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Winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund - October 28, 2008
Elizabeth Exley Honored with $5,000 Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund Award
October 28, 2008

Kansas City, Missouri Resident Wins Cash Award To Launch Health Care And Integration Program For Local Refugee Women


(New York, NY, October 28, 2008) - Kansas City, Missouri resident Elizabeth Exley, 32, is one step closer to fulfilling her dream of creating a better tomorrow for her community. Elizabeth was named this week’s winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, a weekly $5,000 cash award program from Avon Products, Inc. to support individuals in their work to empower women. She is the first recipient of a Hello Tomorrow Fund award from Missouri since the program launched in 2007, and was selected by a newly expanded panel of judges that now includes Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, and actress Phylicia Rashad. Elizabeth will use her award to launch a health care and integration program to give Karen refugee women, an ethnic group from Myanmar, access to general health care, family planning options, dental care, and mental health counseling.

Kansas City has recently welcomed at least 100 Karen refugees from Myanmar, primarily women and children that have been relocated from Thai refugee camps. As their primary language is Karen, most speak little to no English and have much difficulty integrating into society. In order to begin to build a new life for themselves and their families, these refugee women need help navigating the health system, learning proper dental care and nutrition, and being informed about the options for schools and programs for their young children. Local resettlement agencies in the area were once able to provide each family with guidance during their settlement into American culture, however, they have been overwhelmed due to an influx of refugees and therefore, can no longer offer a case worker and assistance to every family in need.

Elizabeth has dedicated much of her life to volunteer work. “I get more out of volunteering that I am ever able to give,” Elizabeth says. She has worked with immigrants from Vietnam, built houses in Mexico for displaced families, and held an internship in Romania to help children when their orphanages became deinstitutionalized. Elizabeth has also done work for the United Nations on international gender issues, as well as for the World Bank on international economic development. After dedicating years to volunteering overseas, Elizabeth returned to Kansas City to be near her family and began volunteering with an organization designed to improve the public school system. It was at this time she began working with the Karen refugees from Myanmar and recognized their need for help. In spending time with these women, she was particularly inspired by one woman who worked as a community health care aid in a refugee camp and wanted to help other refugees like her, get the proper care in their new surroundings. It was then that Elizabeth realized that with updated job training and the necessary resources, she could train this woman and others like her to help the Karen community in Kansas City. Now, with the help of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, Elizabeth will have that opportunity.

With support of the Hello Tomorrow Fund award, Elizabeth will be able to provide health care to the Karen refugees, as well as fund the resources necessary to support community integration such as printed informational materials on healthcare and hygiene. The program will also include English classes, job seeking skills and youth services. It will allow for the training of a community health worker, and for their hourly wage in a part-time position. In addition, Elizabeth would like to expand her healthcare program into other communities where Karen refugees are being resettled. The collaboration with the resettlement agencies will also allow the expansion of Elizabeth’s work to other places in the area where these Myanmar refugees are being resettled. Now, Elizabeth can have the opportunity to change the lives of the refugee women in her community and beyond.

Elizabeth’s winning application to the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund met the criteria of clearly presenting unique and achievable objectives to empower women or girls and ultimately improve society. It was selected from a pool of strong contenders by an expert panel of judges, including personal finance expert Suze Orman, actress Phylicia Rashad, Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, and experts in business and grantmaking. “Elizabeth’s program of hiring a woman fluent in Karen to help deal with the Myanmar refugees relocated to Kansas City is wonderful and culturally sensitive,” commented judge Lynn Stekas on Elizabeth’s proposal. “What an incredible resource to offer these women and help with resettlement.”

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