“I would like to be known as an intelligent woman, a courageous woman, a loving woman, a woman who teaches by being.”

Maya Angelou

President’s Letter

Maya Angelou always manages to put feelings into words that lift my spirits. As we all spend these hot summer days with friends, family, nature, and yes, a bit of smoke, we hopefully have the time to think about what motivates us, what fills us up. As we look ahead to our 2024-25 year it seems clear that every one of us is inspired to make our Club strong.

Most importantly, we continue to work together with a clear vision to support women and girls locally and around the world. Our June retreat was a clear example of that. Thank you Marta for allowing us to use your lovely garden to share a chock full agenda. I think everyone brought wonderful ideas and a spirit that helped each of our Committees move full steam ahead. The meetings that followed were an inspiration filled with vision, purpose, and ideas for action. This teamwork evolved into an exciting 2024-25 budget. Thank you everyone for allowing me to crash these planning sessions. It helped me to see all of the pieces fitting together, supported by our new fiscal year budgets. And it’s official…

Thank you to our FUNdraising Team for raising record-breaking levels last year; these funds are making this year and future years more impactful and secure. Thank you to our Finance Committee for reviewing budget submissions and to Michelle Médal, our Treasurer, for doing all the hard work compiling these unpreceidented budgets for both the Club and the Foundation. Not only is it the largest Foundation budget ever, but it is a clear demonstration of the critical work and fascinating vision of each Club Commitee. Our budgets will Build Better World for Women and Girls. Congratulations to all! 

- Pam

• Zappy Hour, Thursday, August 22 - hosted by Ranelle Randles. Please bring your friends! We love talking about our Club and getting others excited to join us. See invitation below.

• September Business Meeting - Thursday, September 12, 5:30-7:30 pm. Location is Valmont Community Presbyterian Church, 3262 61st St, Boulder, CO.

• District 12 Governor’s Conference, October 4, 5, 6, 2024 at beautiful Chautauqua - Zonta Foothills Club will be hosting, so SAVE THE DATE! More information to come shortly.

• October Business Meeting - Thursday, October 10, 5:30-7:30 pm. Location TBD.

• Establish a centralized library of all Club and Foundation information​….including an always up-to-date membership directory!

• Promote collaboration​ among members and committees

• Improve consistent documentation​ of our Club business, accomplishments, projects, and more.

ZFC Collaborative Hub contains folders for:

• Committees ​– Planning notes, Minutes, Resources, Archives to inform new, past and future leaders​

• Master Calendar

• Minutes

• And more

A gmail address is necessary to fully access the Collaborative Hub. While “visitor sharing” is an option for other email platforms, visitors can edit, comment on, or view documents for only 7 days before needing to verify their identity again. The good news is that creating a Google account/email address is easy and free! Create a Google account here!

Google Drive offers many advantages for our Club as we grow our membership and fulfill our mission, including:

• File sharing - Google’s shared drive folders allow us to store, search, and access files together, improving productivity, collaboration and communication. Shared files eliminate working from email attachments or hard copies. Working together on a Shared file assures that you are always reading the most current version.

• Security - Advanced security features include built-in protections against malware, spam, and ransomware. Google Drive is cloud-based, which eliminates the need for storing local files on your devices, which minimizes risk to your devices.

• Access - We can access our Club files from any device with an internet connection by logging into Google Drive.

• File compatibility - Google Drive can open 30 different file types.

Check out these training videos on YouTube to get started with Google Drive. Let’s work together seamlessly to build a better world! Just click below.

How to Use Google Drive

How to Share Google Drive Folders and Files

We will offer 4 training slots. The first is on Thursday, August 8th from 11:30 to 12:30 and again from 4:30-5:30. The second is on Wednesday, August 14th from 11:30 to 12:30 and again from 4:30-5:30. PLEASE SIGN UP HERE.

Zonta Government and Engagement Committee - Chair Nancy Rowe Colleen Farrell, Claudia Ibarra, Pam Malzbender, Amanda Elsnes, Ann Hodgson, Kathy Israelson, Catherine Médal

Governance and Advocacy Committee

Dana Rae is joining us because she is excited to work with “like-minded women who enjoy activism, service, and working towards making a better world for women and girls.” She is currently writing a book on genealogy and family secrets. She spent seven years in Malawi and volunteered with the Peace Corps for four years, where she taught English and trained women to become elementary school teachers. She then transitioned to a position with UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), spending an additional three years in a refugee camp, supporting displaced populations. She has been involved in a number of virtual pilot projects with the Peace Corps across Armenia, Ukraine, Botswana, and South Africa. She is an avid birder and shares her life with her three feline companions.

Dana Rae is currently the Program Services Manager for our community partner Moving to End Sexual Assault (MESA).

FUNdraising Committee

Fall will be here soon and the gears are in motion for Colorado Gives Day in December and Zing for Zonta 2025. We are counting on all of you to push Zonta Foothills over and above our previous year's earnings in support of our mission to make this a better world for women and girls. 

 Zing 2025 will be on Friday, April 18th at the Dairy Arts Center again. Planning has just begun so if you have any ideas or suggestions please send them to Colleen and Marta.

Zonta FUNdraising Committee - Co-chairs: Marta Lindrose and Colleen Farrell

Zervice Committee

going to make it fun…Plan to WEAR your pajamas, robes, and slippers to win prizes for the comfiest, the funniest and more! 

If you would like to contribute, BRING a pair of brand-new Ladies Pajamas – all sizes welcome. (Gift bags, socks and note cards will be provided.) LOCATION: At a members home, location TBD TIME: 5:30 dinner, 6:00 business meeting

Zonta Zervice Committee - Co-chairs: Marta Lindrose and Catherine Bailey, Tommie Atanasoff, Dixie Hollingsworth, Cheri Magin, Kim Prosser-Noonan, Joan Siebenaler, Carol Smoot

Educatez Scholarship Committee

Dareen is passionate about empowering and connecting women, and actively seeks opportunities to foster inclusive environments and support gender equality initiatives within her community and professional circles.

The EducateZ Scholarship Committee - Co-Chairs Nancy Rowe and Michelle Médal Margareta Bancroft, Kathy Bousquet, Jan Cheney, Dana Rae Vaughn, Kay Meyer

Zonta EducateZ Committee

Co-Vice Presidents, Alexandra Jacobo and Jorge Moreno, and At-large board members Fatima Escobar and Casey Giron. Also joining the meeting were School Advisor Diane Brenton, EducateZ Committee Chair Claudia Ibarra, Marta Lindrose and Pam Malzbender.

They are a dynamic group of leaders and they will bring unbounded enthusiasm and commitment to our Club in the months ahead. Their meeting focused on topics like learning about Zonta and our mission, team building, service and advocacy project planning and of course getting ready to kick off the new year with great meeting agendas and recruitment! We will be inviting these officers to attend a business meeting so that you can meet them all!

Here is the award being presented by Boulder Luncheon Optimist Club President Toby Leonard and Optimist Project Chair (and Zonta Foothills member) Catherine Médal.

The program provides 25-30 diverse, emerging, and transformational leaders from across all sectors, industries, and county geography with a broad understanding of the topics, challenges, and solutions that are vital to the success of our communities. Its curriculum emphasizes building networks and tangible tools for local leadership roles. Curriculum topics may include, among others, Boulder County economics, Local Government 101, inclusive leadership, planning and development, critical human needs, health, education, arts and culture, and selling your vision – as well as roundtable discussions on a range of timely issues, from affordable housing to immigration and criminal justice. Congratulations Citlalli!

Zonta EducateZ Committee - Co-Chairs Gaby Lopez & Claudia Ibarra, Pam Malzbender, Michelle Carpenter, Tommie Atanasoff, Margareta Bancroft, Dixie Hollingsworth

Advocacy Committee

SB24-011: Online-Facilitated Misconduct & Remote Tracking - The bill requires an online dating service to have a safety policy that includes certain elements. It is a deceptive trade practice if a service does not have a compliant safety policy.

SB24-035: Strenghtening Enforcement Human Trafficking - The bill adds human trafficking of an adult or a minor for the purpose of involuntary servitude and human trafficking of an adult or a minor for sexual servitude to the list of crimes of violence that are subject to enhanced sentencing. It makes the statute of limitations for human trafficking of an adult or a minor for the purpose of involuntary servitude and human trafficking of an adult for sexual servitude 20 years.

HB24-1009: Bilingual Child Care Licensing Procedures - The bill requires the Department of Early Childhood to provide education and information in plain language and in prevalent languages to help individuals complete the paperwork required to meet child care licensing compliance requirements. It requires the department to provide services in prevalent languages to individuals seeking to open or otherwise participate in the operation of an early childhood program or facility licensed by the department.

HB24-1066: Prevent Workplace Violence in Healthcare Settings - The bill enacts the "Violence Prevention in Health-care Settings Act", applicable to hospitals, freestanding emergency departments, nursing care facilities, assisted living residences, and federally qualified health centers, and comprehensive community behavioral health providers.

HB24-1072: Protection of Victims of Sexual Offenses - Under current law, certain evidence of a victim's or witness's prior or subsequent sexual conduct is presumed irrelevant, but there is an exception for evidence of the victim's or witness's prior or subsequent sexual conduct with the defendant. The bill eliminates this exception.

HB24-1122: Protection Orders for Victims of Crime - The bill addresses court processes for temporary domestic violence protection orders and includes firearm relinquishment.

HB24-1164: Menstrual Products to Students - The bill expands eligibility for the menstrual hygiene products accessibility grant program to make any local education provider eligible for a grant award and requires the department of education to prioritize awards to certain applicants if the demand exceeds the amount appropriated for the grant program.

HB24-1223: Improved Access to Child Care Assistance Program - The bill overhauls the Colorado child care assistance program (CCCAP).

Here is a detailed description of these bills.

Our decision to support or oppose legislation is based upon our established criteria as stated in the Advocacy Committee’s Plan and approved by the Board which recommends actions that support one of the Zonta International Four Causes:

1. Advocating for Gender Equality

2. Ending Gender Based Violence

3. Ending Child Marriage

4. Expanding Access to Education

Our Committee also agreed that we would review and potentially recommend actions that positively impact women and girls in our community or that relates to topics that ZI or the Zonta USA Caucus supports.

Washington, DC —Black women earned 66 cents for every dollar earned by White men in 2022, according to new IWPR data released on Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, July 9. The same data show that Black women were paid substantially less than White men in every state, ranging from 41.8 cents on the dollar in Utah to 75.3 cents on the dollar in Hawaii. Disparities were seen among full-time workers and all workers with earnings. At current rates, the pay gap for Black women will not fully close for more than two centuries. 

“We have come to another year and yet another reminder of the disgraceful gender and race-based gap that Black women suffer with when it comes to work and earnings,” said IWPR President and CEO Dr. Jamila K. Taylor. “Black women earned just 66 cents for every dollar a White man earned in 2022, jeopardizing their ability to provide for their children and the overall financial security of their families. The disparity in pay when compared to White men is an injustice that all women have had to endure year after year.”   

Read this entire article here.

That's why UNFPA, the United Nations Reproductive and Sexual Health Agency, works in over 150 countries to prevent maternal death, provide family planning, and protect women and girls from violence — including harmful practices like child marriage and Female Genital Mutilation.

The United States is UNFPA’s largest donor, and that funding allows them to be the first on the ground delivering aid to women and girls. It allows us to deliver over one million babies in fragile settings, prevent over 30,000 maternal deaths, and help millions of women prevent unintended pregnancies each year.  

Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania's 6th District in Congress introduced the Support UNFPA Funding Act, H.R. 4166, to authorize funding for the services and care that UNFPA provides for the next five years.

Click here to send your representative a letter urging them to sign the Support UNFPA Funding Act.

The Advocacy Committee - Co-Chairs: Sara Gillespie & Sheila King Elizabeth Freedman, Lisa Lesniak, Kay Meyer, Ranelle Randles, Dana RaeVaughn

Finance Committee

We have also begun planning for a financial review of our Club’s financial processes and we have begun the process of transfering our computer-based accounting system to a cloud-based system. This will make it easier to track Foundation- and Committee-specific expenditures on a monthly basis.

Zonta Finance Committee - Chair Pam Malzbender, Michelle Médal, Nancy Rowe, Ranelle Randles, Marta Lindrose and Colleen Farrell

PR Committee - C0-Chairs Pam Malzbender & Sheila Cohen, Joan Siebenaler, Carol Smoot

Zonta News