Young Women's Leadership Program

EF’s Young Woman’s Leadership Program (YWLP) works with DC area high schools to engage young women in public affairs and public service. For example, Columbia Heights Education Campus (CHEC) and the Richard Wright Public Charter School for Journalism and Media Arts select 20 to 30 promising young women to visit Whittemore House, have lunch, and hear community leaders speak on vital nonpartisan public issues.

Additionally, on International Women’s Day (March 8, 2019), EF held a panel luncheon on the social and economic status of women moderated by retired U.S. Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley with senior women diplomats from Malaysia, Spain, and Yemen speaking about progress women had made in their countries. Young women students from Columbia Heights Education Campus (CHEC), Frances Cardozo Educational Campus and Richard Wright Public Charter School for Journalism and Media Arts attended the panel and had an opportunity to discuss the status of women as well as foreign service careers with the diplomats.

An award named in honor of a member who helped create the YWLP, Ruth Nadel, is given annually to selected alumnae of the program to help defray the cost of their higher education. Currently, to further their college education, we are giving laptop computers to several graduates who were recommended by their teachers. 

In 2019–2020, in honor of the centennial of the 19th Amendment, we will work with DC-area schools to increase voter registration and civic engagement.