Rockwood has thousands of alums doing incredible work all over the world, so it’s no surprise they often pop up in the news. If you’re an alum, keep us updated!

The latest from the Rockwood network:

• Alice Horn was recently appointed to the Commission on the Status of Women by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and selected to be a Soros Equality Fellow on Racial Justice.
• Ann Beeson wrote an op-ed about Texas politics for The New York Times:
  

  “Republicans have controlled all three branches of government in my home state for more than a decade. Many policies now being championed by President Trump and Congressional leaders seem old hat to Texans: defunding public education, going after immigrants, shredding the safety net. But rather than resting their boots on the table, political leaders in Texas have moved farther to the right.”

   

• Eveline Chang was honored with a campus-wide UC Berkeley leader award:
  

  “Chang was one of the campus leaders to be named a recipient of the 2017 RISE Leader Award, which recognizes “exceptional endeavors and efforts to empower women in the Berkeley community.” The evening’s event, sponsored by UC Berkeley’s Gender Equity Resource Center, included performances, speakers, dinner and an awards ceremony at the campus’ Anna Head Alumnae Hall.”

   

• Vanita Gupta was named President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights:
  

  “At a time when our nation’s ideals and progress are being threatened in such fundamental ways, The Leadership Conference is a vital nerve center of the broad swath of civil and human rights organizations that are fighting for justice, fairness, and equality around the country,” Gupta said. “Civil and human rights work has never been easy, and these unprecedented times demand a clarity of vision, strategy, and solidarity that the Leadership Conference coalition is uniquely positioned to champion. I am honored and humbled to take on this essential work to guarantee that justice and equality apply to every individual as we struggle to be a more perfect union and remain a beacon for hope in the world.”

   

• Tracy Van Slyke, Taryn Higashi, and the team at Unbound Philanthropy announced Pop Culture Collaborative, a new philanthropic resource to expand the landscape of pop culture narratives of people of color, immigrants, refugees, & Muslims:
  

  “We need to raise the bar for what we want narratives to do in our culture and to offer audiences new ways of experiencing stories and each other. Together, we have the power to help audiences and our nation imagine the more humane and just future we want to live in.”

   

• Heather McGhee, Alicia Garza, Carmen Berkley, Linda Sarsour, and Opal Tometi were all included on the Essence Woke 100 Women list.
• Jennifer Lentfer wrote a piece for The Guardian about the need to rethink the term “international development,” and explored American exceptionalism in US resistance movements for the blog The Development Set:
  

  “Around the world, people have been fighting authoritarian governments and oligarchic regimes for lifetimes, and in some cases, for generations. Citizens in the United States have an opportunity to learn from the visionary leadership of women, youth, and Indigenous people around the world.”

   

• Ai-Jen Poo and Alicia Garza co-wrote “Women Will Fight Trump’s Agenda for the Next 100 Days , Too” for Cosmopolitan:
  

  “Women of color are overrepresented in the criminal justice system and women are the fastest-growing group of incarcerated people in this country. But rather than continuing vital reforms in our criminal justice system, Trump has continually touted a return to “law and order,” an agenda that would expand laws that criminalize black families while letting police departments off the hook. Some families face double jeopardy — they are criminalized for being black and immigrant.”

   

• Amy Hagstrom Miller was quoted in an article about the reopening of three Texas abortion facilities after last year’s ruling by the Supreme Court:
  

  “Austin is where Whole Woman’s Health got our start in 2003, and we are grateful that our win in the Supreme Court last year on behalf of all Texans has allowed us to take the lead in reopening Texas clinics.”

   

• Linda Sarsour was named one of Time‘s “100 Most Influential People” for her work as one of the Women’s March co-chairs.
• Aaron Dorfman and Cathy Cha co-wrote a piece with Jacqueline Martinez Garcel and Lateefah Simon about the questions philanthropy should ask in the Trump era for the Chronicle of Philanthropy:
  

  “This is a time to consider increasing our investments in institutions led by women and people of color and in efforts to bring more of the people most affected by structural and institutional racism into the leadership of our movement for social change. As the country’s demographics continue to shift, it is critical that foundations take stock of who, not just what, we’re investing in.”

   

• Rajasvini Bhansali was interviewed by Philanthropy Women:
  

  “Typically, a non-profit will itself try to measure whether it is meeting its program objectives and goals, or have a third party conduct such an audit. But [Thousand Currents] took a different approach. “We had our grantee partners evaluate our effectiveness as an organization,” says Bhansali.”