How an OU Alum is making a difference

Hello fellow Classmates!!!

I am very proud to share the following article with you. As an undergraduate student at Ohio University, I became a member of a social sorority, Sigma Lambda Gamma. I chose this sorority from others not only because of it's small size, but because it constantly dedicated its time and efforts to volunteering and fundraising directed towards women empowerment, and not so much the partying side that greek life is so frequently associated with. One of my sorority sisters, who really became a mentor to me, completed both her bachelor's and master's degrees at OU with the goal to somehow work in women's health care, specifically with empowering younger women. Looking back to her graduation, she was having a hard time finding jobs and really didn't want to return home to Cleveland where she was afraid she wouldn't find a job in which she would make any real difference. After months of searching, she did. The below article explains the programs that she currently facilitates in Cleveland, one to empower healthy lifestyles for girls between the ages of 11 and 15, and one which helps support women between the ages of 18 and 24 who are leaving the foster care system and often "forgotten" thus leaving their options limited. My sister also dedicates her time to free clinics in Cleveland, to which she believes does not receive enough national attention and support.

Her involvement with the the Independent Living Skills facility is what surprised me the most, because the facility is one of the few places in the United States to offer permanent supportive housing to at-risk young adults as they work towards self sufficiency. Before speaking with Selina, I had no idea that the amount of former foster children in Cleveland who are homeless, living in poverty, or who are incarcerated is extremely high, and this program works to alleviate these potential problems. This brought to my attention, that although the United States might be better in some regards when it comes to providing support, health care and social services to "vulnerable" groups such as youth, single mothers, and the elderly, there still remains a significant amount of young adults who do not fall in to any of these categories and thus do not receive state help. IT seems to me that targeting this 18-24 group of youth, who need help establishing themselves would be a development task that would potentially help decrease the chance that these youth fall in to the prison system, in to poverty, in to homelessness, in to drugs, or become pregnant with little options thus continuing the cycle.
The today program that she currently works with is an initiative that I believe should be implemented in school districts in all cities as it serves as an educational health tool for young women, and in this specific program, mostly women who are poor and with full time working parents who are not at home to help guide these decisions. As much money is spent into dealing with these problems after they become issues, initiatives like these work to prevent such development problems and should become a main recipient for state funding.

I am not sure how to embed the link to the article about the programs in to the blog, but here it is!

http://cbcmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=351&Itemid=82