On Wednesday, January 28^th, WCI Executive Director Kerri Kennedy was featured as a speaker at the University of Pennsylvania’s panel discussion on “The Causes and Consequences of Global Homelessness.”  The event was sponsored by Penn’s African Studies Center and featured other local experts such as Dr. Dennis Culhane and Dr. Marja Hoek-Smit. Kerri brought an international and gender-based perspective to the event, explaining that many of the women WCI works with in conflict-affected regions are refugees or internally displaced persons. Specifically in Colombia, Liberia, Sri Lanka and Sudan, the majority of WCI program participants have been forced from their homes by armed actors and eruptions of civil war in their communities.  Kerri educated the audience about how homeless women in these countries participate in WCI programs to become leaders, rebuild their communities and transform from victims to agents of change.

More information about MLK week:

http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/ohe/mlk/calendar.php

More information about One Book, One Philadelphia:

http://libwww.freelibrary.org/onebook/obop09/index.cfm