 Hello, everyone. Welcome to Think Tech of IE. I'm Sharon Thomas Yarbrough, host of Sister Power. Our topic is, When Women Thrive Communities Prosper. Sister Power guest for today is Lila Ben-Golstein. Lila is executive director of Women's Fund of IE, a grant-making foundation dedicated exclusively to supporting women and girls statewide. She makes up half of the nonprofit's two-person staff and is responsible for everything from donor and grantee outreach, fund and friend-raising events, and keeping the lights on. Lila, welcome to Sister Power. Thanks, Sharon. It's so good to be here with you. I'm so glad we did it. Finally. Finally. Here we are. Everybody's so busy. But this is a priority. But you know, they say if you want to get something done, give it to a busy person. Give it to a busy woman. There you go. This is what I'm talking about. But before we dig deeper into Women's Fund of IE, I want to thank you so much for bringing Roxanne Gay in the author, Roxanne Gay, for Women's History Month. That was awesome. I thought so too. You're welcome. And I didn't really do that much. She was on her way to Australia and we just got lucky, really. And I just thought she was so smart and so entertaining and really intelligent. Have you had a chance to pick up any of her books yet? Yes. And speaking of her books, you know, of course, my friend, my girlfriend and I were there, Daphne Barbie-Wilton, who was a civil rights attorney, her husband, who is an attorney's sister. I know this can get complicated. Sister, Stephanie Stokes Oliver, she was telling her about Roxanne. And she said, well, Roxanne Gay wrote a story in my book, Black Ink, forwarded by Nikki Giovanni. This is how exciting we were. So Roxanne Gay is just, I mean, she wrote about, I once was Miss America. So that's how we enjoyed Roxanne so, so very much. We were calling our friends, this is Stephanie Stokes' book. We were telling our friends on the mainland that we had Roxanne Gay here. And if anyone who is not familiar with Roxanne Gay, if you just, you know, were born last night, Roxanne Gay is the author of World of Wakanda and the first Black woman to write for Marvel. Yep. Yep, she is. And she's, I mean, her imagination is just crazy. I've been obsessed with reading her ever since we found out that she was coming. And I think I spent half of my plane ride just last week coming home from the mainland in tears. Reading this novel that she wrote about a Haitian American who went back to Haiti and then was kidnapped. And the first half, of course, is very distressing because the woman's captive. But the part that had me crying was after the trauma, there's, the trauma actually continues with the PTSD, of course. So yeah, she's very, very powerful and just really moving and also so funny. I don't know. She was hilarious. Yeah. She was hilarious. I loved it. It was wonderful. I hope we can bring her back. Hope we can bring her back. Yeah, well, hopefully she'll come. It was her first time here. She seemed to be appreciating the, the surroundings and, and everything. So yeah, she expressed that at the Hawaii Theater. But that's a good, that was a good fundraising for women's fund of Hawaii. Yeah, you know, unfortunately, it was during spring break. So a lot of people were out of town, but we'll have to try to get her back. Oh, and the crowd is to me. I think for Hawaii standards, it definitely was. But for Roxanne standards, I was told, her agent told me that, oh, usually we have at least 500 people. I know, I know, I know, I know. Well, this is Hawaii. So, you know, especially on a weeknight. But let's dig deeper about women's fund of Hawaii. And I was looking at your web page and it said, there are 679,058 women and girls in Hawaii, nearly 50% of the total population of the state. What does Hawaii's fund of Hawaii do? Tell us a little bit about your mission and vision. So our mission is to support programs that empower women and girls across the state. So not just in Honolulu, although many of the programs we support are here on Oahu, but statewide. And our vision is a Hawaii where every woman and girl is safe, financially secure, healthy and empowered to reach her fullest potential. So what we do is we raise money and we give that money away in the form of, I guess, small-ish grants. The max amount has been $5,000 for some years now. And the way it works is we have grants periods in the spring and in the fall. So your nonprofit could apply for a grant as long as the program is for women and girls. We will consider your application. And when I say we, I'm referring to our grants committee. And the committee is comprised of women, I want to say leaders because they all kind of are leaders. They're women who've worked in social services or in the nonprofit sector or in the legal profession or psychology. We don't have specific criteria. It's not like an interview process to be on the committee, but they tend to be women who are really passionate about what's happening in our community. And frankly, being on our grants committee is a great way to explore just that. You know, what is going on in our community? What do these organizations feel our women and girls need to do better? To be healthier, to, you know, to get a better education, to be more successful at work, to recover from trauma, whether it be a domestic violent situation or having emerged from incarceration. My goodness. And there was a place, I mean, I also read something about when you said incarceration, which you can talk my memory about, there are more native Hawaiian women who are incarcerated here in Hawaii. There are. So the statistics tell us, the data tell us that native Hawaiian women comprise 19% of our population. At the same time, they comprise 39% of the incarcerated female population. So why are they disproportionately overrepresented in prison? That's the question. And quite honestly, I've been to WCCC. And I feel like just, I mean, I'm not taking notes or writing anything down, but I feel like it's more than 40% who are native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander in WCCC. So that's a problem. That tells me that we have a problem here. Yeah, it did say 40% of incarcerated women are native Hawaiian, though they comprise less than 20% of our states. Right. States female population. So what role does women fund Hawaii do to decrease this percentage? Well, we're, we do a number of things. We support a number of programs to make life a little less painful for women who are incarcerated. And we support programs also for women who are re-entering the community. Recidivism, I think, is a big challenge where a woman might come out of prison and get caught up in the same patterns that led her to be in prison before. So we invest in programs that help women to, you know, basically take the first step out of prison on the right foot. But as far as to address your question, we're looking at programs, funding programs that happened earlier in women's lives to help to ease the stress of poverty or to address trauma of domestic abuse or to curb addiction and substance abuse. So programs that help essentially people to be healthier and to get some skills or more education in order to be able to do well and avoid situations. Well, what of, well, just off of the top of your head, what organizations have you given grants to that help the native women, the native Hawaiian women who are incarcerated? Do you name any programs because our viewers are listening out there? Sure. They need to refer their cousin, their aunt, their sister, mother? Well, my first reaction was going to be to name a program that works with women who are currently incarcerated. So Read to Me International is one that I absolutely love. So what they do is they work with women who are in prison and help them to write a story because a lot of these women, this is a big problem to share because a lot of the women who are in prison have kids. So that's so hard on a family when mom's in prison. What's happening with the children? And then what's also happening with the family as far as that family's income, that family's economic status, if you will, or possibility takes a hit when mom goes to prison. So this program helps. It's almost a therapeutic process for these moms to write stories that they illustrate and the good people at Read to Me help with that. And then they also make these stories by the moms into books or grandmoms, by the way, into books. And then they also record the incarcerated woman reading the story and it promotes the connection or at least tries to keep the connection between a mother and her kids or grandmother and her grandchildren as it were. And I really love that one. And there's another one, Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice. I guess I should disclose that I have a bit of a bias because I'm on that board, but they provide restorative circles to allow the incarcerated person, in our case it's women, but Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice also works with men who are incarcerated to they promote healing to talk about with the person whom they may have heard what happened and that they're sorry, assuming they are. And they also make a plan for when they're going to go back out into the community, you know, what's where you're going to live? What's your job? What are you doing for transportation? Things like that. So I love that. But that's a good way on a better note is you do wonderful teas and champagne. And I know we have a beautiful picture of the ladies having fun at one of your events on a lighter note to let you know it's not all about helping. It is about helping and sharing and motivating and empowering women. But you also have fun. There you are. Now, what was going on at this picture? So this was at our main fundraiser. As I explained to you, we have a major annual fundraiser or actually, I didn't explain that. What I explained was that we do fundraising. Okay, but our main event is tea and champagne. It's in the spring last year. It was in May this year. It is a week from tomorrow. So here we are. I'm with Monica Lau's table and she is one of our Emerald sponsors this year. Monica Lau photography. Super grateful to Monica. And we're just having a great time. It's a really nice event, Sharon. We it's about 350 mostly women. But you know, it's a great place for single guys to I suppose men or or or not single, you know, to be surrounded by all that beauty. And look, she's talking about beauty. Look at the dessert. The dessert is crazy. So that is out part of our fundraising activity is it's called the dessert dash and we are so blessed here in Hawaii to have so many generous chefs who donate dessert. So our request is will you please donate dessert for 10 for our fundraising activity at tea and champagne. And the way it works is, let's say you and I are at the same table and we have eight companions. And when the dessert dash time comes, our emcee this year, it's Tonya Joaquin will say, Okay, everybody, put in your bids and we'll put in what we can. You know, maybe maybe you'll put in 100. Maybe I'll put in 50. Maybe I'll put in 5000. I don't know what mood I'm in. But so we each make a bid and the idea is that the table that bids the highest gets first choice. Now these desserts are on display from the time guests arrive until the time of the dash. Well, when we come back, we're going to continue this wonderful conversation. I want one of those dessert. Yeah, you do. All right, we'll be right back. That is so fun. It's super fun. You should come. Do you want to come? I'll see you there. Aloha. I'm Wendy Lo and I'm coming to you every other Tuesday at two o'clock live from Think Tech Hawaii. And on our show, we talk about taking your health back. And what does that mean? It means mind, body and soul. Anything you can do that makes your body healthier and happier is what we're going to be talking about, whether it's spiritual health, mental health, fascia health, beautiful smile health, whatever it means. Let's take healthy back. Aloha. Aloha and welcome to At the Crossroads. I'm your host, Keisha King. You can catch me every Wednesday. Alive at five. I'll see you there. And our special guest is Layla Ghostie. And our theme for today is When Women Thrive Communities Prosper. And we were speaking briefly about the break. We'll come back to the beautiful dessert. But you're from, you were born in Bangkok. I was. How long ago were you wasn't born? Women, we don't out till my age. But were you there for a long period of time? No, but I was fortunate enough that my parents, my mom is Thai as well, I'm Thai. My mom is Thai. My father is from Queens in New York. But they both really valued the connection with my mom's side of the family. So I went back frequently. And then as a graduate student, I spent summer studying there. And I've tried to take my kids back there as much as possible to maintain that connection. And I really, I really do feel close with with my, my home country, my other home country. I understand sisters in part of Hawaii, we're planning a girls trip 2022 South Africa. So I feel you I want that connection to the motherland as well. But I'm having so much fun listening and hearing about women's fun of Hawaii. Women and girls are so close to my heart because of my organization as well. And you've attended my organization. I'm going to attend your organization. Thank you for let's talk about April 12 tea and champagne. Let's talk a little bit about that. Because I think you only have a few tickets left. We only have a few tickets left. That is true. And I hope that people will, you know, respond to this, this invitation to please go on the site. The event site is tea and champagne spelled out dot swell, like golly that swell dot gives. So that's where tickets are available right now. And we would love to have people. I think one of the things that's really super about this event that maybe some some folks don't realize is that for the ticket price of $125 dinner is included, and champagne is included until until it runs out. Tell us about the location. Oh, yes, of course, it's at the Kahala. My favorite that the ballroom, you know, the ballroom that's downstairs. Yeah, that's where we are. And we have a lucky draw activity. Lots of fabulous prizes. Wow. Nice art. Nice art Peggy Hopper donated a print. I had some of her work. Oh, this one's beauty. And then Mike Field, who's a friend of mine who has a gallery over on the big island sent something over that's just phenomenal. I might have to win that myself. Okay, yeah. All right. Yeah, but I mean, definitely the the best, the best part I think is the dessert dash because those are on display all night. And as I was explaining to you before, the table sort of bid for that. And then the reason why it's a dash is because, well, let's say that we're, we're in a tie. Let's say that our table and the Kamehameha schools table have both bid $5,000. Well, then we got to rush over there with our table number in case they want the same dessert as we do. So Kamehameha is one of your sponsors? They are our title sponsor. And it's such an incredible honor share. And I'm really humbled by this. The confidence that they're placing in us by by by being our title sponsor. And I believe it's because I believe it's because we do good work. But I also believe it's because our programs benefit native Hawaiian women and girls, which of course is, you know, which is what they're about, supporting native Hawaiian native Hawaiian education. This is where we live. Yes, let's start in our own backyard and improving and motivating and educating our our women right here in Hawaii. I love that mission. Yeah, that's one of our guidelines actually for our grant giving is that I mean, basically all things being equal, we prefer to fund programs for native Hawaiian women and girls, women and girls, women and girls. What are some of the challenges of women's fund of Hawaii? Probably the same challenges as for many nonprofits, you know, it dollars, really, we, we get so many requests for funding. And it's amazing, because people look to us for support. And I I take that seriously, it's a it's a great honor to be asked. At the same time, it's so difficult because there are so many worthy and necessary programs that we can't afford to fund. So yeah, I would say the biggest challenge is to try to continue and grow our grant making portfolio. And we're launching our own program this year to tell us about it. I would love to tell you about it. Oh, is it a secret top secret? It's not a secret. Okay. Oh, part two. Oh, of our show of our show. Have you back? No, but if you would have told us now, well, it's it's a partnership between women's fund and a AUW, which is American Association of University Women and Seeds of Peace. Oh, I know Seeds of Peace. Yes, yes. They do such good work. They do fabulous work. And they, two years ago, I think, launched a program called Youth Talk Back. So that program was adopting their peace curriculum, their peace building curriculum, and giving that program to youth and also involving an action planning component. So basically, you know, let's teach these kids how to go out there and do something about what they think is important, what they are concerned about in their communities. So AUW and I went to Seeds and we said, we need something like that for girls because women's fund came out with a report that showed that I think it's only 9% of Pacific Islander women and girls get a bachelor's or higher. 9% only 9%. Yeah. Do you think it's because of the cost of living here in Hawaii, the lack of educating our women and girls? Why do you think the figure is so low? I do think part of it is the cost of living. Okay. I do think that. And yeah, I mean, being poor is stressful. You know, and I don't know that education is a priority if you've got a lot of other challenges happening. But just life skills can help them. Right. And then knowing that you have the support that you're not alone. Right. And so that's what we're gonna try to do. So Girls Talk Back is going to be a program that incorporates a lot of what's been done with Youth Talk Back, but we're also bringing in a feminist piece. And so by feminist piece, I mean talking about, well, what is feminism and who are the women who have made a difference here in Hawaii? And I'm talking about that and providing mentors for young women. So the pilot's gonna be this summer in Waimanalo, and we're currently recruiting if recruiting, recruiting girls ages 14 to 18 who want to participate in Girls Talk Back. Well, let sisters in power in Hawaii know that because this is what we do, we motivate, educate and empower all women and girls. And I would love to be able to help women's fun of Hawaii with that. Just reach out and touch. Thank you. I have another question for you. Yeah. As we're talking about gift giving, you know, in donations, besides donating monies, what are other ways to support the fund? Or give us other ways to give and help. We don't have the funds to help to give to women's funds of Hawaii. What else can we do? Well, if if there are folks out there who have either their own business or connections, we're always thrilled to have prize and donation items because we have a lucky draw at our fundraiser. We also we have a second fundraiser that we do in the fall, or not the fall, I guess it's technically the fall that's in November. Usually we do a costume bowling tournament. Oh, how fun. It's so fun. Yeah, it's really fun. It used to be a golf tournament. But well, for one thing, the golf tournament is very labor intensive. And for another thing, the executive director of Women's Fund of Hawaii doesn't actually play golf. Oh, no, she doesn't. No, she doesn't. I'm doing this precedent of sisters in power which don't make coffee. It's okay. Yeah. So but bowling's fun. And then, you know, you like to have as much fun as possible while you're having fun. So you got to have a costume theme. Right. So we do that in the fall and we'll be providing prize packages for bidding, that type of thing. And so we love the support of of businesses if they can or people who know others who might be willing to help us out. Because that ends up translating into more giving power. We have another picture too. I mean, you ladies have fun. And this is what I'm loving about it. And tell us about the ladies. Okay, so this is a crazy crowd here. So this is a tea and champagne last year as well. And a couple of these women, do you recognize those? I don't know if some of your listeners would recognize those things that are on their heads. They're the old fashioned hot water bottles. Well, I would recognize and I did too. So those are preemptive hangover cures. So the hosts of that table created that headgear. So yeah, people come ready for a good time. Okay, well, let's look at the next photo then. Let's see what's going on here. Oh, look at the table. Yeah. Okay, so Starno to a Marcus and Fisher is one of our sponsors, one of their attorneys over there Sharon Lovejoy has very generously sponsored us for two years in a row now. And so I'm not sure who set that up but thank you whoever it was it's got it's got our stuff right it's got the champagne which as I mentioned flows until it runs out. And then that's one of our t shirts there. The daughter of one of my board members is an extremely gifted designer. She has her own t shirt line called Doki. And I asked her I said you know, would you do a capsule for women's fund? And so that's one of the shirt she came out with. So we'll have some shirts on sale. Not that one I might only have a couple left. Okay. But we have new and different ones this year. And the the the the profit. So 100% 100% to us. Yeah. Well, since we only have just a few minutes left, what's the next for women's fund of Hawaii? Well, girls talk back. That's definitely next we're we're we're hot on the trail of creating something incredible. And my vision is that this pilot will be a success. And we will be able to continue maybe next summer with programs in other areas of I mean, Oahu initially, that think that think that it would be a good program for them, or that girls in their communities would benefit from such a thing. So that's, that's the first thing on my radar. And, you know, if I could have anything I wanted, I think we would look at doing something also for women leaving incarceration, who want to continue their education. I love that. Lila, this has been a pleasure. I've learned so much more, not about only about you, but women's fund of Hawaii. And thank you so much for spending part of your day with sister power. We enjoy you. We need to have a part two and continue this conversation. And in closing, thank you, Sharon, so much for having me. It's always amazing to see you. Oh, you're very, very welcome. Thank you. Sister power's mission is that women everywhere were learned to live as sisters to respect each other's differences, to heal each other's wounds, to promote each other's progress, and to benefit from each other's knowledge. Sister power looks forward to you tuning in every other Thursday on think of Hawaii at four p.m. Oceans of Aloha, peace and love.