Innovative programs for women and families

• What are some innovative programs for women and families that you've seen, heard of, accessed, or wished for? I am on the board of directors for a small women's organization in a small city in Canada, and we are tired of the workshop model of community development. I want to start some new programs that have tangible results. Our flagship program is providing a piece of government issued photo ID to women who have none (we do the advocacy required to get the supporting documents, pay for the ID, and accompany the client to make the request), which opens up doors re: employment and housing. The diaper thread on the blue has me researching diaper banks. I've also thought about making arrangements through a local second-hand clothes store to provide an interview outfit to unemployed women as part of a financial literacy program. Maybe we could do our programming in the apartment buildings where women live? Just some ideas to show you what I'm thinking of. Specifically, I'd like to build an evidence-based program. Or at the very least, not a program that has been demonstrated to be ineffectual. Some background: we've typically provided a lot of programming to Aboriginal women, but shifts in our city's demographics and the local funding situation has left us wondering if we should change our focus to New Canadians (immigrants, refugees). We have 2 part-time staff, and otherwise are purely volunteer-driven. We do not qualify for most grants as we have been explicly a feminist-organization for 25 years and so do not get charitable status. We are changing that, but expect status to take another 2-5 years.

• Answer:

  I grew up poor, never expected to be anything but, and was told throughout my entire life that I should not ever expect anything more, different, or better. Going to job training programs like theora55 mentions revolutionized my whole existence. They pretty much single-handedly provided me with the opportunity to crawl out from the wreckage of lifelong poverty: classes that taught basic computer literacy, touch-typing skills, phone manners, "business English" so I could learn how to speak above my class without using turns of phrase that would mark me as poor (double negatives, etc.), business writing so I could ably craft resumes and cover letters, even basic social etiquette. We did fake job interviews, created budgets, explored what would need to be cut if we made less money or lost our jobs, and collected pictures of working professionals from magazines so we could see what sorts of stuff people wore to office jobs. I can't describe how life-changing and helpful this was for me -- it gave me an out, THE out, something to daydream about while I was slinging frozen patties into the broiler at Burger King for ten hours a day. This could be way too ambitious, but you could even make different "tracks," like an office job training track, light assembly/machinist job training track, financial literacy track, professional writing/speaking track, etc. that would run as a set of weekly programs, and give out completion certificates at the end. (I still have all of mine! I'm still proud!) I've been a working professional for nearly half my life now and owe absolutely everything I have to those programs. So, um, definitely stuff like that! Co-operative childcare would also be amazing, or maybe a bulk buying club/co-op to help people acquire basic necessities and foster a sense of community. Thank you for the work you do, it is wonderful and exciting!