Jessica's Press Releases

Friday, September 28, 2018

The Search for Handmade Crafts in the Tennessee River Valley

Handmade crafts are a valuable economic engine for families and communities across the United States. With the purchase of a handmade good made in the USA, all the money stays here, and is spent and invested here.

Now in its ninth year, American Craft Week is the country's largest celebration of handmade American craft. From October 5th to the 14th, galleries, festivals, museums, libraries and artist studios across the country will be celebrating and showcasing original works of arts and handmade creations. More info here.

"In today's world where everything seems to be mass-produced, finding an art piece or craft handmade in the U.S.A. has become some what of a treasured piece and something worth holding on to and passing down to future generations," said Julie Graham, spokesperson for the Tennessee River Valley Stewardship Council. "The Tennessee River Valley is rich in artisans and craftsmen who are waiting to show off their creations and to share knowledge of their craft with the public." Read all the latest news.

There are several areas in the Tennessee River Valley region that are hot spots for craft lovers in search of handmade treasures. Several locations in the region, including Blue Ridge, Ga. and Gatlinburg, Tenn., were also voted by craft enthusiasts across the United States as an American Craft Week top 10 town for craft lovers. For a complete list of participants and events, visit http://www.americancraftweek.com.

The Great Smoky Arts and Crafts Community is an area containing more than 100 Appalachian artist and craftsmen along an eight-mile loop on the eastern edge of Gatlinburg, Tenn. Visitors are often greeted by the artists who will take the time to chat and discuss the history of their craft.

The largest independent organization of artisans in the United States, the Great Smoky Arts and Crafts Community features carvers, weavers, watercolor artists, casters, soap makers, potters, silversmiths and dozens of other artisans skillfully demonstrate their abilities before thousands of visitors. The eight-mile loop road is designated a Tennessee Heritage Arts and Crafts Trail. The Arts and Crafts Community can be reached using the Yellow Trolley from downtown Gatlinburg.

Twice a year, the community offers a program, Hands on Gatlinburg, providing guests with the chance to learn how to make their favorite crafts from the professionals themselves. Over 40 different do-it-yourself style classwork will be offered, from knitting to pastels, painting, jewelry-making, watercolor, scarf-making, weaving, pottery, crochet, woodworking, soap-making and much more. Festivalgoers can keep the items they make. Upcoming dates are October 12-14, 2018 and April 12-14, 2019. Read all the related news.

For the complete package in everything craft-related in the Appalachian region, plan a getaway to the John C. Campbell Folk School. Located in scenic Brasstown, North Carolina, the Folk School offers adults more than 800 weeklong and weekend classes year-round in traditional and contemporary craft, art, music, dance, cooking, gardening, nature studies, photography and writing.

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Visitors are welcome to explore the beautiful campus during daylight hours in a free and self-directed tour. Numerous walking trails meander the 300-acre campus, including the Rivercane Walk, a creekside trail with art honoring the Cherokee heritage of the Appalachian area. Read news here.

The Folk School's Craft Shop reflects the rich heritage of the Appalachian region and the talented artisans who live and work locally and regionally. Representing over 300 craftspeople, it offers everything from decorative jewelry and handcrafted pottery to functional fireplace poker sets and fiber creations like scarves and table linens.

The History Center traces the story of the Folk School from its beginning and provides an overview of Appalachian culture. It houses a collection of handcrafted objects, old documents and letters, and photographs. Read related news here.

Additional entertainment includes the Folk School's free Friday night concert series featuring some of the finest regional and national acts performing old-time, bluegrass, folk, gospel and Celtic music. Community dances are usually held every other Saturday evening and are relished by local residents and visitors who enjoy contra and square dancing to live music. Read related news now.

The Clinch River Artisan Trail combines a search for handmade treasures with a scenic drive through southwest Virginia. Flowing through the rolling hills and green pastures of Southwest Virginia, the Clinch River is one of the world's most biologically diverse waterways .The Nature Conservancy declared the Clinch River Basin to be one of only twenty "Last Great Places" in the world (1990.)

One of 15 regional artisan trails in Southwest Virginia, the Clinch River Artisan Trail is a driving tour taking visitors through history, culture and the traditions of rural Appalachia. This landscape of river and surrounding mountains feed the imagination of artists and artisans, storytellers and musicians. It's easy to see why so many artists find inspiration here. Visitors to this area can learn about skills handed down through generations, discover the joys of picking fruit from an orchard and meet basket makers, weavers, quilters, potters, wood workers, jewelers, farmers and others who look forward to telling their story behind their craft and their heritage.

Listed as one of the top five Art Towns in Georgia by the Georgia Council for the Arts and the Georgia Municipal Association, the Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association and Art Center is the center of the arts for Blue Ridge, Ga. The Art Center is home to the Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association, a non-profit, 501(c) 3 arts council that provides opportunities for artists of all ages. The Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association and Art Center hosts more than 35 exhibits and events each year that provide a variety of multi-cultural artwork and mediums.

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The second weekend in October welcomes the annual Arts in the Park. Held in Downtown City Park, the two day event draws in excess of 20,000 attendees annually and a wide array of artists and food vendors. With over 170+ artists, exhibitors and vendors booths, visitors enjoy a variety of fine arts and fine crafts, demonstrations, food, and much more.

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Additional attractions to compliment a visit to Blue Ridge include the Blue Ridge Community Theater, the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway, the Swan Drive-In Theater, fine restaurants, craft breweries and shopping in local small businesses and art galleries.

Beginning in the southwest corner of Virginia, the Tennessee River Valley region cuts through the mountainous areas of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Northern Georgia, into the rolling hills and bottomlands of northern Alabama and Mississippi and then north through the marshes and wetlands of middle-west Tennessee and ending in western Kentucky. The Tennessee River Valley offers a compelling story, captivating visitors with its little unknown facts, pristine, untouched areas and rich, authentic experiences. Save trip ideas and plan a trip easily with the Tennessee River Valley Geotourism MapGuide, an online guide of authentic places and adventures that have been recommended by locals.

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All information are taken from the news source. We do not promise anything nor take any responsibility for anything the news owner claim. We just share the news as is. You can contact news owner directly in the message for more information.

CelebExperts Launches Proprietary Celebrity Onboarding Process CelebShows

CelebExperts, the premier agency in assisting companies from startups to Fortune 100 global corporations in turning the 2019 tradeshow season into one of the most dynamic in years, has announced its new proprietary onboarding process called CelebShows. CelebShows is being launched to handle the increased demand after hundreds of celebrity bookings at tradeshows and events all over the world in the last decade. CelebExperts' clients have frequently requested a unique philosophy behind celebrity talent acquisition for upcoming events. CelebShows is an expedited process to onboard celebrities from the world of sports, movie, TV, technology, business titans, thought leaders, celebrity chefs, Sharks and now social media influencers.

CelebShows only requires some basic information about the company, event, theme, goals and budget and the CelebExperts staff will produce a curated list of candidates with biographies and fee/travel requirements within sixty (60) minutes or less*. CelebExperts has queried hundreds of its best clients over the last 12 months to ascertain the most important elements of assisting clients looking to book a celebrity for their tradeshow activation whether it is in their booth, at a post event party or a pre launch media event. These three main elements clients are requesting seem simple, but they have been challenging to secure. Read related news here.

CelebExperts President & CEO Evan Morgenstein sees it every day, "My clients are busy, successful and don't want to be bogged down with the minutia or the millions of micro-managed questions that are part of this process. They want immediacy, they want transparency and they want the best fees available. CelebShows will provide all of these at industry leading speed."

With two of the largest shows of 2019 at the beginning of the year, CES and The Housewares Show in Chicago, calls have been brisk for celebrity chefs to highlight new cookware innovations. Additionally, an overwhelming number of requests have come in for social media influencers with tens of millions of followers age 16-24 that are the primary customer of so many of the technology companies at CES in Las Vegas.

CelebExperts is seeing an increase in the inquiries it is receiving for several reasons explains Morgenstein, "We have never seen this many companies searching for celebrity talent to hire as part of their tradeshow strategy. The white economy, increased consumer spending and the wealth of celebrities and social media influencer options at incredibly reasonable fees have really super-charged talent spending. Our booking agents are fielding calls from all over the world."

If your company is interested in speaking with an experienced booking agent about celebrity and/or social media influencer options and costs, contact us at consulting(at)celebexperts (dot)com or call us at (919) 332-0584.

*This guarantee is available 10 AM-6 PM EST, Monday-Friday. Company will make its best efforts to provide the same if the request is not received during this window.

About CelebExperts

CelebExperts is a leading consulting firm dedicated to demystifying the celebrity acquisition process and finding creative solutions to effectively market your brand leveraging the power of a celebrity. For more information on how your brand could utilize celebrity talent as a spokesperson for upcoming marketing campaigns or booking keynote speakers for your next event, please contact our team at consulting(at)celebexperts.com or give us a call at (919) 332-0584.

Paramount WorkPlace to Showcase its Procurement Platform of Choice During bbcon 2018

Paramount WorkPlace, a leading software developer and provider of cloud-based and mobile spend management software solutions, will be showcasing its tight integration with Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT cloud fund accounting software as a proud Ruby Sponsor during the annual bbcon conference, to be held October 9-11, 2018 in Orlando, FL. bbcon is the premier tech gathering for organizations and change agents driving social good.

Foy Mainor, Vice President of Sales for Paramount WorkPlace, will be presenting during the event, a brief, on-point session titled Five Ways to Save in the Procurement Cycle. "We are proud to help sponsor bbcon for the third consecutive year," he said. "As a company, we are committed to providing solutions that deliver value and promote the sustainability of nonprofit organizations. Nowhere is cost savings more of a priority than In the nonprofit and higher education sectors. By implementing an automated procurement solution, these organizations are able to reduce cost and overhead expenses while streamlining the entire procurement cycle, from requisition through invoice payment."

Paramount WorkPlace provides web-based and mobile requisition, procurement, and expense management solutions for nonprofit organizations. It is recognized as the Blackbaud Procurement Platform of Choice for its intuitive and highly configurable interface, robust capabilities, the flexibility of choosing either a software-as-a-services (SaaS) or on-premise deployment, and its out-of-the-box seamless integration with Financial Edge NXT.

Mohamed Khalife, Director of Product Management Software for Paramount WorkPlace said, "Software brings the most value when it's in full use. In our latest WorkPlace 2018 release, a few areas of my focus were user experience, mobile, and data analytics. My goal was making the user experience so intuitive that even if a user is new to the procurement cycle, they are guided through to the next step in the workflow. Equally important was offering users a powerful single-glance view of their KPI's and spending analytics so that they can make fast, high-quality, strategic decisions at any time. More and more business is done on mobile devices, so advancing the mobile capabilities was crucial. Users can enter, process, and approve requisitions from their mobile app from anywhere at any time. Combined with Paramount WorkPlace's comprehensive integration with Financial Edge NXT, customers gain a much higher adoption rate and are able to deliver the efficiencies nonprofit organizations are seeking."

"Customers today expect far more than just powerful features and seamless integration with their cloud ERP," said Khensa Bangert, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Paramount WorkPlace. "Part of my role is to discover these expectations and collaborate with our teams so that we are constantly evolving Paramount WorkPlace in the right direction. This also helps us accelerate the rate of innovation in areas that matter most to users for each specific role in the spend management cycle. "Our strong partnership with Blackbaud and depth of integration with Financial Edge NXT demonstrates our commitment to our nonprofit customers."

About Paramount WorkPlace
Paramount WorkPlace develops, sells, and supports advanced web-based and mobile requisition, procurement, and expense software solutions for mid-market and enterprise organizations. With over 131,000 worldwide users, Paramount WorkPlace cloud-based and on-premise solutions are trusted by global, national, and local brands for their powerful capabilities, intuitive features, and the option for a stand-alone and integrated extension of Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT and many major ERPs. Learn more at http://www.paramountworkplace.com.

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Thursday, September 27, 2018

Matrix Solutions’ 2018 Ad Spend Churn in America Report Unveils Two in Three Advertisers Return to Advertise on Broadcast, One in Three Churn

At a time when metrics and KPIs rule all decision making in the media buying process for advertisements, a new report examining churn across broadcast, digital broadcast and radio found that broadcast is least likely to experience churned accounts at a 36.34 percent churn rate; followed by radio with a churn rate of 43.76 percent; with digital broadcast proving the most volatile with a churn rate of 50.09 percent.

However, the stakes are higher for broadcast and radio when an account churns than it is for digital broadcast platforms. On average, a churned account for broadcast yields a loss of $7,887 per media deal; for radio it's $5,626; and for digital broadcast, even though it has the highest churn rate, the impact of that churn, on average, costs $3,920.

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The findings come from Matrix Solutions' 2018 Ad Spend Churn in America Report, a comprehensive report on the state of the advertising spend churn rates derived from the activity of more than 400,000 active accounts within media ad sales teams from Matrix's global ad sales platform Monarch. The data analyzed media ad deals between July 2016 to June 2018 to determine churn activity across industries and broadcast, digital broadcast and radio platforms.

"When thinking about advertising spend, the industry tends to only look at the money that exchanges hands between the advertiser and the media company—and we wanted to instead look at the money that never left the negotiating table," said Mark Gorman, CEO at Matrix Solutions.

"Broadcast clearly fares better than its digital counterpart, and it's all because of measurement. There are fewer reasons for advertisers to doubt the effectiveness of their broadcast ad buys, hence why the platform is least likely to churn. There's less proof to show what is and isn't working. In contrast, digital broadcast has more of a burden to bare in that it captures more metrics to paint a picture of success for a digital ad buy—but failure as well, hence the platform's 50 percent churn rate."

Churn by Industry

Possessing a window into churn rates for specific industries enables media companies to better develop their media sales strategies. Churn history helps forecast the likelihood of which advertisers might fail to return revenue to a platform and which advertiser is likely to repeat business.
When examining industries least likely to experience churn:

Broadcast

Digital Broadcast

Radio

Churn by Brand

Some brands are more reliable than others—in addition to Matrix Solutions' 2018 Ad Spend Churn in America Report highlighting specific churn rates, and the cost of that churn across platforms and industries, it has also captured data on brands with the highest loss in revenue due to churned accounts that come out of a national sales office across broadcast, digital broadcast and radio.

Broadcast

Digital Broadcast

Radio

For more churn information on brands, additional information detailing specific churn information across platform and industries and a national versus local analysis on churn, please see the full 2018 Ad Spend Churn in America Report here.

Methodology

Matrix Solutions looked at more than $9 billion worth of relevant media ad sales deals, excluding political ad spend, to determine the churn activity across platforms, industries and brands in the United States – normalizing each category from the activity of more than 400,000 active accounts within media ad sales teams selling broadcast, digital broadcast and radio inventory. Data was derived from Matrix's global ad sales platform Monarch. Data was captured from July 2016 to June 2018.

About Matrix Solutions

Matrix Solutions makes media happen by helping media companies to better monetize their content. Its flagship product, Monarch, is the only global ad sales platform built for media – transforming chaotic data into actionable sales information that delivers the insights necessary for prospecting, managing, evaluating and closing business.

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The company manages more than $13 billion in media ad revenue, offering its best-in-class analytics, sales intelligence, media-specific CRM and sales tools to more than 10,000 media sellers to more efficiently manage their workflow.

For more information, please visit matrixformedia.com.

Contact

Diffusion PR for Matrix Solutions
Lauren Curlett
matrix@diffusionpr.com
1 (646) 571-0120

Findera Introduces The First Search Engine To Find Professional People

Findera announced today the availability of its new search engine, designed to help professionals succeed. Findera gives everyone the power to find the right people - such as employers, employees, partners, and customers - for their business purposes.

With Findera, anyone can search through 130 million professionals by name, location, position, department, time in position, company name, industry, company size, revenue, and more criteria. It is also possible to bookmark people and add them to any number of lists, which can eliminate the tedious task of copying and pasting text between documents to create lists of people. These lists can be exported to other tools such as spreadsheets, or shared with co-workers.

"Finding the right people is the starting point for most business endeavors. Unfortunately, this can be more difficult than it should be," said Cindy Padnos, founder and Managing Partner of Illuminate Ventures. "As a venture capitalist, a critical part of my role is helping our founders connect with top professionals at many companies. Finding the connections I seek is amazingly fast and easy with Findera."

Thanks to its innovative graph search technology, Findera understands the relationships between people and companies. This enables professionals to find the right people based on specific people and company attributes simultaneously, with one single search. For example, it only takes a few seconds to find VPs of Marketing at companies of a certain size and in a specific industry - or Directors of Human Resources at companies with more than $50M in revenue.

"The 'fabric of work' is changing. Work relationships are more fluid, decentralized, and autonomous. Professionals need an efficient way to develop their most important professional relationships," said Christophe Daligault, Findera COO and co-founder. "A free search engine provides a fresh alternative to time-consuming social networks and costly specialized services. Findera empowers all business professionals, including recruiters, business owners, consultants, business development and sales professionals, regardless of the size of their company and their budgets."

Findera is free to use and available starting today at findera.com

About Findera - "The world is your network"™
Findera is a service of Yozio Inc, DBA Findera, headquartered in San Francisco. Findera was founded by Lei Sun, Li Hong, and Christophe Daligault. Drawing from past experience at Microsoft, Netflix, Visa, Yahoo, and elsewhere, Findera is creating the professional search engine we've always needed. The company is backed by investors including AME Cloud Ventures, Foundation Capital, Illuminate Ventures, Morado Ventures, and the Webb Investment Network.

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Press Contacts: press(at)findera(dot)com

Pop-Rock Superstars Girl Pow-R Nominated for Best New Group at the 2018 Niagara Music Awards

Toronto-based Pop-Rock Superstars, Girl Pow-R, announce today that they have been nominated for Best New Group at The 2018 Niagara Music Awards. The ceremony is set to take place on Sunday September 30th at 6:30 PM. Girl Pow-R have had quite the year of success, with all of their 2018 releases surpassing 105K combined YouTube plays and Spotify streams, and being named Global Ambassadors of The 2018 Toronto Youth Day.

Stage Right Secrets raved about "Fun All Day" stating; "If you love feel good pure pop music, we've found your latest obsession!"

Additionally, Girl Pow-R is also one of only 14 artists who have been invited to perform LIVE, ON STAGE at the Niagara Music Awards - Season Eleven - 2018 Event. The show is televised across Canada for the first time ever through partners at TV Cogeco / Cogeco - Ontario / Cogeco - Québec / YourTV / YourTV Niagara and all of their subsidiary markets.

The Red Carpet Doors will be opened at 5:30 pm with press meetings, photos with the step and repeat boards taken, and interviews with official media representatives from Niagara this Week / St. Catharines Standard / Niagara Falls Review / Welland Tribune / @Thorold News / Country 89 / 91.7 Giant FM / 97.7 HTZ-FM / Newstalk 610 CKTB / 4680q.ca / BS-Live / CHCH TV / GoBe Weekly / STC CoffeeNews / Rev Publishing Multimedia Group.

Festival representatives will include Canal Days / Havelock Jamboree / Winter Festival of Lights / Winter Wine Festival / Rock The Park Music Festival / Concerts on the Canal / SCENE Music Festival / Welland FloatFest / Peach Festival Gardens / Toronto Music Scene just to name a few.

Girl Pow-R left a lasting impression on Tiger Beat after performing "Krisi" live on their Instagram story, and they noted "..we haven't been able to forget them ever since."

"One amazing message: Empowering girls t o become the best versions of themselves." -Girls' Life

The girls stuck to their Canadian roots with the video for "Stronger than Yesterday". It was filmed in 6 different Toronto locations and the girls told Celeb Secrets exclusively; "Filming our music video was a very fun and amazing experience [...] We had multiple clothing changes, performed our choreography that we do when we are on tour, did a live performance where we played our instruments and sang, used this really cool white bridge that connects two parts of the city, and more!"

The girls are constantly aiming to release high energy tracks that will become an anthem to all the teens around the world who are pushing to rise above difficult life challenges they may be facing. Member, Bella, told Girls' Life, "For me, the song 'Krisi' addresses many of the real challenges girls encounter in daily life. Bullying, hurt, and sadness, and it tries to identify a path of empowerment in order to overcome these challenges."

The 2018 Niagara Music Awards Ticket Purchase

Date & Time:
Sunday, September 30th at 6:30 PM

Location:
Champaign Banquet Hall
294 Vine Street, St. Catharines, ON L2M 4T3

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MORE INFORMATION:
The members of Girl Pow-R originally joined forces in conjunction with International Women's Day in support of #BeBoldForChange. Each member has a unique mission to inspire teens and to support social causes with their music and positive messages, and they all have a separate charity that they feel strongly about. Girl Pow-R showcases their talent through not only singing, but dancing, instrument playing, and songwriting. This group of multi-talented girls have performed at over 95 shows since May of last year, and plan to continue on this route throughout 2018. Their memorable vocals and captivating performances have even earned Girl Pow-R a 2017 Toronto Independent Music Award Nomination for "Krisi".

AHEA Panel Releases Report On Addressing Sexual Harassment and Advancing Women in Politics

The Illinois Anti-Harassment, Equality and Access (AHEA) Panel today released its report that outlines recommendations for political party leaders and campaigns to adopt in order to change the culture and behaviors that have allowed sexual harassment to pervade our political system and stunt the advancement of women for decades. (See the end of the release for links to the Panel's report, model policy addressing sexual harassment for campaigns, and the report's video.)

A non-partisan organization led by State Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza, State Sen. Melinda Bush (31st District, Grayslake) and State Rep. Carol Ammons (103rd District, Champaign), the Panel sent its report to Democratic, Green, Libertarian, and Republican party leaders at the state and county level as well as all statewide and state-level campaigns registered with the State Board of Elections. The Panel is asking them to adopt the tenets of the report and offering to meet with leaders to provide feedback, guidance and input on its recommendations as well as next steps. The panel has asked county chairs to share the report with other county and municipal campaigns and party leaders.

Some of the highlights of the Panel's recommendations include: tie party funding and resources to campaigns adopting policies and participating in anti-harassment training; create an independent body that is independent from party leadership to receive complaints of sexual-harassment within the parties and on campaigns; and a commitment by each party to put forth resources in the form of dollars and staff to intentionally recruit and support women to win 50% of elected offices across state, county and municipal offices, and move more women into leadership positions throughout political organizations and campaigns.

"Every political party here in Illinois has a historic opportunity to make a break from a past where women were subject to debasing and unacceptable behaviors in the workplace that not only humiliated and shamed them, but stunted or ended the potential of many bright careers," said State Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza. "Let's send a message by bypassing partisanship and together embrace a future where we support and celebrate women, as well as people of color, people with disabilities and the LGBTQ community as equals in this system."

Last July, the panel hosted six listening sessions in cities across Illinois to gather feedback and input from women of all political persuasions who work or once worked in politics to help inform the outcome and recommendations of this report. The listening tour included: Urbana-Champaign; Chicago; Rockford; Edwardsville; Springfield; and Carbondale. The panel also provided an opportunity for women to share experiences either anonymously or by name via a survey on its website http://www.AHEApanel.org. Hundreds of women ultimately participated in this process.

"This report comes from both the heart and direct experiences of hundreds of women who've worked in politics here in Illinois. Party leaders across all aisles should take this extremely seriously and act on it as a signal that they hear us and believe us," said State Senator Melinda Bush. "To not act upon this or to delay implementation will send the wrong message to women during a time when we are all woke to this crisis and will no longer settle for lip service from political leaders." Read this for more information.

The panel not only heard stories from women about their experiences with sexual harassment, but more so about what a future state should look like, which includes an intentional effort by all political parties to elevate women into leadership positions throughout politics as well as electing more women to office. Women throughout the state consistently expressed a wish to have more seats at the table and to be valued in Illinois politics. This report provides a roadmap for starting to create the culture women need in campaigns, political offices and political parties.

"Sexual Assault is not a Republican or Democrat issue. It's a human issue. What does the current climate teach women and girls about coming forward to speak about their victimization? Death threats, suspicion, ridicule and scorn. Motives questioned and credibility attacked," said State Representative Carol Ammons. "This is the culture that needs to be eradicated. The victims should not be on trial. We must foster an environment where survivors will feel safe, heard, and secure."

The report's specific recommendations are as follows:

Intentional Workplace Culture Change to Create Safe, Dignified Work Environments That Are Free From Sexual Harassment and Other Misconduct

Adopt clear and non-negotiable policies that go beyond the law
Provide anti-harassment training to everyone involved in campaigns
Tie party funding and resources to campaigns adopting policies and participating in training
Provide independent reporting avenues for reporting potential misconduct
Establish an Independent Body to receive and investigate complaints
Conduct fair and thorough investigations
Prohibit retaliation and provide support services for victims of sexual harassment
Prohibit non-disclosure agreements and mandatory arbitration clauses
Craft reasonable policies for consensual romantic relationships and alcohol use

Elect More Women to Office in Illinois and Promote More into Leadership Positions Throughout Politics

Commit to a concrete goal of women filling 50% of the seats in Illinois' General Assembly
Hire a manager-level Director of Diversity in the state parties to recruit more diverse candidates to run for elected office and for top-level staff positions
Invest party money in training women, developing their talent, and supporting their races and promoting women into leaderships positions in campaigns and political organizations
Require diversity in the pool of applicants or candidates considered for every political vacancy and leadership position (including people of color, LGBTQ and people with disabilities)
Establish an Advisory Board to oversee these changes

"Sexual harassment doesn't discriminate by industry, workplace, title or political party. It's on all of us to create workspaces where women are safe and empowered to lead," said Tina Tchen, legal counsel to the Illinois Anti-Harassment, Equality and Access (AHEA) Panel. "Navigating gender issues in the workplace isn't always easy and our existing tools and laws do not fully address these issues. I'm hopeful this new roadmap will give campaign leadership the tools they need to get it right, and help create an environment where women are not only supported in the workplace, but are also met with dignity, respect and the resources they need to lead or run for public office. I hope this report will serve as a stepping stone in moving Illinois forward."

The profound lack of trust and skepticism in the investigation of sexual harassment complaints, and whether campaigns would actually do anything to address reported misconduct, was the impetus for recommending that each state party establish an independent body, that's independent of party leadership, to receive complaints of misconduct, whether from their own staff or from campaigns, and to promptly investigate and resolve all such complaints.

The Panel is not making specific recommendations as to how the independent body should be formed and act, as that process should be open to additional discussion and as part of the Advisory Board's role with each party, which the panel recommends be appointed to oversee change in the system. Ultimately, such an independent body must be created that is truly independent of party leadership so that women feel comfortable and confident coming forward with complaints knowing that they will be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated.

The Panel will continue to engage the public, political leaders and elected officials around these issues and looks forward to seeing the next steps that each party and organization will take in adopting these recommendations.

A link to access the full Panel report is here (http://bit.ly/2zvA48q). A link to the report's video is here (https://youtu.be/vhm0UZ4xt3k). A link to the Panel's model anti-harassment policy for political campaigns can be found here (http://bit.ly/2zuD7O8).