By Nicole Maharaj
February 6, 2006

Franklin Announces 2006 Global Leadership Initiative for Gender Equality in Cities

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin took a moment at the beginning of the Women Mayors meeting to announce CIFAL Atlanta’s 2006 Global Leadership Initiative for Gender Equality in Cities. CIFAL Atlanta is hosting the first meeting of the Global Leadership Initiative for Gender Equality in Cities in Atlanta in the United States in June 2006. Making gender equality a reality is core commitment of the United Nations. Participants representing many of the largest municipalities in the Americas are expected to attend the 3-day conference, which will enable participants to learn more from each other about how to improve their city’s gender equality issues. The ultimate goal of the Global Leadership Initiative for Gender Equality is to present a forum through which the leadership of the world’s largest and most rapidly growing cities can learn from each other and better optimize their strategic long term plans for increasing educational, political and economic access for women.

Franklin said, “This initiative will highlight the importance of equality and serve women throughout the world. Input from U.S. women mayors will be crucial to our success.”

Franklin led a very brief tribute to Rosa Parks at the beginning of the meeting. Parks, who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery (AL) bus in 1955 to a white man, will have a lasting legacy on American generations to come. This special courageous act was not only a step for African Americans and people of color, but also for women.

Special tribute gifts for the women mayors were made possible by a generous contribution from the Parsons Corporation that stated: “Women Mayors of Americas Cities Honor An American Legend: Rosa Parks 1913-2006.”

Dr. Julianne Malveaux, the well-known female economist, author and commentator, was a surprise guest at the Women Mayors meeting. Malveaux moderated the 30-minute “Best Practice” portion of the program agenda. Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo, Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin and Redmond (WA) Mayor Rosemarie M. Ives all presented initiatives from their respective cities on various topics.

Fargo’s presentation entitled “A Tale of Two Cities” focused on the redevelopment of both Sacramento and the West Sacramento riverfront utilizing smart growth and economic development strategies. Ives spoke about promoting diversity awareness through Multi-Cultural Town Hall Meetings and how these meetings have provided the safest environments for executive women of all races, corporate leaders and diversity professionals to openly discuss the most critical issues of race, ethnicity and gender in the workplace. McLin targeted her remarks on Dayton’s master plan for brownfield redevelopment and reinvestment and the creation of the city’s new high quality urban technology-based campus.

Judith A. McHale, President & CEO of Discovery Communications, provided remarks as special guest speaker to the Women Mayors on “Educating Beyond the Classroom.” McHale’s presentation highlighted some of the challenges that mayors face in their local communities, such as building a framework for 21st century skills among our youth and public health issues such as childhood obesity and fitness. McHale stressed that, "Through education, the private and public sectors can join forces to successfully address the challenges in our cities and local communities."

During her presentation, McHale noted that the use of technology could be an effective tool in educating our nation's youth and reaching out to the Millennial Generation – children born in the last two decades. Students of this generation expect to be able to access information when they want it and how they want it.

McHale highlighted areas in which Discovery is helping to address the challenges that our nation's mayors face through the use of educational technology, including united streaming an on-demand video encyclopedia that has been shown to increase student achievement in independent scientific evaluations. Another service, Discovery Health Connection, provides educators with an online library of K-12 health and prevention content. Both of these products provide extremely cost-effective services that enable schools and educators to have unlimited access to a significantly greater amount of content at any time they desire.

Realizing the need to help bring educational content outside of the classroom walls and into homes and communities to help ensure the success of the next generation, Discovery is introducing a direct-to-home product. Through technology and a shared commitment to education, this resource will be available in communities in the Spring to bring engaged learning outside the walls of schools and into homes and libraries.