How a New York nonprofit found a way to celebrate Women’s History Month

About 750 social work students are heading to Albany on March 5. They will lobby for a new proposal that would require legislators to view all legislation through a “racial equity lens,” according to a March 1 press release. It is all part of the annual Social Work Legislative Education and Advocacy Day, an event hosted by the National Association of Social Workers - New York State Chapter and other organizations.

“We aim to advance our students’ knowledge about policy issues in social work practice and teach them about advocacy, and to promote adoption of specific laws,” said Jennifer Zelnick, professor and chair of Touro’s Social Welfare Policy Sequence.

The Chinese-American Planning Council raised nearly $500,000 at a Feb. 28 event in New York City. Attendees included Mayor Bill de Blasio, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, and more than a dozen other elected officials, according to a press release. The social services agency honored author Paula Williams Madison, Samuel Lowe of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, William Tam, CPC Board Secretary and CPC’s Community Health Services. More than 1,000 guests attended the event to celebrate the Lunar New Year at Jing Fong Restaurant in Manhattan’s Chinatown.

The Brooklyn Community Foundation honored five social justice organizations with its $100,000 Spark Prize on Feb. 28. More than 325 people attended the morning event, emceed by actress Ana Gasteyer at the Lepercq Space at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, according to a press release. A total of 120 organizations applied for the prizes, which a group of 35 experts awarded – for the first time ever – to organizations that are all led by women. They are:

• The Campaign Against Hunger
• Cypress Hills Child Care Corporation
• Girls for Gender Equity
• Red Hook Community Justice Center
• VOCAL-NY

One nonprofit has found a way to celebrate Women’s History Month in a new way. Five prominent women of color in STEM fields will be highlighted on LinkNYC displays throughout March, according to a March 1 press release. Global Kids – in partnership with LinkNYC, and the New York Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications – mobilized students’ creativity to make the displays of these five women:

• Jane Cooke Wright, a pioneering cancer researcher and surgeon noted for her contributions to chemotherapy.
• Marie Maynard Daly, the first African-American woman to obtain a doctorate in chemistry in the United States.
• Mabel Keaton Staupers, a pioneer in the American nursing profession.
• Sinah Estelle Kelley, a chemist who worked on the mass production of penicillin.
• Susan McKinney Steward, the third African-American woman to earn a medical degree and the first in New York State.