Hello and thank you for visiting our website. We are the Zonta Club of Tallahassee (ZCT). We are part of Zonta International, a worldwide network of professional women with a shared mission of Advancing the Status of Women through Service and Advocacy. We have over 31,000 members in 66 counties around the globe. Our local club is the largest in Florida and one of the largest in the United States. ZCT marked its 30th anniversary recently, on May 26th, and I am honored to be Club President as we head boldly into the next decade. Our club started in 1980 without the technology that today allows us to share ideas and information at lightening speeds. However, we still live in a world where more women than men are unemployed or underemployed as a result of recent upheavals in the world economy and those who do hold positions of authority still earn .82 for every dollar a man earns in the same job.
Zonta International meets biennially to come to consensus on key issues, assess the progress we’ve made since the last Convention and set goals for the next two years. Our worldwide service is implemented mainly through projects under contractual agreements in place with the United Nations High Commission on the Status of Women, of which we are a voting member. This June in San Antonio we voted to fund another $2.3 million for women’s education, health and safety projects in Liberia, Guatemala, El Salvador and Haiti.
At the local level ZCT continues to impact the lives of women in the Big Bend through, amongst others,
1) Our Mammogram Project that pays for breast exams for uninsured and underinsured women qualified by the various county health departments,
2) Our Keys in Her Hands Project, in partnership with the Capital Area Community Action Agency, that mentors very low-income women in an on-going self-sufficiency curriculum, and
3) Our Jane M. Klausman Young Women in Business Scholarships and our Carol Bellamy Young Women in Public Affairs Awards that attract the best and the brightest of high school, college and graduate study candidates. These competitive awards provide financial resources that help further the education and careers of female leaders of the future as well as facilitating possible mentorship s that can last a lifetime.
All of this is possible primarily because our greatest strength lies in our diversity. Our membership boasts women of every age, race, religion, and political affiliation and all educational and socio-economic backgrounds. We come together to help other women and our theme for the 2010 – 11 year is Fun and Profitable! That translates into all kinds of fun, all the time, with guest speakers and lecturers, service projects and social events that are mutually beneficial to our members and our community. To find out more about the Zonta Club of Tallahassee visit one of our meetings or feel free to contact me by email at zontalou@comcast.net.