder of the company Miramax, have come forward to report cases of sexual assault, harassment and rape over the past three decades.

Investigative pieces on Weinstein by the New York Times and The New Yorker early this month are credited for bringing these issues to public attention and those encouraging affected by or associated with Weinstein to speak up about these incidents. While many in the film industry knew about the ongoing misconduct, others have been open about being surprised that the self-proclaimed liberal and women’s rights advocate had committed these acts. Knowledge of Harvey Weinstein’s actions has also encouraged thousands of women to speak up about their own experiences with sexual assault and call attention to the epidemic using #MeToo on various social media platforms. Men have been responding to these calls to action with #HowIWillChange.

13 Year-Old Advocate Nominated International Children’s Peace Price

for

Autumn Peltier, thirteen year-old advocate for water from protection Wikwemikong First Nation tribe in Ontario, has been the for nominated Children’s International Peace Prize. Inspired by her aunt, Josephine Mandamin, Autumn began taking action in her community at the of only eight years old. Since then, Autumn has been declared a water protector, highway a organized the attended shutdown, Assembly of First Nations (AFM) Annual General

How the Las Vegas Shooting Proves the Injustice of U.S. Gun Policy Drefnie R. Limprevil BALI Class of 2016 On October 1st, shots began to fire on a crowd of about 22,000 people at a country music festival in Las Vegas.

By October 3rd, 58 were confirmed dead and at least 489 injured, taking the place of the 2016 Orlando Pulse shooting, in which 50 were killed, as the deadliest mass shooting in recorded U.S. history. Upon hearing of this shooting, I anticipated the usual routine of Congress: a moment of silence, most Democrats insisting on passing gun control, most Republicans insisting on not modifying gun laws and many claiming not to politicize such an event. I’m not alone in this expectation; almost every late night presenter expressed discontent with many politicians’ “thoughts and prayers.” So, perhaps now is the time to politicize this event, as it is yet another example of the threat to justice caused by U.S. gun laws, before our very eyes.

The U.S. has some of the loosest gun laws, while also holding the highest homicide-by-firearm rate among developed nations. The consistent lack of social motivation to sufficiently act on this issue, suggests a disregard to those who experience the detrimental effects of gun violence over those who believe in their freedom to purchase weapons easily. This points to the failure of a government to protect some in order to favor others, a textbook example of injustice. States and cities with loose gun laws not only have increased amounts of gun violence, meaning a lower standard of living for those caught in the crossfires, but also allow bad situations to quickly become fatal, in cases ranging from home invasions to suicides. Therefore, the gun control conversation must shift from one concerning personal freedoms to one about creating a free and just society for all. We must move beyond the maxim of “responsible gun ownership” to genuine debate on how we change a society that’s willing to abandon those on the receiving end of the bullet for the sake of a very specific type of freedom, remembering that this type allows gun ownership without

background checks, but increasingly refuses a woman a hold on her own body. We must stop accepting directives such as Senator John Thune’s, “to take steps in [our] own lives to take precautions…As somebody said – get small,” where we minimize our feelings of safety and freedoms in the public sphere for the price of other’s prerogatives.

Therefore, it is only when we amend gun laws in this country that we can bring justice to those for whom we have allowed to stay small for so long.

To Kneel or Not to Kneel Sarah Tessone BALI Class of 2017 October

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2017

This week with the expectation that the National Football League is going to decide whether players will be forced to stand for the national anthem, the debate once again resurfaces and sparks divisiveness among Americans.

While there remains two polar sides regarding the “appropriateness” of kneeling when the national anthem is heard, the issue is more nuanced than initially perceived.

This topic was first ignited back in 2016 when Colin Kaepernick refused to stand as the U.S. national Anthem played in protest of the racial injustice and police brutality many African Americans face throughout the country. The topic resurfaced sparking controversy at the end of September, when President Trump scolded the league by saying that players who refused to stand should be fired. In response to this statement along with many other harsh comments and tweets against them, N.F.L. players throughout the nation locked arms and demonstrated in solidarity.

I believe that athletes have every right to protest in such a way, and should certainly not be fired for taking a knee; however, demonstrating the national anthem is quite disrespectful as it does in fact stand as a symbol of our country. From a legal standpoint, freedom of speech and the right to peacefully demonstrate is an undeniable First Amendment right. The intended message of refusing to stand as Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall, said is that: "I'm against social injustice... I'm not against the military or police or

America at all.” Although many Americans understand the intended message and majority oppose firing players, only 36% of Americans believe it to be “appropriate” (Huffington Post Poll) and 72% of Americans believe it to be “unpatriotic” (Reuters Poll). The reason for such an inconsistency lies in the fact that the national anthem is seen as a symbol of the United States and standing for it is a sign of respect. And frankly, through this lense, the act of demonstrating the anthem is quite ironic as this country is what gives individuals the right to speak up and protest.

Further, due to the fact that many Americans see the act of kneeling as unpatriotic, it thereby diminishes its actual purpose of speaking out against systemic racial inequalities. Therefore, while I believe that they should with certainty be allowed to continue, to truly emphasize their message a different form of protest can not only be more appropriate, but also more effective.

Puerto Rico: Taking Action Rachel Mintz BALI Class of 2017 In late September, Hurricane Maria ravaged through the US island territory of Puerto Rico. Now, weeks later, over a quarter of homes still lack clean water and 85% are without electricity. The United States government is failing to provide Puerto Rico with the necessary aid needed to alleviate the crisis. Instead of taking immediate action and assuming the role of a true leader, Donald Trump has instead opted for petty tweets and an irresponsibleness that has resulted in the continued suffering of the people of Puerto Rico. The United States is considered one of the most, if not the most, powerful nation in the world. It is incredibly disheartening to see our own government fail to help fellow American citizens. President Trump has had the audacity to blame the citizens for causing debt and call them lazy while they are struggling to survive. President Trump did not make these allegations against Texas or Florida when natural disasters attacked them, which raises the question: why Puerto Rico? Perhaps the idea of helping a predominantly Hispanic society leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the president. Hispanic lives should not be valued less than any other American citizen. Despite the government’s failure of a response, many have embodied the true American spirit by not hesitating to help those in need in

Puerto Rico. Hope is not lost as long as people continue to act and defend what they believe is right. When our government does not promote our values, we must take an active role and make a difference ourselves. Jennifer Lopez organized a benefit concert One Voice: Somos Live! to raise money for Puerto Rico. Celebrities worked together to gather money for a cause they understood was necessary to help. While we may not be celebrities, we still have the power to influence our friends and family as well as our communities to donate towards the Puerto Rico relief effort and remind Puerto Ricans that the words of our president do not represent how we feel; we will not let his hurtful words stop us from working together to help American citizens in need.

“When you give yourself permission to communicate what matters to you in every situation you will have peace despite rejection or disapproval. Putting a voice to your soul helps you to let go of the negative energy of fear and regret.” ― Shannon L. Alder Special thanks to the amazing writers of the month!

Black Girls Code offers programming and events in coding for African American girls.

Brotherhood/Sister Sol offers afterschool and summer programming in relationship-building, self/global awareness, social justice, leadership development, and more. Some of their programs are gender-specific.

ChickTech offers programming and mentorship in STEM for high school girls.

Curious Jane offers classes and summer programming in science, theatre, arts and crafts, and more for girls.

Digital Girl, Inc. works at high schools to provide programming in STEM and offers tech workshops for the community.

Girl Be Heard works in high schools to teach girls about gender, race, and class through theatre, and offers workshops and performances.

Girl Vow offers education, mentorship, advocacy, and life skills training for girls.

Girls for Gender Equity offers programming in community advocacy, leadership, and social justice for girls.

Girls Inc. offers programming in statistical analysis, economic literacy, leadership and community action, STEM, media literacy, athletics, sexual health education, substance abuse prevention, self-defense, and more for girls ages 6-18.

Girls Leadership offers Parent & Daughter workshops, parent education, and summer day camps for girls entering grades 4 and 5.

Girls on the Run offers a physical activity based youth development program for girls in grades 3-8.

Girls Who Code offers afterschool and summer programming in coding for middle and high school girls.

Girls Write Now offers mentoring programs in writing, digital media, and college preparation for girls.

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GOALS for Girls offers year-round programming, a summer intensive, weekend forums, and internships in STEM for middle and high school girls.

LOVE Mentoring works at high schools to deliver small-group mentoring for young Latinas.

Life is Precious offers individual and group counseling, arts therapy, academic support, and nutritional and fitness activities to prevent suicide among young Latinas.

Lower Eastside Girls Club provides programming in STEM, business, art, leadership, and advocacy, as well as mentoring for girls in grades 6-12.

NYC GREAT! offers programming and mentoring in college and career readiness for high school girls.

NYU GSTEM is a six-week summer program for high school girls during the summer between their junior and senior years who have high aptitude in STEM subjects.

Powerplay NYC works in elementary, middle, and high schools to offer afterschool programming in physical activity and healthy living.

Sadie Nash Leadership Project provides afterschool and summer programming in leadership and social justice for girls ages 14-22.

Soul Sisters Leadership Collective works in schools to offer workshops to explore issues faced by young women of color.

Vibe Theatre Experience offers theatre and media programming for girls ages 13-19.

Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls offers afterschool and summer music programing for girls.

YWCA provides programming in leadership and advocacy, STEAM, career and college exploration, and more for girls.

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Liz Abzug

Oriela Baliaj

Gabriela Valette

Founder & Executive Director

Senior Program Associate

Program Coordinator

Liz J. Abzug, Founder/Executive Director Erica Forman, Board-Chair Meg Holzer, Secretary Cynthia McKnight, Treasurer Erica Forman, Chair Cynthia McKnight, Treasurer Meg Holzer, Secretary Eija Ayravainen Gloria Steinem Joanne Davila Maya Catherine Popa Maya C. Popa

Claire Reed Harold Holzer Jonathan Greenberg Judy Lerner Liz Cooper

Betsy Scheinbart-Norton Jerry Goldfeder A.J. Lederman Kylie Reiffert Kai Gilchrist

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Gisselle Rodriguez Benitez Editor-in-Chief School: Northeastern University Major: Economics BALI Class of: 2016 Email: gisselle@abzuginstitute.org

Wilma Abam-Depass Section Editor School: Croton High School Grade: 11th BALI Class of: 2017

Zoe Donovan Section Editor School: Bard Early College Grade: 11th BALI Class of: 2017

Adriana Rodriguez Section Editor School: Brown University Major: Political Science BALI Class of: 2016

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