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Congressional
Fellowships
on Women and Public Policy
Class
of 2001

This
year's class of WREI Fellows includes three social workers, two political
scientists, and one public service manager. They range in age from 24
to 49 and hail from the Midwest, Southwest, deep South, and East Coast.
Two Fellows are mothers of college students and one Fellow is a sister
of a Former Fellow.
According
to WREI's Board President, actress Jean Stapleton: "Like the 212 WREI
Fellows who preceded them, the eight outstanding women in the Class
of 2001 arrived on Capitol Hill with energy, enthusiasm, and scholarly
insight. They will depart with a keen understanding of the political
process and the empowerment that hard-learned lessons bring. What a
win-win situation for the Fellows, their Congressional offices and the
Women's Research & Education Institute!" Founded in 1977, WREI is a
national public policy research and educational center, whose mission
is to inform and shape the public policy debate on issues affecting
women and their roles in the family, workplace, and public arena. Through
these fellowships as well as numerous publications, conferences, and
briefings, WREI seeks to strengthen links between researchers and policymakers.
Deborah
S. Alexander of Warren, NJ is working on environmental issues, teacher
shortages, and a new Congressional task force on brain injury for Congressman
William J. Pascrell of New Jersey. Ms. Alexander received her master's
degree from the University of Pennsylvania, with a cross-disciplinary
concentration in political science and history and a certificate in women's
studies. A graduate of Boston University's School for the Performing Arts,
she has spent more than twenty years as a professional musician with orchestras
in the U.S. and abroad including work under conductors Bernstein, Mehta,
and Dutoit. She is now pursuing a new career path: following her WREI
Fellowship, she plans to attend Rutgers Law School. Ms. Alexander was
formerly on the history faculty at Philadelphia University and volunteered
as an open space activist in her community.
Robin
Brazley, a native of Long Island, is pursuing a doctorate in urban
education leadership at Morgan State University. Assigned to New York
Congressman Major Owen's staff, she covers education and children's issues.
Her professional goal is to influence education reform policy to ensure
that equal educational opportunity is a reality for all Americans. Before
her doctoral studies, Robin was a program associate for the Child Care
Action Campaign, coordinator of the African American Sisterhood project
for the Long Island Fund for Women and Girls, and the interim director
of a community action program. She taught philosophy and ethics courses
at Long Island University, CW Post campus, Hofstra University, and St.
Joseph's College and managed a family-owned bookstore and African art
gallery. Robin served two nonconsecutive terms as an elected member of
the Hempstead Board of Education, including one term as president. Community
projects she has initiated include the Save Our Schools Coalition, Parent
Resource Center, Community Development Center, and the Fannie Lou Hammer
Democratic Action Coalition. Robin earned two baccalaureate degrees, one
in philosophy and one in speech communication, from Morgan State University
(1980), and received her master's in applied philosophy from Bowling Green
State University (1982). She is the mother of two children, Brazley, a
sophomore at Morgan State University and Malachi, a high school junior.
Maria
De Iasi of Jersey City, NJ graduated from New Jersey City University
with a B.S. in Criminal Justice. She works on health care, welfare, and
women's issues for Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine. Maria holds master's
degrees in both social work and public administration from Rutgers University.
In addition, she has earned graduate credits in early childhood education
as well as conflict resolution. A member of the Communications Workers
of America for more than 15 years, Maria worked as a child abuse investigator
in the state of New Jersey. Her volunteer work has included working in
a hospital emergency room, building homes with Habitat for Humanity, tutoring
for Literacy Volunteers of America, and serving as an Eucharistic minister.
Aviva
Klein works on women's health, social security, and Medicare
in the office of Congressman Adam Schiff of California. She received a
master's degree in public policy with a concentration in women's studies
from the George Washington University in January 2001. Ms. Klein grew
up in North Miami Beach, Florida, where she attended the Hebrew Academy.
She also studied abroad in Israel for a year. While in graduate school,
Aviva took a semester off to help research the National Abortion and Reproductive
Rights Action League's state-by-state report. Aviva received her undergraduate
degree from Yeshiva University and is currently a youth director for Congregation
Kneseth Israel, in Annapolis, MD.
Kimberly
Mason is handling women's health and domestic violence issues for
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of New York. She was born in Fort Wayne,
Indiana, and lived in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Asheville, NC before
her family settled in Raleigh, NC. Kim received her B.A. in English and
communications from Pfeiffer University where she edited the campus newspaper,
founded Emily's Place, a women's issues organization, and competed on
the varsity swim team. Kim received her master's of mass communication
in journalism from the University of Georgia in May 2000. Her master's
project, which was a study of the cover prices of newspapers was published
(much abbreviated!) in the November 2000 issue of Presstime Magazine.
While in graduate school, Kim volunteered on the speaker's bureau for
the Northeast Georgia Sexual Assault Center where she gave presentations
to schools, and civic, community, and university groups. Before coming
to Washington, Kim worked as a research analyst for Morris Communications
in Augusta, GA. She also publishes a women's 'zine called Voice.
Katrice
Price, a native of Thibodaux, LA, covers health, women's
issues, and educational issues for Congressman Bobby Scott of Virginia.
She graduated cum laude from Dillard University in sociology/social welfare.
Katrice received a master's in social work with a concentration in clinical
practice from Tulane University School of Social Work. She holds a Graduate
Social Work (GSW) license, an intermediate level license for social workers
from Tulane University. While completing her field practicum at East Jefferson
General Hospital in Metairie, Louisiana, Katrice completed her thesis
in the hospital's women and child services unit and outlined policy implications
to improve the services to mothers and their newborn infants. She has
counseled victims of domestic violence and worked at a community hospital
in New Orleans to find social services for new mothers and their babies.
Before accepting a WREI Fellowship, Katrice worked at Maison Orleans,
a 220-bed senior center, as a social services director for senior residents.
She is the first Fellow to follow her sister into the program. Kim Price
(class of 1999-2000) worked on education issues for Senator Ted Kennedy
last year.
Raissa
"Joy" Raatz covers
older women's issues and is liaison to the Congressional Women's Caucus
in the office of the Caucus's cochair Juanita Millender-McDonald of California.
She is currently working on her doctorate in public health and women's
health from Indiana University, where she was an associate instructor.
Joy received a master's degree in education from the University of Louisville
with a minor in counseling. Prior to her doctoral studies, Joy worked
as a health educator/community planner with the Louisville, Kentucky Health
Department, focusing on women at high risk for HIV/AIDS. She also worked
at a clinic for women who tested positive for AIDS. Joy spent a summer
in Belize working with UNICEF on a book about the status of women which
was used as a tool for the purpose of education and to impact policy change.
Joy has volunteered at the Hospice of Louisville as a bereavement volunteer
for five years. She has a daughter attending college.
Patricia
Rojas of Texas is currently pursuing an MSW at the University
of Houston's Graduate School of Social Work. She earned her bachelor's
degree in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1996. She
handles child labor and immigration issues in the office of Congresswoman
Lucille Roybal-Allard of California. Before arriving on Capitol Hill,
she worked as a liaison for immigrants on the district staff of U.S. Representative
Ken Bentsen of Texas. A native of Chihuahua, Mexico, Ms. Rojas uses her
fluent Spanish to respond to the needs of the Latino community in Houston.
In her graduate internship at the PIVOT Project of Aid to Victims of Domestic
Abuse, she facilitated groups for male perpetrators of domestic violence.
Trained as a mediator, she previously conducted civil dispute mediations
for the Dispute Resolution Center, which provides free services to the
residents of Harris County. In 1997, her love for children led her to
teach an after-school program for third graders for the I Have a Dream
dropout prevention program in Houston's inner city. Because she is particularly
interested in finding a solution to the barriers undocumented students
face in their attempts to go to college, Ms. Rojas became a founding member
of the Coalition for Higher Education for Immigrant Students. Her international
experience includes spending a summer in 1997 learning Portuguese and
working in a daycare center with children of indigent families in Brazil.
The following year, she taught family planning in Tijuana, Mexico to young
women in juvenile detention. She has presented at state conferences, which
include the National Association of Social Workers and Amnesty International.
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