JUNE 2002 NEWSLETTER
Women In Action is a nonprofit organization that builds the interpersonal skills women need to move off welfare and become self-sufficient. Through outdoor activities such as hiking, rock climbing and ropes courses, we teach teamwork and communication skills and challenge women to overcome self-defeating beliefs. Women In Action is a project of The Tides Center.
MESSAGE FROM KAREN NEMSICK, FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR
It's been a very busy spring with a lot happening both with our program structure and the number of activities we're doing.
First, I'd like to welcome the Homeless Prenatal Project as the newest agency to use Women In Action activities to build confidence and help women move successfully to self-sufficiency. Their Community Health Worker Training Program recruits former clients to participate in a 15 month training program that provides job readiness skills essential for full-time employment. Their first outing will take place on June 13 at Golden Gate Park.
We've added several new board members to the WIA Team in the last 6 months. You can read more about them on page 2. I'm thrilled to have such an enthusiastic group of women working with me this year. We're setting exciting goals for program expansion, increased funding, reaching out for corporate sponsors, and increasing our visibility.
And speaking of visibility, Women In Action was featured as a front-page article in the April 2002 edition of Bay Area Business Woman, a local paper for "women who believe in Commerce with a Conscience." Shawn McAndrew, who wrote the article, also attended one of our rock-climbing activities, and says it was truly life-changing for her. She's using that momentum to start writing a book!
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
We've added a new activity to our Teamwork Day. During the day, while we're hiking uphill to an inspirational vista, we talk about our passions, and then we dream about what career we can have that will allow room for our passions. At the very top of the hill, after thinking about careers and what we want to do with our lives, I ask the class to complete this sentence, "In five years, I am…." The point of the exercise is to get women thinking about long-term goals and realistic career plans. By saying what they want out loud, they are also enlisting the support of their classmates and Women In Action staff and volunteers in helping them reach those goals.
Here are some of the responses:
I love doing this exercise because the women are so bold and creative in what they want to do with their lives. At the same time, they are realistic, based on what they like to do and what they do well. I really believe that with support, they can attain the professions they've proclaimed.
ROCK CLIMBING WITH WOMEN IN ACTION By Deborah Barnes, WICS Graduate 2002
As a graduate of the WICS Lifeskills Program, I had the opportunity to participate in the Women In Action outings. It also helped me to relieve my fear of heights! As a child, I was terrified of riding on swings, climbing on play structures that I felt were too high, and even riding in elevators. I didn't want to go on in life feeling this way…but I did for a long period of time. As I grew up I kind of forgot about climbing because I was at the age where I made my own decisions in life and climbing wouldn't be included.
Last year I was in a program where I first met Karen. We went on an outing that consisted of a ropes course. When I saw the activities we had to perform, I backed out quick! I thought to myself "This is the perfect opportunity for me to conquer my fear of climbing"…but I didn't. Instead I just sat there and watched the other ladies have an adventurous time. I said to myself "Next time the chance comes around, I will try."
When I came to the WICS program, I saw Karen again and I knew that this was the chance for me to be a part of the outing and climb a little bit at a time. I'll never forget the date, which was March 29, 2002. I was so nervous upon reaching the site where the climbing would take place. Once I was inside and saw the high walls, I was ready to just turn around and go back home…but this time I did it! As my teammates cheered me on, I climbed the wall 28 feet! I felt so good inside knowing that I finally conquered my fear of height!
Climbing was something I thought I would never do. To this day I feel so motivated and content. A valuable lesson that I learned is to take it one step at a time. At least you know you'll be making an effort. Rock climbing is great! It was a challenge as life is.
I feel now by climbing that wall, I can conquer the world!
WELFARE REAUTHORIZATION UPDATE
The Personal Work and Responsibility Act of 1996 is up for reauthorization this year. In a nutshell, the Administration wants to put more emphasis on getting people into jobs quickly and reducing some of the educational and vocational training components. The States don't want so much change. They are happy with the Block Grant system that was set up in 1996 that allowed states flexibility in creating programs that met the needs of their constituents. The National Governor's Association has come out with a statement essentially saying "maintain flexibility - let states develop innovative approaches to address welfare reform; maintain investment - don't reduce the state's block grant amount just because caseloads have gone down. The money that used to go toward cash assistance is now funding supportive programs to help keep people on their jobs; move toward greater program alignment - there are too many barriers in the federal programs (Food Stamps, WICS, Child Care) that make it difficult to truly serve those moving off welfare. " (National Governor's Association, 2002) Time limits which restrict the number of months in a lifetime a person can receive aide, (current law) coupled with the proposed reauthorization limits, give welfare recipients less than two years to develop the skills and experience they need to acquire a full-time job that pays enough to live on. In San Francisco, according to the Self Sufficiency Standard for California, the amount needed is $10.78/hour for a single adult and $20.79/hour for an adult with one child. (see www.sixstrategies.org for more information on Self Sufficiency Standards.)
The Administration's emphasis in getting people into work might have made sense in a great economy. Especially in CA, companies were hiring and entry-level positions were plentiful. But simply getting people into jobs is not really the solution to the "welfare problem." Many people want to work. But without experience, or even employed role models, it's hard to imagine maintaining a job 40 hours a week.
Why? It takes a lot of confidence to apply for a job, show up and learn your new responsibilities. Most mid-level employees and successful professionals have had years, often entire childhoods, to prepare for a career. It was what was expected - to graduate high school and college and get a job. Imagine, though, that no one had those expectations of you. Instead, people in your community, and society at large, expected that you'd have babies in high school, drop out and collect welfare so you could raise those children. To move quickly to working 40 hours a week can be overwhelming. At least on welfare, a parent knows s/he'll get a certain amount of money each month to pay bills, and will receive family health care. When s/he gets a job, what if s/he gets sick and can't go to work? Or a child gets sick? Or s/he doesn't have the right clothes for the office? Or s/he wonders if she'll fit in or speak correctly? All of these fears become overwhelming, and often recipients sabotage themselves so they won't fail ... or succeed.
A survey of employers in four large metropolitan areas reviewed job performance, retention and advancement of the new employees they hired off welfare (The Urban Institute, October 2001). Employer experiences found that only a fourth of the recently hired welfare recipients had left their jobs after an average of 8 months, and they were considered as good as or better than the typical employee in the same job. Few of the hired recipients suffered from deficiencies in basic or job-related skills; however, a large number had problems with absenteeism, attitudes toward work and/or relations with co-workers. Problems with "soft skills" seem more prevalent than those associated with 'hard skills" with this population.
Women In Action partners with job training program that provide the technical skills needed to get a job. Our activities develop the interpersonal skills - confidence, problem-solving, and overcoming fears - needed to keep that job.
Job retention and advancement activities like ours are critical to moving families off welfare and out of poverty permanently. If the proposed changes go through, support services and job preparedness activities that help build the interpersonal skills for success will likely be cut. This makes our mission of building women's confidence and helping them move successfully to permanent work even more important.
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
June 13 and 14 - Teamwork Activities in Golden Gate Park
June 21 - Ropes Challenge in San Francisco
June 28 - Indoor Rock Climbing in Santa Clara
July 13 - Ropes Course in San Francisco
If you would like to volunteer for any of these events, please call Karen at 415-412-7617
Clif Bar: On June 14, a volunteer team from Clif Bar in Emeryville will join us for our teamwork hike. Clif Bar has donated energy bars at our activities, and we're very excited to have a whole team of volunteers with us in June.
Volunteer: Our teamwork days in local parks are a great way to lend a hand and get a first-hand look at how Women In Action activities improve self-esteem and communication skills. We're also looking for in-kind assistance with marketing, database development, and fundraising.
Donate: Women In Action operates on a shoestring. Every dime helps us out. To give you an idea of how far your donation goes, over the last twelve months we served 80 women on 14 different activities on a budget of $24,000. You can make an individual donation, ask your company to make a matching gift, or get friends together to make a group gift. You can even donate online, www.womeninaction.org/donate.html.
Tell a Friend: do you know anyone who would be interested in learning more about Women In Action? Friends, work groups, church groups, professional organizations? Direct them to our website for information or call 415-412-7617.
Wish List: medium and large size fleece jackets and windbreakers, gloves, gift certificates to Safeway for lunches, desktop computer, portfolios for carrying resumes, datebooks/daytimers.
Have you seen our new brochure? Julie Wheeler at Strongrrl Design did a great job of creating a brochure that really captures the energy of the program and defines what we do and why it's important. Thanks Julie!
OUR THANK YOU LIST
Volunteers
Tricia Roth
Elizabeth Lombardi
Cathy Dodd
Michelle Brenard
Caitlin Burke
Heather Guzman-Hebert
Julie Endress
Vicki Drayke
Tawni Schutter
Fran Sterling
Jami Becker
Janine Davis
Christelle Melville
Jeni Rogers
Kirsten Fraser
Gretchen Maliska
Emma Louis-Dreyfus
In-Kind Donations
WICS Lifeskills (office space)
Steve Nemsick (production services)
Craigslist (web hosting)
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The contents of this Web site are copyright © 1999 - 2005 Women In Action. Women in Action is a project of The Tides Center, supporting people working for social change. You may contact Women In Action by email at info@womeninaction.org.