On this week’s 51%, we hear from a woman who supplies pro-bono attorneys to low-income women who are victims of domestic violence. We meet a woman who teaches skills to deaf children through education and theater and we bring you two very different stories about proms, from Montana to Ireland.
For women being subjected to domestic violence, getting help doesn’t just mean calling the police. Oftentimes, they can gain protection from civil court proceedings — but many cannot afford a lawyer. An organization called Her Justice works to fill that gap, supplying lawyers to domestic violence victims, who are often poor. Executive Director Amy Barasch, who headed the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence from 2007 to 2012, spoke with 51%’s Ian Pickus.
This week we bring you another installment of the 51% segment called “Force of Nature,” from Dr. Sharon Ufberg. She is co-founder of the personal development/wellness company, Borrowed Wisdom, in Napa Valley, California. She regularly blogs for The Huffington Post. This week, she interviews Dr. Michelle Christie is founder and executive director of the Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization, No Limits, which began in 1996 to help underserved and economically disadvantaged children with hearing loss gain the skills to succeed in school and life through its national theater program and after-school educational centers. Christie talks about why addressing this group of children is important to her.
Now we meet an entrepreneurial Montana woman who turns her small farm town into a Mecca for prom dresses, drawing high school girls from all over Montana, and as far as North Dakota and parts of Canada.
As the prom season concludes for some and is around the corner for others, we bring you a mother-daughter prom story called “Who Took Mom to Prom?”
Who Took Mom to the Prom was produced by Emer Horgan for the Third Coast Festival's 2015 ShortDocs Challenge." She is also the mom in the piece. http://www.thirdcoastfestival.org/
And that's our show this week. Thanks to Patrick Garrett for production assistance. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock. Our theme music is Glow in the Dark by Kevin Bartlett. This show is a national production of Northeast Public Radio. If you’d like to hear this show again, sign up for our podcast, or visit the 51% archives on our web site at wamc.org. And follow us on Twitter @51PercentRadio
