HJ5172: Commending Empowered Women International and A Woman's Story Gallery.

WHEREAS, Empowered Women International is recognized for its outstanding achievements and the opening in 2006 of A Woman's Story Gallery; and

WHEREAS, Empowered Women International (EWI), founded by Marga C. Fripp in 1995, is a publicly supported nonprofit organization that uses the arts and world cultures to give voice to immigrant and refugee women and families living in America; and

WHEREAS, EWI's A Woman’s Story Gallery was established in 2006 to promote cross-cultural understanding and the value of individual differences, as well as enhance the entrepreneurial and artistic talents of immigrant, refugee, and exploited women and girls in the United States and overseas; and

WHEREAS, EWI and A Woman’s Story Gallery encourage public awareness and understanding of the local and global community by featuring foreign-born and American women artists in extraordinary art exhibitions, cultural performances, and special events; and

WHEREAS, EWI reaches out to immigrant communities through empowerment workshops, which focus on transitioning women’s talents and skills acquired in their native countries to successful and lucrative businesses and employment experiences in their new home in America; and

WHEREAS, women who participate in EWI workshops often begin by knitting, sewing, painting, making jewelry, writing poetry, and sharing stories and music from their countries of origin and are greatly empowered by their many gifts and talents in the arts; and

WHEREAS, with a very limited budget, EWI has provided hundreds of immigrant and refugee women with a path to new entrepreneurial skills through a system of classes and volunteer services that provide mentoring and career and business development instruction; and

WHEREAS, the volunteers of EWI enthusiastically support immigrant and refugee women in the United States and around the world and promote them as valuable contributors to society, who must be rightfully rewarded for their precious talents, skills, and labor; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly commend and congratulate Empowered Women International on its opening in 2006 of A Woman's Story Gallery; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Marga Fripp and EWI's compassionate volunteers as an expression of the General Assembly’s gratitude for their dedication and outstanding achievements.