Events

Climate Intersectionality Workshop, led by guest speaker Ollie Perrault, Director of Youth Climate Action Now
The Zonta Club of Northampton Area has taken on educating our communities about climate change as a gender issue for the 2022-2024 biennium, so we can all take action to make a difference – Zonta Say NOW to Climate Action.

Our guest speaker on November 17 was Ollie Perrault, a high school student and climate activist from Easthampton. Ollie will introduce us to climate intersectionality – everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression, and we must consider anything and everything that can marginalize people if we are to make an impact in our efforts to tackle inequalities and injustice.

Ollie lead us in an interactive workshop, where we explore intersectionality and how we can take action. To be an ally in the climate change movement, check your privilege (what impacts discrimination you do or don’t experience) and pledge to listen and learn from varied points of view. NO ONE SOLUTION WORKS FOR ALL. Large or small, start making a difference in your sphere of influence.

Ollie encourages us also to follow Climate Action Now of Western MA [https://climateactionnowma.org/] and the Youth Group as we develop advocacy and service initiatives on Climate Change.

About our speaker: Ollie Perrault is a fifteen year old climate activist from Easthampton, Massachusetts. She is the founder and director of Youth Climate Action Now and she has been a leading member of Mass Audubon’s Youth Climate Leadership Program since she was 11. She is committed to fighting for environmental justice, advocating for an intersectional system change, and working to get more young people involved in direct climate action.

 

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Community Resources for Women Series:  The Care Center

In 2021, the Zonta Club of Northampton Area presented a conversation with Anne Teschner, Executive Director of The Care Center.  We learned how TCC has been able to open doors of amazing opportunity for eager students in this struggling, vibrant community.  We encourage you to review The Care Center’s website.

Most urban and inner-city communities provide programs for at-risk students, aiming to complete the high school diploma and assist with further training.  The outcomes are often only modestly successful, especially for young women – and especially for those with children.  The Zonta Club of Northampton invites you to a presentation of a program for young mothers, based in Holyoke, MA, that has developed an incredibly successful formula for personal achievement.

Ms. Teschner will tell us how The Care Center grew into a ground-breaking educational powerhouse that turns lives around.  Upgrading expectations and creating a very different teaching and learning environment, TCC moved away from the typical classroom settings.  Dynamic teaching, sports involvement and societal awareness have helped young women re-envision their lives, while the program meets every student’s needs from childcare to transportation to housing.  The response of the students has been most gratifying; about 75% of the Care Center students continue into college training, with student-wide evidence of personal and career benefits.

We will also hear about the creative collaborations with many area institutions that The Care Center has developed during these twenty-plus years, including an innovative and unique degree program with Bard College.

Anne Teschner came to lead The Care Center in 1998, after serving as the founding director of the Tri-City YMCA Family Daycare Network and the Holyoke Teen Pregnancy Coalition.  Earlier, she founded the Massachusetts YouthReach Initiative, a statewide art intervention and community development program for at-risk youth that has been adopted by states nationwide.  Locally, Ms. Teschner founded the Amherst Cinema Center, a community cultural hub in Amherst.  She earned a public administration degree from the University of Massachusetts and a MA in American Studies from Trinity College.

 

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Community Resources for Women Series:  Safe Passage

Western MA:  You may have heard about its Hot Chocolate Run fundraiser or maybe its Say Something campaign to help prevent domestic and sexual violence, but what is Safe Passage? How does it support women in our community? How has it been impacted by the pandemic?

To learn the answer to these and other questions about Safe Passage, you are invited to join a Zoom presentation with the Zonta Club of the Northampton area on Thursday, February 18, at 6:30 p.m.  A counselor-advocate with Safe Passage will bring us up to date on the organization’s activities both before and during the pandemic.  The presentation will be followed by a question and answer period, facilitated by Judith Luddy, president of the local Zonta club.

Please register for the presentation by emailing Northampton@zontadistrict1.org; you will receive a link to join the no-cost event.

“There is much concern about the potential for increased domestic violence and child abuse during these dark days.  We know that Safe Passage will have a lot to say about their work, some suggestions about how we can be more aware, and possibly even be helpful,” says Seren Derin of Amherst, vice-president of the Northampton Zonta Club.

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Special Projects are “Awards and Scholarship“ and “Non-Profit Organizations“

Awards and Scholarships 

• Young Women in Public Affairs Award
• Women in Technology Scholarship
• Jane M. Klausman (JMK) Women in Business Scholarship 

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Non-Profit Organizations in our Club’s area

• Girls Inc. of the Valley – We help, send $ and participate in projects 
• Safe Passage – we help, send $ and “Hot Chocolate Run (or Walk” in December.
• Tapestry Health information.

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Items for getting money for our club, so we can give 2/3’s money to the items above and 1/3 for Zonta International to help International Service Programs.

• Mandala Note Cards