Executive Director Deborah M. Clubb was given this year’s Ruby Wharton award for women’s rights at the 12th annual Tea and Talk at the Top ceremony in City Hall.
She was one of nine women and girls honored with the award named for his wife by Mayor A C Wharton, Jr.
“This kind of recognition for me abd my organization is very affirming, so I think you for that,” Clubb said in brief remarks.
On Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, MAWC Board member Jocelyn Wurzburg was one of seven civil rights pioneers who received an award from Wharton at historic Mason Temple near downtown. This was the first annual Be The Dream MLK Legacy award ceremony.
Panelists discuss
DV experiences
See our YouTube video
of a panel discussion held
following a local showing
of the film "Precious."
Only one organization unites women's voices in strategic action to change policies for
Shelby County women and girls - the Memphis Area Women's Council. With the help of a passionate volunteer board and linkages to the right partners and funders on specific strategic actions - the Women's Council is making change.
--Deborah Clubb, Executive Director
MAWC Executive Director reacts to city government talking ban about rape kits
Many events are planned during the month of October to raise awareness about family violence during the national Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Awareness can lead to advocacy and action.
Please see our calendar and make plans to attend one or more of these important events.
MAWC executive director talks about women in politics on Live@9:
Congressman Cohen, Commissioner Gibbons, DA Weirich Among Officials Reporting More Than $30 Million in Memphis Area Spending to Address Violence Against Women
Memphis, Tennessee – Echoing reports heard throughout Tennessee, officials and advocates from Shelby, Fayette, Lauderdale and Tipton Counties recently offered testimony before the Tennessee Economic Council on Women (TECW) about the tens of millions of dollars it costs to respond to local violence against women.
State Public Safety Commissioner Bill Gibbons testified that more than half of all violent crimes in the state are linked to domestic violence, and in Shelby County, 18 percent of occurrences in 2012 were committed by repeat offenders. Commissioner Gibbons reported a slight decrease in incidences in 2013 to date, but cautioned that it is too soon to determine what the year's full figures might look like.
Memphis Mayor AC Wharton emphasized the pervasive impact that such crimes have on municipal spending in Memphis, where public safety accounts for 70 percent of the city budget. "Not only do crimes like domestic violence take up a large share of Memphis Police efforts, they are also responsible for more than half of the city's Fire Department calls," he said, because of the need for ambulances.
Party and showing of 'Purple'
Is this year's Council fundraiser
For the sixth year, the Council is holding a party in conjunction with a show at Playhouse On The Square, and this year we'll be entertained by a performance of The Color Purple.
So please mark your calendars for June 22 and buy tickets!
The party begins at 6:30 p.m. and will feature fresh hot sliders prepared on-site by the staff from The Slider Inn.
The play, sponsored by the generous support of MAWC treasurer and founder Happy Jones and her husband Fred Terry, begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $50. You can send a check to MAWC at 2574 Sam Cooper Blvd., Memphis, TN 38112, or you can purchase online by clicking on the Donate Button (above). For more information, contact dclubb@memphiswomen.org, or phone her at 901-378-3866.
Thanks for your continuing support.
Remembering a friend and DV pioneer
Memphis Area Women’s Council Chair Sonja White passed away May 4, 2013 after a valiant struggle against cancer. She always brought strength, skill, vision, humor, compassion and passion to her life’s endeavors — especially when she was working on behalf of victims of family violence.
From left, Council President Deborah Clubb, Memphis Police Col. Mike Ryall and
Council Chair Sonja White at the 2nd annual Walk A Mile In Her Shoes™ event.
Sonja was a 2009 recipient of a Women of Achievement Vision award for which an essay was written about her life's accomplishments. You can read it here.
They walked the mile
to protest gender assault
Some of the spirited marchers in this year's 'Walk a Mile' event.
Read more.
2013 crime victims award
presented to Council director
At an outdoor ceremony that included a tree-planting, Deborah M. Clubb, executive director of the Memphis Area Women's Council, was given an award for her work in helping victims of violence in Memphis and Shelby County. read more
Walk A Mile awareness
march gets TV-24 coverage
The station filed a news report about the Broad Avenue Spring Art Walk and included
footage about the fourth annual Walk A Mile In Her ShoesTM event that took place around the art district April 19.
Women's voices are powerful when united. We make things happen. We change how things are done.
It is in that spirit that the board of the Memphis Area Women's Council initiates WomenTalk - a regular monthly time for women to gather and share the joys, sorrows, aggravations, issues, rights and wrongs in our lives.
The door of our office at 2574 Sam Cooper Blvd. will be open each second Thursday starting in April - come sip a beverage and join the conversation, 5:30 to 7 p.m. The topics will be whatever those who gather want or need to discuss. We expect - at the least - some fun and interesting conversations. Come join in!
Signed: Sonja White, president; Happy Jones, secretary/treasurer; Dr. Phyllis Betts, Lila Beth Burke,
Dr. Carol Danehower, Charlotte Wilson Hoyle, Dr. Glenda Moses, Dr. Owen Phillips, Janet Shipman, Linda Williams, Jocie Wurzburg, directors.
Walk to raise DV awareness returns to Broad
The fourth annual Walk A Mile In Her Shoes™ domestic violence awareness event and fundraiser is coming soon. The one-mile march — including men who dare walking in women’s high-heeled shoes! — returns to Broad Avenue April 19 where it once more is a sanctioned event at the Broad Avenue Spring Art Walk.
Men and women are invited to come and take part in this fun event. Registration begins at 5:30 at the music stage, on the north side of Broad Avenue. The walk is a mile around the district.
Women’s Council sponsors
national program on WKNO-TV
If you missed it, you still can see our sponsorship spot that ran at the beginning of the WKNO show, “MAKERS: Women Who Make America” to be rerun in the near future.
Here’s our spot:
Women’s Council achieves important change
Based on news reports and our conversations with City Council leadership the renaming parks committee will be enlarged to add women! We celebrate success on behalf of all local women.
Our thanks to the Council members for their quick response and to all of you who added your comments. Also our thanks to all who support the Women’s Council so that we are here to undertake this kind of action.
AND --- make your reservations now for Women of Achievement when we gather to celebrate women’s history and the astonishing local women who make things happen!
Sunday, March 3
4:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Holiday Inn University
3700 Central Avenue
At the recent 2012 Economic Summit for Women in Nashville, MAWC Executive Director Deborah M. Clubb and Dr. Carol Danehower, University of Memphis professor, met with national icon Lilly Ledbetter. In the photograph, from left: Ms. Clubb, who serves as a member of the state Women's Economic Council Foundation board; Ms. Ledbetter, author, advocate and namesake of the game-changing Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 2009, and Dr. Danehower, Fogelman College of Business and Economics associate professor and immediate past chair of the Tennessee Economic Council on Women.
From left, Council President Deborah Clubb, Memphis Police Col. Mike Ryall and
