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D.C.'s Powerful Women Honor the Rebecca Project
Washington is in many ways a small city where the very poor and vulnerable live within sight of the rich and powerful. Rarely do the two groups meet or talk. Saturday night was an exception.
At a private home in the tony Kalorama neighborhood, surrounded by embassies and multimillion-dollar residences, the elite women of D.C. spent an evening with women who have survived addiction, incarceration and poverty.
This gathering was, surprisingly, a natural and warm experience.The inaugural event to honor the Rebecca Project for Human Rights was the brainchild of founder and executive director Malika Saada-Saar and Autumn VandeHei, the group's consultant for policy, advocacy and development. Attendees were asked to donate online or by pledge cards.
"We wanted to raise the profile of Rebecca Project, so I thought, what group do I have access to? Who do I know?" explained VandeHei, wife of Politico co-founder and executive editor Jim VandeHei. "And I realized I know powerful media women on TV, newspapers, the Internet. So if we bring together the Rebecca Project with women who are powerful in their own right, we can come together to elevate and learn from each other's power and strength."
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The contingent of leading media women was out in full force, including CNN's Dana Bash, Amy Holmes, Jessica Yellin and Edie Emery; NBC/MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell, Betsy Fischer, Carrie Dann; ABC's Robin Sproul; NPR's Michel Martin; Politico's Tammy Haddad, Kiki Ryan, Nia-Malika Henderson; CBS/FishbowlDC's Christine Delargy; The Hill's A.B. Stoddard; Congress Daily's Erin McPike; the Washington Times' Liz Glover; the Washington Post's Sally Quinn, Liz Spayd and Ceci Connolly; and Time's Jay Newton-Small.
From the realms of politics, lobbying and philanthropy were: Deborah Lehr of Stonebridge International; the evening's hostess Juleanna Glover of Ashcroft Group; Shanti Stanton of Elmendorf Strategies; Christina Sevilla of the U.S. trade representative's office; First Lady Michelle Obama's press secretary Katie McCormick Lelyveld; Ludmila Cafritz; Susan McCue, the former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and now president of Message Global LLC; White House officials Stephanie Cutter and Carole Browner; and writer/producer Susanna Quinn.
Invitations had been sent to the women, but men came as plus-ones. Among them were John Rogers of Goldman Sachs, who sponsored the evening through the charity 10,000 Women; White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee; Jack Quinn of Quinn, Gillespie; Matt Stanton of Fortune Brands; John Arundel of Washington Life; DJ/writer Tommy McFly of MIX107.3; Richard Wolffe of Public Strategies; Geoff Tracy of Chef Geoff's restaurant; Hugo Gurdon, publisher of The Hill; Mark Liebovich of the New York Times; former Rep. Tom Downey; Conrad Cafritz; Winston Lord; Michael Feldman; Perry Bacon; Lee Brenner; Mark Paustenbach; and Dr. Chris Degannes, proud husband of Malika Saada-Saar.
Two years ago, Saada-Saar and VandeHei came up with the concept of "Co-Madre" -- Spanish for "mothering with" -- bringing successful women and young mothers together across lines of class, race, education and life experiences to support one another.
The "Mother Leaders" of the Rebecca Project spoke to the attendees to share their life stories, advocate for family services and alternative sentencing, and mostly to show the strength and courage it took to transform their lives. Rebecca Project co-founder Imani Walker circulated through the crowd with Lorna Hogan, Rosetta Kelly and Angela Day to bravely and unabashedly tell their stories to potential donors and reporters.
Day, in particular, silenced the cocktail party chatter with her tragic story. In April 2008, while Day was out of town to celebrate her 10th anniversary of sobriety, her 24-year-old daughter Sheena, a teacher with a master's degree in education, was shot and murdered by her boyfriend (the father of her infant son) while she was sleeping.
Maintaining her sobriety through devastating grief and the trial that followed (the boyfriend was given a 50-year sentence), Day is now raising her grandson. She said she came to the event because "my daughter would have wanted me to." But her grief, anger and pain are still very close to the surface. Day said that she "feels blessed to have been Sheena's mother for 24 years. But God has mysterious ways."
Hogan, who has been sober for "eight years and eight months," says that if not for family treatment, "I don't know what would have happened to me." Hogan said she had been "incarcerated, addicted, hopeless and separated from my children."
It was only through family treatment -- four months as an in-patient and then 22 months as an outpatient – that she was able to heal the "underlying trauma from childhood abuse that drove me to drugs." She was also able to get her four children back from the foster care system and into her home.
The Rebecca Project for Human Rights is a non-partisan, non-profit that advocates for public policy reform and justice on behalf of the most vulnerable women and girls. The group, founded in 2001, has changed laws and criminal justice methodology at the national and local levels.
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Emily Miller
Emily Miller, a public affairs consultant in Washington, DC has over 15 years experience in politics and media... moreRelated Articles
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Comments (11)
gvpal52
8:43AM Nov 15th 2009
New poll says Hispanic women hate Pelosi and that could spell trouble for the Democrats.
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(3)
(3) 
gvpal52
8:44AM Nov 15th 2009
Now there's some feminine Washington gossip to chew on!
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(1)
(1) bonbon
11:17AM Nov 15th 2009
here are a lot of people who have nothing good to say about Fancy nanct Pelosi, I am one.
she should have been voted out of office last year, had she not been reelected, this country would have been much better off, the stimulus package, health care, and all thos money wasting programs began with her.
now she wants to add another tax to this country's already heavy tax burdon, the VAT = value added tax, that could increase the cost of everything we buy by 15 percent.
she is one of the driving forces that is destroying this GREAT NATION,
she should have been voted out of office last year, had she not been reelected, this country would have been much better off, the stimulus package, health care, and all thos money wasting programs began with her.
now she wants to add another tax to this country's already heavy tax burdon, the VAT = value added tax, that could increase the cost of everything we buy by 15 percent.
she is one of the driving forces that is destroying this GREAT NATION,
RATE THIS COMMENT:
(4)
(4) garry402
4:16PM Nov 15th 2009
Nancy Pelosi should take Southwest Airlines back to San Fransisco because bags fly for free.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (4)
(4) bonbon
11:22AM Nov 15th 2009
nice article
but how about Hillary today, the way she is able to speak, and without a teleprompter.
her down to earth ideas, and her understanding that we cannot fix everything, that there are no instant answers.
the way she holds herself in an interview.
the Big ZERO will never reach her level. NEVER
once again she has shown she should have been this country's president,
but how about Hillary today, the way she is able to speak, and without a teleprompter.
her down to earth ideas, and her understanding that we cannot fix everything, that there are no instant answers.
the way she holds herself in an interview.
the Big ZERO will never reach her level. NEVER
once again she has shown she should have been this country's president,
RATE THIS COMMENT:
(2)
(2) gvpal52
12:40PM Nov 15th 2009
Atleast she is an American
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(3) Edwardosan
4:53AM Nov 16th 2009
Right....she is just as bad as Obama. Glad she is still grasping straws.
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(2) bonbon
11:22AM Nov 15th 2009
y
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(0)
(0) garry402
4:29PM Nov 15th 2009
No, he really didn't bow to the Emperor and his wife, did he? I joked about that in another comment, but sometimes the Big-0 is funnier than fiction.
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(2) gvpal52
5:36PM Nov 15th 2009
How is the POST going at 5:30? 10 comments and half of them are mine. Not so good I guess?
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(0) boredwell
8:49PM Nov 15th 2009
Ah, now if the power women had put down the champagne and exchanged their Jimmy Choos to walk for a day in the well-worn shoes belonging to those clients of the Rebecca Project, then they would have gained some insight into that Other World which you say is so close yet so far away from their purview. Pictures may be worth a thousand words but experience is priceless.
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