This month, we invited our Grantee Partners to share some of their New Year’s resolutions with us. Their passion and commitment to transforming the lives of women and girls and improving our community are evident in the aspirational goals they’ve set for themselves this year.
Read on to find out what some of our grantees will be doing for our region in 2012 and tell us in the comments below what you envision for women and girls this year. Washington Area Women’s Foundation will be sharing our own list of resolutions later this month in a special e-mail message from Foundation President Nicky Goren. Make sure you learn what we’re planning for 2012 by signing up to get monthly e-mails today!
IWPR’s 2012 Resolutions
- During this election year, get people talking about the issues that affect women, such as jobs and the economy, the gender wage gap and workplace discrimination, STEM education, Social Security and retirement, work/family balance, and maternal and child health.
- Celebrate our 25th anniversary by marking the progress that women have made while highlighting areas where policy changes could make a huge difference in advancing women, families, and communities.
- Illustrate the current status of women displaced by Hurricane Katrina through an upcoming report that also identifies their specific needs.
- Improve success rates for student parents by sharing best practices and forging strong partnerships with administrators, practitioners, advocates, and policymakers within the worlds of higher education, youth development, and early care and education.
- Give young women opportunities to gain career experience while expanding their knowledge of research and policy issues through our internship and fellowship programs.
Goodwill of Greater Washington’s 2012 Resolutions
- In 2012, Goodwill of Greater Washington resolves to train, equip and place nearly 200 people into local jobs that support the local economy. We anticipate that these 200 jobs will come through the continued expansion of Goodwill’s retail stores, as well as the placement efforts from our intensive job training programs;
- Goodwill of Greater Washington also resolves to continue providing 600+ jobs to local residents through our retail stores, janitorial contracts, and administrative and support divisions, many of which are filled by people who face significant disabilities or other barriers to employment.
NOVACO’s 2012 Resolutions
At a client Life Skills meeting at NOVACO in January, several clients set goals and made resolutions. They included:
- believing in themselves so that they could achieve their goals;
- being better parents; and
- setting small goals and telling themselves that they could accomplish those goals.
One mother, Kay, reflected on how much she’s achieved so far. She earned her high school diploma through night classes, learned to drive and got her driver’s license, and worked with lawyers to get a work permit. She also improved her parenting skills while she worked full-time at a restaurant and was offered a management position after just one year. She volunteered her free time as a pen pal and greeter for the USO.
DCVLP’s 2012 Resolution
The DC Volunteer Lawyers Project resolution is that every victim of domestic violence in DC seeking a civil protection order who wants representation by an attorney will have one this year.
SMYAL’s Women’s Leadership Institute’s 2012 Resolutions
- Provide a much-needed free space for young women to gather and form community.
- Using that space, build our community of women and strengthen our bonds through discussion and shared service.
- Promote further discussion about maintaining healthy relationships, recognizing unhealthy relationships, and combating domestic violence.
- Develop connections to extend our diverse community deeper into the DC metro area and beyond.
- Seek out community partners and collaborate on at least four service projects.
- Connect more young women to mentorship opportunities with local volunteers.
- Long-term resolution: Create a community of confident, empowered women through opportunities for leadership development and civic engagement.
FAIR Girls’ 2012 Resolutions
We, FAIR Girls, resolve to work as hard as we can to make sure that by the end of 2012…
- 200 teen girl survivors of exploitation have received compassionate care, including counseling, emergency housing, assistance in finding legal and medical support, resume building and job placement, educational attainment support, and a sense of family and community at FAIR Girls.
- 1000 teen girls and boys in high schools and youth shelters have participated in our Tell Your Friends workshop and have learned how to keep themselves safe from sexual exploitation and trafficking.
- 1000 law enforcement officers, teachers, and social workers are better able to identify and assist victims of trafficking having attending a FAIR Girls training.
- A law, inspired by Daisy, will have passed in Washington, D.C. ensuring that all missing teenage girls are considered “critical missing” and have access to FAIR Girls and our partners’ services when they are found.
- 2000 hours of art therapy and economic empowerment workshops will have helped inspire and restore more than 125 girls.
Thank you to the Grantee Partners who shared their resolutions with us! You can share your thoughts in the comments below and don’t forget to register for our e-newsletter to learn more about The Women’s Foundation’s plans for 2012.
