The Inside Press

The Obama Administration has made it clear that advancing the rights of women and girls is critical to the foreign policy of the United States.  This is a matter of national security as much as it is an issue of morality or fairness.  President Obama’s National Security Strategy explicitly recognizes that “countries are more peaceful and prosperous when women are accorded full and equal rights and opportunity.  When those rights and opportunities are denied, countries lag behind.”

That’s why I’m so pleased about the Presidential Memorandum that President Obama signed yesterday, which institutionalizes an elevated focus on global women’s issues at the State Department and USAID and ensures coordination on these issues across the federal government.  And it is so important that incoming Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed his support for the continued elevation of these issues in our foreign policy.

As I have said many times, protecting and advancing the rights of women are critical to solving virtually every challenge we face as individual nations and as a community of nations.  We have made great progress, but there is more to do.  This is the unfinished business of the 21st Century, and it is essential that it remains central to our foreign policy for years to come.

The U.S. Department of State is pleased to announce that ensembles of the Afghan National Institute of Music (ANIM) will travel to three cities in the United States from February 3-15 for performances and cultural exchange with American youth orchestras.  The group will begin its tour with a small ensemble performance of traditional Afghan music at the State Department on Monday February 4 at 11:30 in the Dean Acheson Auditorium.

The Afghan students and their teachers also will play concerts featuring both Western and traditional instruments at the Kennedy Center on February 7, Carnegie Hall on February 12, and the New England Conservatory February 13-15. The group’s tour will be further enriched by collaborations with the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras and the Scarsdale High School Orchestra.

The Afghan National Institute of Music reflects a modern Afghanistan, in which the musical traditions of East and West come together in the hands of gifted teachers and students. The young men and women who study at the Afghan National Institute of Music study a variety of instruments, including the tabla, the rubab and the violin. They study the music of Afghan composers and international composers from Ustad Mohammed Umar to Duke Ellington.

Founded by Dr. Ahmad Sarmast, ANIM is both a source and a symbol of Afghanistan’s progress, exemplifying the restoration of Afghanistan’s rich culture in a country where the Taliban had repressed all forms of musical expression. Many of the teachers at the Institute are private American citizens who have chosen to live in Kabul in order to bring the gift of music to these young children.

This ensemble highlights the strength of Afghanistan’s diversity, admitting students (both young men and women) regardless of their social circumstances or ethnic background. Music education teaches tolerance, and music brings all people together in a spirit of peace.

The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education, the World Bank, Carnegie Corporation and Asian Cultural Council in New York are supporting ANIM’s trip to the United States.

The Catholic and Jewish Communities of Westchester
Community Forum On The Affordability Of Catholic And Jewish Day Schools

Hundreds of day school parents hear about initiatives to offset the costs of religious and independent school education and learn how to effectively advocate at a Community Forum on the Affordability of Catholic and Jewish Day Schools on Thursday evening, January 31, 2013, from 7:00–9:00 p.m. at the Schechter Westchester Upper School, 555 West Hartsdale Avenue, Hartsdale, NY. Participants will include New York State Assemblypersons Amy Paulin (88AD), Shelley Mayer (90AD), Steve Otis (91AD), and David Buchwald (93AD) and forum co-sponsors New York State Catholic Conference, Solomon Schechter School of Westchester, UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish Education Project, OU-Teach NYS, Westchester Day School, Office of the Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of New York, and the Westchester Jewish Council. Tuition-paying families across NYS shoulder the dual burden of paying taxes to support public schools while paying tuition to support the education of their own children. For many families with children in religious day schools, paying increasing taxes and rising tuition is becoming too difficult to sustain—creating a crisis not only for those families but for taxpayers who face a dramatic increase in cost if these families are forced to enroll their children in public school. This forum will provide parents with the opportunity to learn about what’s being considered in NYS and engage with state lawmakers representing Westchester County about what can be done to bring tuition assistance supports to the state. Additional invited elected officials (not confirmed) include New York State Senate Co-Leader Jeffrey Klein (34SD), NYS Senate Democratic Conference Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (35SD), and New York State Senators Ruth Hassell-Thompson (36SD), George S. Latimer (37SD), David Carlucci (38SD), Greg Ball (40SD), and New York State Assemblyman Thomas J. Abinanti (92AD).

WHAT: COMMUNITY FORUM ON THE AFFORDABILITY OF CATHOLIC AND JEWISH DAY SCHOOLS

WHO: Hundreds of Catholic and Jewish day school parents, elected officials including New York State Assemblypersons Amy Paulin (88AD), Shelley Mayer (90AD), Steve Otis (91AD) and David Buchwald (93AD) and the New York State Catholic Conference, and forum co-sponsors Solomon Schechter School of Westchester, UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish Education Project, OU-Teach NYS, Westchester Day School, Office of the Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of New York and the Westchester Jewish Council

WHY: Parents join with Jewish and Catholic communal organizations to learn from elected officials what is being considered in NYS that may relieve these families’ dual burden of day school tuition and public school taxes.

WHERE: Schechter Westchester Upper School,555 West Hartsdale Avenue, Hartsdale, NY

WHEN: Thursday, January 31, 2013, 7:00–9:00 p.m.

NOTE: Catholic and Jewish Day School parents available for advance interview from 6:30 – 7:00 p.m.