AVONDALE, Arizona – February 9, 2015 – On Thursday, February 12, 2015, Estrella Mountain Community College (EMCC), a Maricopa Community College, will participate in the One Billion Rising campaign, a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls.
One Billion Rising began in 2013 as a call-to-action based on the staggering statistic that one in three women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at seven billion, this adds up to more than one billion women and girls.
“Violence against a woman is violence against her children and her whole community” says Dr. Olga Tsoudis, EMCC sociology faculty and event organizer.
In addition to guest speakers, exhibits and activities, the anthemic, unified dance will be the culminating demonstration of coalition, staged several times during the day. Guests will be invited to learn and join the dance activity.
Not only will the dance be performed at EMCC, but at the many other One Billion Rising event sites around the world. The song “Break the Chain,” written and produced by Tena Clark and Tim Heintz, and accompanying dance, choreographed by the award-winning Debbie Allen, was created specifically to support this global campaign.
The event is free and open to the public, and will be held in the Ceremonial Plaza Amphitheatre on the EMCC campus, located at 3000 N. Thomas Rd. in Avondale. Attendees are encouraged to wear red and black to symbolize the campaign’s cause.
There will also be a donation drive for the New Life Center, a refuge from domestic violence in Goodyear that provides shelter, safety and services to families seeking independent, violence-free lives. Requested items include baby/infant items, personal care items, bedding, laundry soap, paper products and non-perishable food.
EMCC was one of the charter sites for the 2013 event, and felt it was important to continue being a resource for social change. The campus community will join activists, writers, thinkers, celebrities, and women and men across the world to raise critical awareness and demand global change to end the injustices women and girls suffer.
1 Billion Rising Events: Thursday, February 12, 2015
Campaign 1
8:30 a.m. – Welcome, Dr. Sandy Zetlan, EMCC faculty
8:40 a.m. – Guest speaker: RJ Shannon, HIV Integrated Care Program Coordinator, Native Health
9:00 a.m. – Dance
9:10 a.m. – Brenda Gentry, EMCC student, Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA) Club
9:25 a.m. – Rachel Holmes, EMCC faculty
9:45 a.m. – Dance
Campaign 2
10:00 a.m. – Welcome, Dr. Marsha Segerberg, EMCC faculty
10:10 a.m. – Guest speaker: RJ Shannon, HIV Integrated Care Program Coordinator, Native Health
10:24 a.m. – Guest speaker: Kelli Hernandez, Community Development Director, New Life Center
10:40 a.m. – Guest speaker: Janet Olson, Executive Director, Arizonans for Protection of Exploited Children and Adults
10:50 a.m. - Dance
11:00 a.m. – New Life Center presentation
11:15 a.m. – Dance
Campaign 3
11:30 a.m. – Welcome, Dr. Sandy Zetlan, EMCC faculty
11:40 a.m. – Guest speaker: Erin Callinan, Training and Technical Assistance Manager, Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence
12:00 p.m. – Ciara Garcia, EMCC student, FMLA Club
12:15 p.m. – Dance
12:25 p.m. – Teri Graham, EMCC faculty
12:45 p.m. – Dance