Assurance Offers Free Wireless

Do you know any homeless teens or adults? Do you know any former inmates? Do you have a loved one or a friend who needs a phone but just can't afford one, then mention Assurance Wireless to them which could help create a new sense of normalcy.

Having access to a reliable phone is a great start for some who are low-income or for ones who may be starting over after fleeing domestic violence or assault. It also proves beneficial for communication, employment and survival for families and/or individuals when pay-phones, calling cards and landlines are becoming non-existent almost obsolete in many neighborhoods.

Taken from Website:

Assurance Wireless is FREE to eligible customers. Assurance Wireless offers a FREE phone and 250 FREE minutes of wireless voice service each month. There are no bills, long-term contracts, activation fees, recurring fees, or surcharges for Assurance Wireless customers. Additional upgrades are available for phone

For more information call 1-888-898-4888 for a advisor to assist you in the application process. Or print application online http://assurancewireless.com/Public/CustomerInformation.aspx
(provides application link to each state)

Assurance Wireless comes with a one-year warranty from the original equipment manufacturer. If you experience an equipment malfunction, lost or stolen call at 1-888-321-5880

Assurance Wireless is currently available in these states : Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.

Disparities Still Exist for Women in Minnesota-Three Reasons For Gap

Among women of color, the disparities are more extreme, with some
making 56 cents for every dollar earned by a white man

St. Paul, Minn.

Women's Foundation of Minnesota and The University of Minnesota's Center on Women and Public Policy released research today that states, Minnesota women on average are paid $11 dollars less each year than men with the same jobs.

*The gap exists in every occupation, including those dominated by women

THREE REASONS FOR GAP

Lee Roper-Batker, the president of the Women's Foundation of Minnesota, said economists site three reasons for the income gap. She said women often choose careers that pay less and employers sometimes punish women who take time off to have children. "And the third thing economists say is just unexplainable," she said. "We don't know to attribute the wage gap to so we just call that good old fashioned sexism." The report said Minnesota women are clustered in low-wage jobs.

MOST HOMELESS ARE WOMEN AND CHILDREN

Families headed by single women are most likely to live under the poverty line. On an average night, women and children make up two-thirds of the state's homeless population.

That statistic is played out every day, said Liz Kuoppala, the executive director of the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless. She works in northern Minnesota, on the Iron Range. "We talk to homeless women in rural areas who are staying up in a tent," she said. "Up in my part of the state, they climb down steep embankments to mine dumps where there's access to water."

DANGER OF ASSAULT

The research shows girls and women also live in danger of assault. It said one in every three women in Minnesota will be the victim of sexual or physical assault by middle age.

According to the Women's Foundation of Minnesota, that adds up to 250,000 women at any given time, a population that could fill the Metrodome four times. "It has become so normalized that many of our young girls believe it is inevitable," said Suzanne Koepplinger, executive director of the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center in Minneapolis.

Indian women have the highest rate of sexual assault in the state -- 42 percent of Indian women are victims. "I heard a story about an elder giving instructions to working with young girls and she said don't tell them if they're raped this is what they should do, tell them when they're raped, this is what they should do," she said.

POOR HEALTH

The study also found women and girls in Minnesota have poorer health than men and boys.
Girls are less likely to be physically active than boys. Forty-eight percent of 12th grade girls participate in sports, compared to fifty-nine percent of boys. A majority of the state's women are now considered obese or overweight and women in northeastern Minnesota have disproportionately high cancer rates.


Links:

Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center
http://www.miwrc.org/

University of Minnesota's Center of Women and Public Policy
http://www.hhh.umn.edu/centers/wpp/

Women's Foundation of Minnesota
http://www.wfmn.org/

Minnesota Coalition of the Homeless
http://www.mnhomelesscoalition.org/

Minnesota Public Radio
http://minnesota.publicradio.org

World Pulse
http://www.worldpulse.com/node/22009

Women Living With HIV Launch Human Rights Survey

Call for Integrating Sexual and Reproductive Health Services With HIV Services to Address Epidemic Among Women



Please take the survey and spread the word!


National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2010 comes just weeks after the United Nations announced that HIV is the leading cause of death among women globally.


In the U.S., a woman tests positive for HIV every 35 minutes, and nearly one-third of all domestic HIV infections are among women -- up from 8% in 1987. AIDS continues to be the leading cause of death among African-American women ages 25 to 34. Yet the general perception is that women are not vulnerable to contracting HIV -- and women are dying as a result.



Multiple members of the U.S. Positive Women's Network (PWN), a national membership body of women living with HIV in the United States, have personal experience with this issue. "Everyone is at risk for HIV," says Demetra Tennison, Peer Educator at Women Rising Project in Austin, TX. "But many providers don't perceive women as being at risk or are uncomfortable talking about it. I told my doctor that my husband was positive, and he didn't offer me a test. I was diagnosed late and got into care late, because of a missed opportunity on my physician's part."

Advocates specifically call for integration of sexual and reproductive health services with HIV services. "Early HIV diagnosis means less transmission and better health outcomes. Yet we see missed opportunities for HIV prevention and diagnosis throughout the medical system," says Dr. Monica Gandhi, director of HIV Consult Services at San Francisco General Hospital. "Women show up for sexual and reproductive health services multiple times a year. Every one of those appointments -- for pap smears, contraception care, and routine check-ups -- is an opportunity for HIV education, screening for HIV risk factors like domestic violence, and testing."

The PWN also notes that over half of all people living with HIV are not in regular medical care, and that co-location of sexual and reproductive health services with HIV services has enormous potential to transform women's ability to access care.

HIV-positive women across the United States have organized to urge the Obama Administration to finish health care reform, demand a gender-sensitive National HIV/AIDS Strategy, declare HIV an urgent crisis facing women and demand, the immediate appointment of an openly HIV-positive Black woman to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). Events will occur in locations as diverse as Philadelphia, PA; Oakland, CA; San Diego, CA; Washington, NC; Washington, DC; and Boulder, CO.

Advocates also stress that an effective response to the domestic HIV epidemic must address social factors that put some communities at disproportionate risk. "We have the tools to end the HIV epidemic. What we need is political will to address structural issues including homophobia, gender inequity, and the deep racial and economic disparities that drive the rising rates of HIV among our most marginalized communities," says Waheedah Shabazz-El, a Muslim and Philadelphia-based trainer with the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project, who was diagnosed in 2003.


In honor of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, the PWN has launched a survey to track the extent to which HIV-positive women's human rights are being realized in the United States. This survey is the first in a series, and focuses on testing and disclosure, reproductive justice for women with HIV, and the criminalization of HIV.


Please take the survey and spread the word!


Learn more about the PWN -- and join the PWN's mailing list.


This article was provided by Positive Women's Network USA.