Tuesday Talks

Advocacy involves promoting the interests or cause of someone or a group of people. An advocate is a person who argues for, recommends, or supports a cause or policy. Advocacy is also about helping people find their voice. There are three types of advocacy - self-advocacy, individual advocacy and systems advocacy. Self-advocacy refers to an individual's ability to effectively communicate, convey, negotiate or assert his or her own interests, desires, needs, and rights

In individual advocacy a person or group of people concentrate their efforts on just one or two individuals. According to the group Advocacy for Inclusion "Advocacy is having someone to stand beside you if you think something is unfair or that someone is treating you badly and you would like to do something to change it."Systems advocacy is about changing policies, laws or rules that impact how someone lives their life. These efforts can be targeted at a local, state, or national agency. The focus can be changing laws, or simply written or unwritten policy.

So, in today’s conversation we will give space to amazing and pioneering women who are pushing for progressive and equitable policies

June is Pride Month, when the world's LGBTQ communities come together and celebrate the freedom to be themselves. Pride gatherings are rooted in the arduous history of minority groups who have struggled for decades to overcome prejudice and be accepted for who they are.

The original organizers chose this month to pay homage to the Stonewall uprising in June 1969 in New York City, which helped spark the modern gay rights movement. On a hot summer’s night in New York on June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in Greenwich Village, which resulted in bar patrons, staff, and neighborhood residents rioting onto Christopher Street outside. Among the many leaders of the riots was a black, trans, bisexual woman, Marsha P. Johnson, leading the movement to continue over six days with protests and clashes. The message was clear — protestors demanded the establishment of places where LGBT+ people could go and be open about their sexual orientation without fear of arrest.

So, in today’s conversation we will give space to amazing and pioneering women who are pushing for equal rights and treatment of individuals within the LGBTQ+ community.

World Refugee Day is an international day designated by the United Nations to honor refugees around the globe. It falls each year on June 20 and celebrates the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution. World Refugee Day is an occasion to build empathy and understanding for their plight and to recognize their resilience in rebuilding their lives.

World Refugee Day shines a light on the rights, needs and dreams of refugees, helping to mobilize

political will and resources so refugees can not only survive but also thrive. While it is important to

protect and improve the lives of refugees every single day, international days like World Refugee

Day helps to focus global attention on the plight of those fleeing conflict or persecution.

So, in today’s conversation we will give space to amazing and pioneering women who are working to support refugee communities.

Time and again, we are heartbroken by the news of lives lost to gun violence. Part of our healing must be the conviction that we will do everything in our power to prevent these tragedies from happening.

Gun violence affects people of all identities and should be considered a public health issue, not a political one—an issue that needs to be addressed with research and evidence-based strategies that can reduce morbidity and mortality.

So, in today’s conversation we will give space to amazing and pioneering women who are finding ways to address gun violence and create solutions to keep communities safe.

Over 11 million men, women and children are in prison around the world, a large proportion for minor and non-violent offenses. Over 3 million people in detention are awaiting trial. However, overall, crime is not rising; the number of people in contact with criminal justice systems across the globe, and significantly the number of people in detention, is rising.

All persons are vulnerable when they come into contact with a criminal justice system, face criminal proceedings, are in detention, or re-enter society after time spent in prison. Yet many systems continue to be designed for a homogeneous population and are discriminatory. Specific groups of people indeed require a distinct approach to protect their rights because they are especially at risk of violence or neglect. They too often ignore needs and vulnerabilities that are due to differences of circumstance, individual characteristics, or identity, typically older people, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, ethnic and religious minorities.

So, in today’s conversation we will give space to amazing and pioneering women who are fighting for criminal justice reform in various communities and finding ways to uphold incarcerated people’s human rights as a whole.

Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month is observed annually in May to celebrate the contributions that generations of AAPIs have made to American history, society, and culture. The origin of AAPI Heritage Month dates back to the 95th Congress (1977-1978) when five joint resolutions were introduced proposing that a week in May be designated to commemorate the accomplishments of AAPIs

This year's theme, selected by the Federal Asian Pacific American Council, is "Advancing Leaders Through Collaboration," which builds on a leadership advancement theme series that began last year.

So, in today’s conversation we will give space to amazing and pioneering women who are apart of the AAPI community and are finding different ways to highlight and uplift the community.

Impact investments are investments made with the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Impact investments can be made in both emerging and developed markets, and target a range of returns from below market to market rate, depending on investors' strategic goals.

The growing impact investment market provides capital to address the world’s most pressing challenges in sectors such as sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, conservation, microfinance, and affordable and accessible basic services including housing, healthcare, and education.

So, in today’s conversation we will give space to amazing and pioneering women who are pushing for innovative approaches to impact investing and finding ways to increase community engagement and development.

Equity in the classroom means making sure every student has the resources and support they need to be successful. Equity and equality in the classroom aren’t the same thing. Equality means every student gets the same resources and support, which sounds good in theory but doesn’t always work in practice. Imagine handing out a math assignment to students. Every student has their assignment, plus a calculator, pencil and paper. Equal, right?

But it’s not equitable. To make the assignment equitable, teachers have to understand their students and provide targeted support. This could include helping ESL students understand instructions in an unfamiliar language, providing text-to-speech technology for visually impaired students or giving students with ADHD a quiet space to complete the assignment. Students are diverse, but our education system isn’t.

So, in today’s conversation we will give space to amazing and pioneering women who are creating equity in the classroom in the hopes of providing all students with access to adequate education.

So, in today’s conversation we will give space to amazing and pioneering women who are continuing the fight to address mental health gaps and increase awareness.

Today is World Press Freedom Day, a day designated to take stock of the state of free press and expression around the world and to remember the journalists who were imprisoned, attacked, and lost their lives in the pursuit of truth.

This year’s World Press Freedom Day theme “Journalism under digital siege,” spotlights the multiple ways in which journalism is endangered by surveillance and digitally-mediated attacks on journalists, and the consequences of all this on public trust in digital communications.

World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1993, following the recommendation of UNESCO's General Conference. After 30 years, the historic connection made between the freedom to seek, impart and receive information and the public good remains as relevant as it was at the time of its signing.

So, in today’s conversation we will give space to amazing and pioneering women who are upholding the values of press freedom and finding new ways to incorporate equity and justice through access to information for all.