As a small local retailer, I have found myself always looking for alternative sources for qualified employees. Turnover in the retail field can be high, so finding committed, long-term employees especially is a constant concern for my managers.

We currently have more than 80 team members and as our needs grow, so do our expectations for our staff.

Lack of access to high quality child care is one of the biggest missing pieces to welfare-to-work efforts.  The care available to most low-income women and their children is usually unreliable and substandard.  In fact, many former welfare recipients themselves work providing child care – in extremely unstable situations with low wages. 

In the best of times, lack of transportation is a serious barrier to employment for low-income, single working mothers.

And now is not the best of times.

According to the congressional Joint Economic Committee, the current economic downturn threatens women’s employment more than ever, with women-headed families being particularly squeezed.

As donors try to think of a way to maximize their gifts at a time of such great need througout the country, a lot of attention is falling upon giving circles as an innovative way to give a lot–as a collective, without breaking the bank–as an individual.

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with The Women’s Foundation to bring you the latest news and analysis on women and poverty.   Spotlight is the go-to site for news and ideas about fighting poverty.

The day before Thanksgiving, as thoughts are turning to time with family and friends and, of course, holiday meals, it seems an appropriate time to reflect on the work of Through the Kitchen Door, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation that teaches culinary skills to low-income youth and adults as a pathway to better careers and nutrition in their lives.

As part of our ongoing commitment–in partnership with The Urban Institute–to providing information and resources related to the goals of Stepping Stones, please find below a summary of recent research on issues of economic security and financial independence for women and their families.

When I saw Philip Rucker’s piece, "Economy Slices into Internship Programs," in the Washington Post, it really hit home for me.  I’m currently an intern with Urban Alliance (also a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation), and I saw the impact of the economic downturn on the program firsthand.

Yesterday, Washington Post reporter Robert Pierre’s story, "Anti-Prostitution Initiative Taken to D.C. Schools," explains how children in D.C. are being coerced into prostitution and sex trafficking, and how agencies throughout the area are working together to stop this phenomenon.

Two of the organizations involved in this work are Grantee Partners of The Women’s Foundation: Fair Fund and Polaris Project.

All the jurisdictions in the region are in the midst of budget cuts to fill huge budget shortfalls.  All around us is gloom and doom news about funding.

Yet, to my delightful surprise – the chair of the D.C. City Council, Vincent Gray, wrote an OP-ED piece in the Washington Informer highlighting the sound investment in Pre-Kindergarten education as a way to invest in children, families and the city overall.