IC students voice need for change at CARE National Conference
Seven students from Illinois College attended the CARE National Conference, “Your Voice. A World of Change,” on May 20-23 in Washington, D.C.
CARE is an international organization that leads efforts to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice worldwide. IC students attending the conference engaged in advocacy training, discussed social justice issues with a number of influential speakers and met with U.S. Congress members.
This is the second year that the global organization has had a chapter at Illinois College and the fourth time that IC students have participated in the conference. Ana Flores, project coordinator and organization advisor for IC’s CARE organization, said that the experience highlighted the need for organizations like CARE to bring people together in a shared mission of empowering women and ending poverty.
“I believe I can speak for the group in saying that we all left inspired and ready to take action on behalf of all the values that CARE stands for,” said Flores. “Our Illinois College students were praised by many of the CARE staff members for their leadership, and I could not have been prouder of the group that attended this year’s conference.”
Flores said the group from IC listened to a critical call-to-action from former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates and urged senators and representatives to co-sponsor the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) and to protect the Foreign Aid Budget.
Students from IC’s CARE organization who attended include Addy Drake ’20 (president), Dakota Hospelhorn ’19 (treasurer), Frankie Sikora ’20, Nely Munoz ’20, Sarah Christian ’19, John Myers ’19 and Tim Farmer ’19.