 (click here for hi-res image) | ||
| Christie Vilsack, Executive Director | ||
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| During her tenure as First Lady of Iowa, Christie continued her life-long commitment to healthy adolescents by sponsoring the Young Women's Health Conference, promoting community programs that build confidence in young women like BOW (Becoming an Outdoor Woman) Girl Talk, Girl Scouts, and 4-H. She created a Middle School online book club. She also created the Capitol Project which brings high school students to Des Moines every year when the legislature is in session to learn the legislative process. | ||
| Christie has been actively involved in strengthening communities in Iowa and nationally by advocating for family literacy, public libraries, school libraries, and computer and technology literacy. Through a partnership with the National Center for Family Literacy and the Verizon Foundation, Christie helped create the Tech Savvy Awards to identify programs across the country that bring parents and children together to learn to use technology effectively and safely and to help parents advocate for 21st Century skills in schools. She serves on the Iowa and national Board of Directors of Reach Out and Read. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Iowa Wesleyan College, and the Iowa Center for the Book. | ||
| Christie was born and raised in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. In 1972 she graduated in the charter class of Kirkland College in Clinton, New York. She received her Masters degree in journalism from The University of Iowa in l992. She met Tom Vilsack during college and they married in l973. After he finished law school in 1975, they moved to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa where she taught and he practiced law. Together they raised two sons, Jess, a lawyer in Des Moines, and Doug, 26, a law student at the University of Colorado. | ||
| For l8 years, Christie taught middle school and high school language arts and journalism. For six years she taught English and journalism at Iowa Wesleyan College. She worked as a reporter and columnist for the Mt. Pleasant News for many years and more recently created a column for Offenburger.com, an online journal. She is still certified to teach in the state of Iowa. | ||
| When her husband was elected governor of Iowa, she created a statewide literacy initiative. From 2000 to 2006, Christie raised funds to give a book to every kindergartener in Iowa. She visited over 500 Iowa libraries to discuss the social and economic impact of public libraries on communities and to advocate for a certified teacher librarian in every school. | ||
| On behalf of the governor’s office, she traveled the state advocating for education and economic development initiatives. She represented Iowa in 9 countries during her tenure as first lady, leading a delegation in Japan and New Zealand. | ||
| She has been a Democratic activist her entire life. Since high school she has worked to elect legislators, governors and presidents. She attended the 2004 National Convention as a delegate and a speaker. | ||
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| The Iowa Initiative aims to reduce the high level of unintended pregnancies among young women in our state by expanding knowledge about pregnancy prevention and increasing access to contraception. We are also encouraging the State to invest in preventing unintended pregnancy by making access to information and appropriate care readily available. | ||
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| Staff: | ||
| • Christie Vilsack, Executive Director: cvilsack@iowainitiative.org | ||
| • Deb Madison-Levi, Director of Operations: dmadisonlevi@iowainitiative.org | ||
| • Mary Triick, Executive Assistant/Scheduler: mtriick@iowainitiative.org | ||
| • Tonja Richards, Director of Communications: trichards@iowainitiative.org | ||
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Resources |
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| Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH)/ Iowa Women’s Health Information Center – | ||
| The Iowa Women's Health Information Center web site and toll-free call center was | ||
| created to provide FREE objective, medically accurate health information for women in Iowa. | ||
| - http:/www.womenshealthiowa.info/ | ||
| - Iowa Healthy Families Hotline - (800) 369-2229 | ||
| - Iowa Teen Hotline - (800) 443-8336 | ||
| ● | Health Information and Referral, Confidential | |
| ● | TDD (Telecommunications Device for Deaf Persons) (800) 735-2942 | |
| ● | Phones are answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week | |
| Family Planning Council of Iowa (FPCI) - | ||
| The Family Planning Council of Iowa is a non profit organization working to make sure | ||
| that good, safe family planning services are available to the women and men of Iowa. | ||
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| Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa (PPGI) – | ||
| Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa has served women and men of all ages in Iowa and | ||
| nearby states since 1934. Today the agency offers a full range of quality reproductive | ||
| health care services to residents in 85 Iowa counties and three counties in Illinois through | ||
| 17 medical centers and an education and resource center. | ||
| http://www.plannedparenthood.org/greater-iowa/ | ||
| PPGI Healthy Families Project – | ||
| The Healthy Families project is focused on reducing unintended pregnancies in Iowa. To | ||
| that end, we support the creation of a state fund that would provide over 100,000 Iowa | ||
| women with family planning services, including contraception. | ||
| http://www.plannedparenthood.org/greater-iowa/healthy-families-project.htm | ||
| University of Northern Iowa – Center for Social and Behavioral Research (CSBR) - | ||
| CSBR is a research, service, and educational unit of the College of Social and Behavioral | ||
| Sciences at the University of Northern Iowa. This unit will be conducting original | ||
| research for the Iowa Initiative in behaviors and influencers of our targeted audience. | ||
| http://www.uni.edu/csbr | ||
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| For more information, contact The Iowa Initiative at info@iowainitiative.org or call us at (515) 282-5375 | ||
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Address: 300 E. Locust ▪ Suite 245 ▪ Des Moines, IA 50309 |
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Contact | Home © 2008 The Iowa Initiative |
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