Leading congressional advocates for women and minorities gathered May 1 in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill to celebrate the political, cultural, and economic contributions of women and minorities.

The celebration of the political, cultural, and economic contributions of women and minorities kicked off with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and will continue with special appearances from Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI); Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD), First Vice Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus; Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Chairwoman, Business Economic Development Task Force, Hispanic Caucus; and Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ).

The celebration launches the 3rd edition of a comprehensive resource tracking the accomplishments of women and minorities throughout history. Women and Diversity WOW! Facts 2002 is a compendium of 10,000 facts from thousands of sources, published by Washington-based Business Women's Network. The entire book is also online at http://www.ewowfacts.com/

The event also featured Doug McCormick, Chairman and CEO of iVillage, Nancy Evans, co-founder of iVillage and Editor-in-Chief, and Edie Fraser, President and CEO of the Business Women's Network, an iVillage Company.

Here is just a sample of some of the significant data featured in the thousands of facts in this year's edition:

WOW! Facts is published annually by the Business Women's Network (BWN) and Diversity Best Practices (DBP), leaders for resources for women and diversity. The Business Women's Network provides resources and services to professional women in business of all size and sector all around the globe.

(Source: BWN)