Women4Change Celebrates Founders and Ushers in its Next Chapter

This month, Women4Change Indiana honored our founders, ushered in the new leadership of Angela Carr Klitzsch, and celebrated our partners and supporters at our Next Chapter Celebration held at the magnificent Girl Scouts of Central Indiana’s Founders Lodge.

W4C Chair JoAnn Hoskins announced the materialization of the Sasso-Williams Collegiate Scholarship Fund, established in 2024 to recognize an outstanding student leader demonstrating excellence in service as part of a Women4Change Indiana collegiate chapter. The namesake scholarship is in honor of our founders, Rabbi Sandy Sasso and Jennifer Nelson Willams who, after the 2016 presidential campaign revealed a disturbing breakdown of civility and tolerance and permeance of harmful rhetoric in our society and at home in Indiana, convened a small meeting of what was supposed to be 50 concerned women, and over 1,000 showed up to take action. W4C’s Angela Carr Klitzsch acknowledges that while she celebrates this milestone in her life and is determined to put her professional expertise to work, that “our democracy is in peril” which makes our large-scale GOTV efforts all the more critical in Indiana.

Deborah Hearn Smith, W4C Action Fund Chair introduced Mayor Joe Hogsett, City of Indianapolis, who shared that he is the father of a 19-year old daughter and implored us to keep fighting, as the conditions in Indiana for girls and women are far worse than he ever imagined. He also joyfully welcomed to Indy, Caitlin Clark.

In case you missed it, the Indy Fever has added Clark to their roster early this month, and Mayor Hogsett had this to say at our Next Chapter event: “Indianapolis has been defined by names like Reggie and Peyton” with Caitlin’s arrival, he said “The face of Indianapolis sports for the next generation will not be a man, it will be a woman,” -Mayor Joe Hogsett, Women4Change Indiana Next Chapter Celebration, April 16th, 2024.

Clark has played a key role in the record-breaking year of women's sports. We are excited to have her in Indianapolis to inspire a new generation of female athletes and we insist on equal pay for both she and her fellow Fever players. Caitlin Clark’s starting salary will be $76,535 in her first year with the WNBA, roughly 100 times less than her male counterparts. (ABC News, April 18th, 2024)

A Word from Congressman André Carson

Andre Carson, U.S. House of Representatives, shared a message of encouragement for Women4Change from Washington D.C.: “We need your leadership, more than ever. It takes courage to do stand up for what is right. Keep up the good fight.” - Andre Carson

A Word from Congressman André Carson at Women4Change Next Chapter Celebration on Vimeo

Below are some highlights from our Next Chapter Celebration!

We thank all who attended, lent their support, and we extend our appreciation to the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana for inviting us into their gorgeous and rustic space, and Nameless Catering for providing delicious food for our guests.

April marks an important awareness month for National Minority Health, Fair Housing, and Sexual Assault Awareness

National Minority Month

National Minority Month exists to provide awareness about the health disparities among racial and ethnic minority and American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations and encourages everyone to take action to end these inequities.

So far, we have already celebrated International Day of Maternal Health Rights and Black Maternal Health Week. We’ve highlighted the fact that in Indiana, in 2020, the maternal mortality rate for Black women (208 per 100,000 live births) was almost 2 times the amount for white women (108 per 100,000 live births) (Indiana University Public Policy Institute, 2022). We will continue to fight for a higher quality of healthcare for all women in Indiana.

Fair Housing Month

Indianapolis has the second-highest number of evictions of any city in the United States, surpassed only by New York (Spiegel, 2023). Unsurprisingly, like many other social issues, women, people of color, and immigrants are disproportionately affected by the housing crisis and are overrepresented in these eviction numbers.

It's important that tenants know their rights. According to Housing4Hoosiers, tenants have the right to a habitable place to live, privacy, legal action, and the return of your security deposit. For more details, check out Housing4Hoosiers.org.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month

April is also Sexual Assault Awareness Month. At Women4Change, sexual assault prevention and consent education is something that we value and prioritize all year-long. We encourage you to check out the following statistics, provided by the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault & Human Trafficking;

Indiana ranks highest in the nation for the number of reported rapes among teen girls.
1 in 5 Hoosier women have been sexually assaulted.
1 in 3 women are sexually assaulted while in college.
1 in 7 women who are raped become pregnant, according to a new study released by the CDC.
50% of transgender people have experienced sexual violence.
People with disabilities are sexually assaulted at nearly 3 times the rate of people without disabilities.

If you or someone you know needs sexual assault services, you can find an advocate in or near your county here.

Is there something happening in your world that relates to Hoosier women’s healthcare, personal safety, and economic stability, that you want to share with Indiana? Contact Aimee West at aimee@women4changeindiana.org.

Women4Change is a registered 501(c)3 corporation and your gifts are tax-deductible. To make a donation through Donor Advised Funds, please contact us.

April 2024: Women4Change Indiana Celebrates its Founders and Ushers in its Next Chapter