Young Professional Members
Interview with Mary Jo Ryan, YPM Co-Chair
- Mary Jo Ryan, Co-chair for our Sub-committee on Young Professionals (YP). Ms. Ryan’s passion for women’s issues began as a student at a social justice minded all women’s high school. There, she was instilled with the values that led her future personal and professional goals. She interned with Loretto Community, a United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) organization in our same Church Center. Once there, she found a particular focus on women’s issues which prompted her to get involved in the Committee on the Status of Women. Her interest in CSW was also a vehicle to gain practical experience in a different part of the non-profit sector before entering the job market in social work. In the Loretto Community Mary Jo helped sponsor 15 students who attended the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women sessions in 2010.
- Mary Jo is currently a social worker at Community Mediation Services in New York where she works with families providing counseling and resource referral. Community Mediation Services serves youth and families in Queens who are referred by the state, other social service agencies, and members of local communities. The agency was developed 30 years ago because children and families were part of a stressful process in Family Court that often tore them apart. The goal of the organization is to provide a focus for the peaceful resolution of difficulties that range from severe family and personal crisis to community disputes.
- Ms. Ryan explained to me her vision for the future of the YP Sub-committee. Through the work of the Young Professionals they hope to create an outlet for developing professionals who want to continue to be engaged in the mission of the Commission on the Status of Women. The involvement of these individuals ranges from meetings with co-members to assisting during CSW55’s ambassadors luncheon. The Young Professionals want to create a space in which they can network and help become more involved in Commission on the Status of Women. The NGO Committee on the Status of Women’s Young Professionals Group is a network for professional development and support to engage and empower young professionals in the discussion of women's issues globally. It provides a forum to identify and promote key issues within the NGO CSW NY and to voice these perspectives to the NGO Committee on the Status of Women New York community as a collective voice.
- This month, Young Professionals had a meeting to brainstorm on how others can be involved in YP and future goals of this sub-committee. The sub-committee is planning to host an information session in the near future, about how to get a job in the non-profit world.
- The Young Professionals sub-committee is seeking young professionals as members who will be involved and invested in promoting the ideals of CSW. This sub-committee is open to those willing to get re-engaged in social issues, as a channel to be better involved with women’s rights advocacy.
