Subject: MUST READ: Log Cabin Democrat opinion: Annette Dove: Hillary Clinton gets the job done
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2015 10:40:49 -0500
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*Log Cabin Democrat opinion: Annette Dove: Hillary Clinton gets the job
done
<http://thecabin.net/interact/opinion/columns/2015-02-19/dove-hillary-clinton-gets-job-done#.VOdSl_nF98E>*

By Annette Dove

February 19, 2015 3:47 p.m. EST

Last fall I had the pleasure of participating in a symposium with Hillary
and Chelsea Clinton about their initiative, No Ceilings: The Full
Participation Project. “Full participation” means ensuring every woman in
the world has the same rights and opportunities as men. Hillary Clinton has
been behind this goal from its inception at the 1995 UN Conference in
Beijing, where she declared that “human rights are women’s rights and
women’s rights are human rights.”

Even though women have come a long way since 1995, we still haven’t
achieved the ideal of equal rights and opportunities. Hillary calls this
“the great unfinished business of the 21st century,” which is why she
started No Ceilings to figure out how to get the job done. That is what
Hillary Clinton is all about – getting the job done.

The symposium was titled “Community Based Solutions: A No Ceilings
Conversation” and its purpose was to learn what people are doing to advance
women and girls right here in our own backyard. I was honored to share the
work I’m doing here in Pine Bluff, especially standing next to the woman
whose actions inspired my own.

In her book, It Takes A Village, Hillary wrote about how we can make a real
difference in the lives of children by working together as a community.
Long before she wrote that book, she was putting her words into action.

During a trip to Miami in 1985 as First Lady of Arkansas, Hillary stumbled
upon a newspaper article about a program called HIPPY – Home Instruction
for Parents and Preschool Youngsters. HIPPY sends instructors into
low-income homes to provide parents – typically mothers – with the tools
they need to prepare their children for school. Founded in Israel in 1969
by Dr. Avima Lombard, HIPPY’s innovative approach captivated Hillary
Clinton. So she tracked down Dr. Lombard and asked her to help bring the
program to Arkansas. The next year, Little Rock became home to one of the
first HIPPY programs in the United States.

By taking this action, Hillary literally changed my life and the lives of
so many children and families in not only the state but around the country.
My experience with HIPPY began at the Arkansas River Education Service
Cooperative, which runs the HIPPY programs in 8 school districts throughout
Arkansas, Grant, and Jefferson counties. I served as the group’s Director
for 11 years.

During that time, I realized what Hillary saw in the program –it actually
works. At the beginning of the school year, teachers would ask us which of
their students were in HIPPY, because they knew that those students would
be prepared. There have been numerous studies comparing HIPPY students to
those who had no preschool education, and all the data shows the same
positive results: children in the HIPPY program were more prepared and
achieved at much higher rates.

After seeing the positive impact HIPPY had on young girls in my community,
I wanted to continue where HIPPY left off. So I formed TOPPS, Inc., which
started as a mentor program for girls ages 8-17. I then started DREAMS –
Dreams Require Educating And Motivating Students –to help get these girls
into college and into fields they never would have imagined. It’s what
Hillary and Chelsea refer to as the “imagination gap” and until we close
the gap, women will not reach their full potential.

The DREAMS program is in its third year, and all of our girls are currently
attending college – except one, who joined the Air Force and is an Honor
Guard in Washington, DC. She is 3rd in her class and studying to become a
doctor. She’s also one out of 17 children in her family.

Regardless of what her future holds for Hillary Clinton, I know that she
will continue to turn her ideas into action and get the job done, no matter
how big or small. And I know we will all be better off because of her.

*(Annette Dove is the founder and CEO of TOPPS, Inc., a nonprofit
organization in Pine Bluff, Arkansas that provides services to
underprivileged children and youth. Before starting TOPPS, Annette served
as the Director of the HIPPY program for 11 years and taught in the Pine
Bluff School District. She has a Bachelor of Science in Special Education
K-12 and a Master of Science in Education.)*