Washington, DC, June 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vital Voices co-founder Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the women’s leadership organization’s commitments to furthering the Sustainable Development Goals on the occasion of the Generation Equality forum, including the exciting opening of the Vital Voices Global Headquarters for Women’s Leadership. The Global Headquarters will serve as an innovation-hub dedicated to connecting women leaders and their allies so that, together, they can solve the world’s greatest challenges.
“Beijing was a watershed moment; today, we stand at another. We should meet this moment not with tired ideas and incremental steps, but with the boldness, leadership, and resources needed to transform our world. This is a time for us to come together once again – women and men alike, public sector and private, those of us who were there in Beijing and the rising “Generation Equality.” There is nothing more powerful than our shared voices calling for change – and our shared efforts to make that change a reality,” said Secretary Clinton. “I’m thrilled to announce Vital Voices’ commitments to achieving an equal future for us all.”
“This year’s Generation Equality Forum serves as a milestone marking the anniversary of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995, where then-First Lady Clinton declared that “women’s rights are human rights” – catalyzing a global movement for gender equality,” said Vital Voices President and CEO Alyse Nelson. “It’s on this occasion, recognizing the progress made since that historic moment and the long road ahead to achieving true equality, that Vital Voices announces this bold commitment to the future of women and girls.”
Officially opening on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2022, the Vital Voices Global Headquarters for Women’s Leadership will be a collaborative and inclusive space designed for all women, everywhere. In addition to the Vital Voices staff and its global network of more than 18,000 women leaders, the building will serve as a gathering place for local and visiting women leaders and organizations with limited resources that need a place to convene, innovate, plan and act – all in the pursuit of solving the greatest challenges from gender based violence to climate justice, racial equity and economic recovery. Vital Voices will simultaneously launch the Headquarters’ digital twin – an online, interactive hub showcasing events happening at the Global Headquarters, providing resources and connecting leaders around the world so they can convene and collaborate online.
The building and digital twin are being funded by a group of all-women donors including designer and philanthropist Diane von Furstenberg, philanthropist Melinda French Gates, Spanx Founder Sara Blakely, Vital Voices Board Chair Kate James and many more.
“Vital Voices is the leading global network of women leaders,” said designer and philanthropist Diane von Furstenberg who chairs the project and made the largest gift to the campaign. “To have a global headquarters in the nation’s capital is a dream come true – a place to meet and make things happen, knowing that when women connect there is true power.”
“It is our hope that women from around the world will come to this building to expand their networks, share their stories of success and hardship, highlight their bold visions for progress and recharge so that they can go back out into the world and make real change happen,” said Vital Voices Chief Operating Officer Faida Fuller.
Vital Voices Global Partnership is an international women’s leadership organization dedicated to investing in women leaders who are tackling the world’s most challenging problems. Since its creation in 1997, Vital Voices has supported more than 18,000 women leaders including Nobel Laureates Nadia Murad and Malala Yousafzai, U.S. Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman and thousands more pushing for progress in human rights, economic opportunity, political participation, climate justice, girls’ leadership, civic engagement, and more.
To find out more about how you can get involved, visit Vital Voices’ website. For more details on the Vital Voices Global Headquarters for Women’s Leadership, please see the VVHQ Prospectus.
About Vital Voices Global Partnership
Vital Voices Global Partnership invests in women leaders who are solving the world’s greatest challenges – from gender-based violence to the climate crisis, economic inequities, and more. We are “venture catalysts,” identifying those with a daring vision for change and partnering with them to make that vision a reality. We scale and accelerate impact through long term investments to expand skills, connections, capacity and visibility. Over the last 24 years, we have built a network of 18,000 change makers across 182 countries, each of whom are daring to reimagine a more equitable world for all.
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