she matters

Des Moines is unique in celebrating Pride this year – rather than only a few days, the event spans the 30 days of June. This new way to celebrate involves activities at dozens of venues to allow as...

By now, many of us are aware of the role of trauma in peoples’ lives. The challenges of toxic stress has been clinically proven to affect brain development in utero and throughout...

In 2015, the Nike Foundation asked over 500 girls who were living in poverty what they needed for a chance to reach their greatest potential. With the help of dozens of global organizations working with...

April is recognized as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, but that acknowledgement doesn’t mean the prevalence of this problem is understood. In 2020, Iowa’s Crime...

In the United States, April is recognized as Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Acknowledgement that this occurs, however, doesn’t begin to identify the...

Although we’re just beginning the second quarter of 2021, the amount of hate and violence we’ve witnessed has been appalling. A continuation of the vitriol that has...

The past year has presented unprecedented change, primarily due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The workforce does and will continue to evolve. But changing demographics,...

There can not be gender justice until there is racial justice. This is the view of countless women’s and social justice organizations after a 21-year-old white man...

March 7, 2021 is the 113th anniversary of Louise Noun’s birth. It seems appropriate that today – a day during Women’s History Month and a day preceding International Women’s Day – we take moment to...

At Chrysalis Foundation, we believe women and girls do remarkable things. Women’s achievements came to the forefront this year as we celebrated the inauguration of our country’s first female...

In June of 2017, the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality released a startling report entitled Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood. Through a quantitative...

As we celebrate and recognize Black History month, we have revisited this video. This is 8-year-old Lola, a young girl who dresses as the Black women who...

As you know, Chrysalis believes that personal safety is one of the most critical basic needs of women, and that every woman and girl deserves to feel safe in...

Chrysalis prioritizes community investments in safety for all girls and women. Our definition of safety begins with freedom from violence, which is one of the most...

The events of the past week have been traumatizing for all. The mob that ravaged our nation’s Capital horrified and alarmed us, and for many the event was triggering for people who face...

It’s 2021 and most of us are delighted to close the book on 2020, hoping for better days ahead. A recent article in ForbesWomen pointed out a few positive cultural changes...

According to Diversity Best Practices, an organization of diversity thought leaders (and a division of Working Mother Media), “What were once deemed as primary (race, gender, ethnicity, LGBTQ+, abilities, age, religion) and secondary (socioeconomic, education, geography, family, job function) dimensions of diversity are now overlapping.” The company scans corporate...

As with so many pieces of our history, the true story of Thanksgiving is credited to the efforts of a woman – a 19th century writer: Sarah Josepha Buell Hale. Although she is more...

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing women out of the workforce at an alarming rate. In September, for example, about 617,000 women left the workforce, compared to...

The daughter of immigrant parents, she was the first Black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She was the first Black American and first woman to launch a campaign for the presidency...

Chrysalis includes economic empowerment as a core priority in our work. Among the issues involved in economic empowerment is the persistent gender pay gap; across the...

November is National Family Caregivers Month, honoring millions of caregivers across the country taking care of aging parents, children, and ill or disabled family...

In our current pandemic, it is sometimes hard to see beyond its effects on each of our current situations. As Chrysalis has shared before, women experience more...

On Friday, September 11, 2020, we marked the 19th anniversary of the most tragic and painful event in our history – the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Centers on September 11, 2001. As you may...

This weekend, the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg marked a watershed moment in the history of the Court. Established by the U.S. Constitution, the court of six members...

United Way of Central Iowa has extended an invitation to Chrysalis and other organizations to join the 21-Day Equity Challenge, a 3-week learning opportunity...

As you know, Chrysalis brings the gender focus on all issues of Iowa workers looking for employment, and one in particular is the single greatest challenge to working...

Last week, Terry Hernandez and Brooke Findley from Chrysalis were asked to join a task force of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board. In the effort to plan for the state’s...

We’ve long known that girls lose confidence in their science and mathematics abilities in their adolescent years. Not only does this leave a gap in the classroom, but the trend for women in STEM...