With regret and understanding, we have accepted the resignation of our friend and digital mentor, Teresa Gehrke.

We can all agree she has done a wonderful job during her tenure as the Digital Training Chair, providing us with valuable tools and guidance.

We wish her every good fortune as she moves forward. Please be sure to express your gratitude to her for a job well done! She has worked hard on our behalf.

The Bylaws are the rules and regulations enacted by NFBPWC to provide a framework for its operation and management. Here is the link to the current bylaws: 2024-2026 NATIONAL BYLAWS AMENDED 20 JULY 2024

Changes to the National Bylaws can only be made at the General Assembly. The next meeting of the General Assembly is scheduled for July 2026. Amendments may be proposed by any Federation or Affiliate Club, Executive Committee, Board of Directors, or an Affiliate Member.

Proposed amendments must be submitted to the Bylaws Committee 60 Days prior to the Biennial General Assembly. Thirty days prior to the General Assembly the proposed amendments will be distributed to the members for their consideration.

Angie Jackson-Wilson
NFBPWC Bylaws and Resolution Chair
2024-2026

Beginning May 1st, we will begin the CSW program series for 2025/2026.

NFBPWC & CSW: Expanding Our Impact Over the next 10 months, NFBPWC is embarking on an exciting initiative to educate and empower our members to engage with the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. This is an incredible opportunity for you to experience strengthening global advocacy efforts and making a lasting impact on gender equality.

Why Get Involved?  NFBPWC and BPW International share a powerful voice, and through these collaborations, we can amplify that voice on the global stage. By participating in CSW, members will:

• Gain knowledge about international advocacy and UN processes

• Connect with like-minded professionals and organizations

• Contribute to shaping policies that impact women worldwide

• Showcase NFBPWC and BPW International work and leadership at a global level

Our Goal: To present three programs either by or in collaboration with collaboration with NFBPWC members at CSW70 in March of 2026.

Through education, mentorship, and strategic engagement, we will guide members in preparing impactful programs that align with CSW’s themes and objectives. \

How to Get Involved: Build and prepare a program to present, learn about and share information about the CSW process. Whether you are new to CSW or BPW, there is plenty you can do to learn about and participate in one of the greatest global ventures at your fingertips.

Looking forward to hearing from you.president@nfbpwc.org

SPRING CLEANING!!!

April is an AMAZING Month! Flowers are blooming. Birds are singing. People are traveling more and spending more time outside. It is also a month for reviewing and analyzing your finances and submitting your tax returns.

This is also a good time to review what you have done so far this year and what you plan to do for the next 9 months and make a budget if you haven’t already done one or revise what you had already set up for this year.

My family does “Spring Cleaning.” We go through all of the winter clothes we have to determine which clothes we want to keep and which clothes we will be donating. We also go through all of our Spring/Summer clothes to decide what we want to keep for this year and what to donate. I encourage you all to do your own version of Spring Cleaning and decide what you need to keep in your life and what you would like to let go.

Dr. Jo Naylor
NFBPWC Treasurer
2024-2026

We proudly stand with our sisters in Ukraine. As members of an international organization dedicated to women's empowerment and human rights, we recognize the importance of speaking out when democratic values are challenged..

Below is a statement from your Executive Committee expressing our solidarity with the Ukrainian people. We stand with them in their pursuit of freedom, justice, and peace.

Engage with NFBPWC on Social Media

Organization Page:   https://www.facebook.com/NatlFedBPWC/

Group Page: https://www.facebook.com/NatlFedBPWC/

Organization Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nfbpwc

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2l_ciIxLyvbu1dbBOsV9Tg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nfbpwc_usa/

Remarkable Woman – Dame Ruth Nita Barrow

A Pioneer in Healthcare and Diplomacy

Dame Ruth Nita Barrowwas appointed the first woman Governor General of Barbados on June 6, 1990, and served as Head of State until her passing on December 19,  1995.  Born  on November 15, 1916,

Nita Barrow came from a family of notable political activists. Her father, an Anglican priest, was removed from his post on the island of St. Croix due to his controversial sermons against racism and social stratification. Her uncle, Dr. Charles Duncan O'Neal, founded the Democratic League of Barbados and was one of the island’s ten National Heroes. Nita's younger brother, Errol Barrow, fought for the nation's independence and became Prime Minister of Barbados.

Nita Barrow paralleled her family's achievements with her activism and humanitarian efforts. She studied nursing in Barbados and continued her education at the University of Toronto, Edinburgh, and Columbia Universities. Beginning her career as a nurse, midwife, and healthcare administrator, she held various positions in Barbados and Jamaica. Barrow soon gained international acclaim as an accomplished public health official and diplomat.

Throughout her illustrious career, Barrow held several prestigious positions:

• Public health advisor to the World Health Organization and the Pan-American Health Organization

• President of the World YWCA (1975-83)

• President of the International Council of Adult Education (1982-90)

• President of the World Council of Churches (1983)

• Ambassador to the United Nations (1986-90)

In 1980, Queen Elizabeth II knighted Nita Barrow as Dame of St. Andrew and Dame Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, thereafter known as Dame Ruth Nita Barrow. Known for her outspoken nature and commitment to development, she was especially concerned with women's rights in healthcare.

In 1985, Dame Nita presided over the International Women’s Conference in Nairobi, Kenya. The following year, she was appointed Barbadian Ambassador to the United Nations, a post she held until 1990. Notably, she was the only woman named to the Eminent Persons Group, which investigated racism in South Africa. In 1988, Dame Nita ran against Argentina’s Foreign Minister Dante Caputo for the position of President of the UN General Assembly. Despite a fierce campaign and a historic secret ballot, she lost the election.

Dame Ruth Nita Barrow passed away from a stroke on December 19, 1995, at the age of 79. She is honored by numerous national and international initiatives and awards, including:

• The University of Toronto’s Dame Nita Barrow Distinguished Visitorship

• The Dame Nita Barrow Award sponsored by the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE)

• Caribbean Women Catalysts for Change lecture series

• The Nita Barrow Unit of the Institute of Gender and Development Studies, University of the West Indies

Dame Ruth Nita Barrow's legacy lives on through her contributions to healthcare, diplomacy, and the empowerment of women.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nita_Barrow

The late Governor General of Barbados, Dame Nita Barrow with Angie Jackson-Wilson, March 25, 1993. Dame Nita was the keynote speaker for the Women’s Coalition of St Croix, USVI. Annual Meeting.

Copy of a newspaper announcement

Angie Jackson-Wilson 

NFBPWC Nominations Chair

2024-2026

Remarkable Woman – Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955)

I am reading the book "The First Ladies" by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. Even though this book is fiction, it is based on the friendship between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist and educator Mary McLeod Bethune.

Mary, born 15th of 17 siblings, picked cotton to help support her family. At 10 years old she was offered a spot in a local missionary school and became the first in her family to learn to read. She developed a passion for education and founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls in 1904 which merged with the Cookman Institute for Men and became Bethune-Cookman College in  1923.  Discovering  the

need for a hospital for black citizens, she opened McLeod Hospital where nurses received hands-on training in Daytona, Florida. She went on to be elected president of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs in 1924 and founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935 and remained president until 1949. Mary was also vice president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1940 to 1955.

Mary's friendship with Eleanor began in 1927 when at a leadership meeting of the country's most influential women's organizations, the all-white attendees refused to sit with Mrs. Bethune, the national president of the National Association of Colored Women. An alliance forged between the two women

over the importance of education and civil and human rights. This mutual admiration and personal friendship afforded her an audience with the president resulting in a major role in organizing the Federal Council on Negro Affairs. She became a cherished advisor and the only black woman in the president's inner circle.

Mary McLeod Bethune resonates with me because

of her bravery and unbridled passion to make a difference at a time when it was the most dangerous. I also think that there is a lesson in her life as she was not shy to forge alliances with white people willing to help her in her mission. Progress involves all people working together.

Deborah Fischer

NFBPWC Legacy Fund Chair

2024-2026

Remarkable Woman – Janet YellenPresident 

The person I picked to write about is Janet Yellen. Do you know who she is? If not, I will bet you have her autograph in your wallet.

Dr. Yellen served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Joe Biden. She served from January 26, 2021,until January 20, 2025. She was the 78^th Secretary of the Treasury and the first and only woman to hold this position.

Dr. Janet Yellen is no stranger to breaking glass ceilings. An economist with a lifelong commitment to making the American economy one that allows all workers to succeed, she was also the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve and the first person in history to be in charge of the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the White House Council of Economic Advisors.

Janet Louise Yellen was born on August 13, 1946, in Brooklyn, New York. She was the younger child of her father, Julius Yellen, who was a family doctor, and her mother Anna Ruth, who was an elementary school teacher. Yellen excelled at her local Fort Hamilton High School, where she was the editor of the school paper and valedictorian. Yellen has discussed how growing up in a working-class neighborhood and seeing people who could barely afford to pay her father when they were out of work deeply influenced her, showing the “effect unemployment could have… on human terms.” This is a lesson she has carried with her for her entire career. 

Yellen attended Brown University, deepening her interest in economics and graduating with a B.A. in 1967. She then continued her studies at Yale University, earning her Ph.D. in 1971, the only woman among 24 Ph.D. graduates in Economics. Yellen taught  economics  as  an  Assistant  Professor  at Harvard University for five years, where she was well- regarded but not offered tenure. During her time at Yale and Harvard, Yellen began exploring more deeply how American companies should and could pay workers fairly.

In 1977, Yellen moved to a job at the Federal Reserve—the central bank of the United States—where she worked as a researcher. That was where she met her husband, fellow economist George Akerlof. Yellen and Akerlof, married since 1978, have long collaborated on economic research studies, and consider each other colleagues as well as life partners. Yellen has said Akerlof is “very committed to being a completely full partner in our marriage” who has contributed equally to raising their now adult son.

After spending two years as a lecturer at the London School of Economics, where Akerlof had accepted a job as a professor before their marriage, Yellen and Akerlof relocated to San Francisco in 1980 to join the faculty at University of California at Berkeley. At the Business School, Yellen was a popular teacher, winning awards and praise from students. She taught there until 1994, researching and publishing papers on policies that she believed would make Americans’ lives better: keeping unemployment low, making sure workers are paid based on quality of work no matter their gender or race, and valuing people’s work based on more than just supply and demand. These policy ideas can be seen clearly in one of her early and most cited papers, written with Akerlof, which explained why paying higher wages was often beneficial to employers as well as employees and did not lead to higher unemployment.

In 1994, Yellen was nominated by President Bill Clinton to be a member of the Federal Reserve, serving under Chairman Alan Greenspan. Greenspan was known as a conservative free market purist, and Yellen often had a different viewpoint, which she would lay out with clear-eyed reasoning. In 1996, Yellen convinced Greenspan that zero inflation should not be a goal; instead, based on academic research, she argued that a little inflation was actually healthy and would prevent recessions. The Fed now maintains a 2% inflation target.

In 1997, Yellen left the Fed to head the White House Council of Economic Advisors (CEA), serving as the primary economic advisor to President Clinton. At the CEA, Yellen oversaw a study on the gender pay gap, which concluded that the disparity was not explained by productivity and must be due to discrimination in the workforce.

In 1999, Yellen returned to UC Berkeley, teaching there until 2004, when she was tapped to lead the Federal  Reserve  Bank  of  San Francisco. During her six-year term as its president, Yellen was credited as one of the first economic policymakers to observe rapidly rising housing prices as a possible bubble which might harm the economy. By September 2007, Yellen urged policymakers to act preemptively and in 2008 was the first Fed official to say the economy was in recession. Yellen was part of the team that managed the 2008 recession, maintaining her focus on helping workers.

In 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Yellen to be Vice-Chair of the Federal Reserve, where she advocated that the Fed use “all available tools” to bring down unemployment. This was a somewhat controversial opinion, but Yellen was confident that research proved it was the correct path. In 2013, Yellen was appointed to succeed Benjamin Bernanke as Chair of the Federal Reserve—the first woman to hold this job. She oversaw the task of gradually “unwinding” (slowly ending) the government’s propping up of the economy and remained in the position until early 2018.

Yellen’s time as Fed Chair was very successful if judged by the labor market, her primary focus as an academic and policymaker. During her tenure, the unemployment rate dropped from 6.7% to 4.1%, decreasing every month under her leadership. She was also steadfast in her defense of the Dodd Frank Financial Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010), which regulated various parts of the financial industry more rigorously than many economists deemed necessary. Yellen believed that oversight had in fact made the banking system stronger.

After leaving the Fed in early 2018, Yellen moved to The Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington DC. President Joe Biden announced his intention to name Yellen as Treasury Secretary in late November 2020, and she was confirmed by the Senate in January 2021.

Sandy Thompson 

NFBPWC Finance Chair