The Zonta Club of Sydney held their October monthly meeting on Wednesday 17th October. This month we welcomed three special guest speakers. Jeanne Shu, our 2018 Young Women in Public Affairs awardee, along with Natasha Thompson and Gloria Larman, President and CEO of the Women’s Justice Network.
Jeanne spoke to us about her path through high school and her involvement in numerous programs, such as her local government youth advisory council since she was in Year 8, and being a finalist in the Australian Parliament My First Speech competition. We were all impressed by her drive and her passion! She is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Commerce and Law double degree through Sydney University, and is looking forward to a career in policy making. This Australian summer, she will be undertaking an internship with Congressman Peter Roskam in the United States. You can look forward to a more complete interview and biography of Jeanne to be published here in the next few weeks. And don’t forget, if you know any impressive young women like Jeanne living or studying in the City of Sydney area, please encourage them to apply for next years Young Women in Public Affairs award!
Our second speakers were Natasha and Gloria from the Women’s Justice Network. Zonta Club of Sydney has partnered with the Women’s Justice Network for some time in our advocacy project, the Keeping Women out of Prison coalition. The Women’s Justice Network has recently referred discrepancies in their funds to the police for investigation, and as a result there have been a number of changes to their governance. Natasha and Gloria were not able to comment on matters being investigated by the police, however were able to outline to us how their board structure has changed. We also heard about their recent training of 18 mentors who assist women in their program, as well as the impressive statistics from 2014-2015 that 93% of women who are mentored through the program have not returned to prison within 2 years, a significant improvement on the average NSW recidivism rate.
Along with our guest speakers, club members enjoyed a meal together and discussed further fundraising plans and events to be held this year. If you are interested in attending a meeting please contact us by email at zontaclubsydney@gmail.com.
Zonta Club of Sydney 