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Cook County hearings on October 21!

As a result of advocacy by the Taskforce, the Cook County Commission on Women's Issues is hosting its 2010 Public Hearing on Women & Girls: Sex & Sexuality - Health & Harms. Several Taskforce members will be testifying, including:

• Melissa Spatz, who will be speaking about the unique ways that girls experience violence, and the need for girl-specific responses within multiple systems
• Mariame Kaba, who will be speaking about issues impacting young women in juvenile detention
• Claudia Garcia-Rojas, who will be sharing her initial findings from research at the Cook County Bureau of Health Services

The hearings are open to the public; here are the details:

Thursday, October 21, 2010
9 am - 12:30 pm
George W. Dunne Cook County Administration Building
69 W Washington Street, 17th floor conference room
Chicago, IL 60602

Girl/Friends summer institute featured on WBEZ

The Girl/Friends Summer Institute is one of the 3 projects we'll be featuring in our Occasional Papers series this fall. Check out this great coverage of their work on Chicago Public Radio!

http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=43458

Roundtable on July 21

Our next Roundtable, on Reproductive Justice & Violence Against Girls, will take place on Wednesday, July 21, at 5 pm. For details, and a copy of the background paper for the discussion, please email us at chitaskforce@gmail.com.

New data shows dating violence in Chicago on the rise

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

First set of Occasional Papers selected - congrats to the authors!

The Taskforce is going to be disseminating Occasional Papers to point to successful strategies to ending violence against girls. We want to know what works, and what new approaches are underway.

A big congratulations to the first round of authors, whose papers will be disseminated in November:

* Scheherazade Tillet & Salamishah Tillet, A Long Walk Home: Girl / Friends Summer Institute
* Brenda Arsenault,The Sooner the Better: The Impact of Early Exposure to Abuse Prevention on High School Sexual Assault Education
* Young Women's Empowerment Project, The Bad Encounter Line

Tell us about schools that are promoting safe learning environments!

According to the 2007 YRBS, as reported in the Status of Girls in Illinois report, more than 1 in 10 girls in Chicago has skipped school because they felt unsafe. The Chicago Taskforce on Violence Against Girls & Young Women is developing recommendations on how to make Chicago's schools safer for girls.

One factor we know is important is the culture of the school. Schools can be safe and respectful learning environments that help young people to thrive, or they can be cold, punitive environments. It is crucial that our schools develop a culture of safety and respect.

We want to hear from you about positive examples! Can you tell us about a school that is promoting a positive environment for students?