Meet our Grantee: Foundation for Women

“It’s really about women of means helping women in need.”

The Foundation for Women is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization that strives to continually support and encourage impoverished women, both globally and locally, by funding and creating microcredit programs. The organization is currently operating microcredit programs in two regions; FFW USA Microcredit Program, with a pilot in San Diego, and FFW Liberia in Africa. Women Give has funded the San Diego Microcredit Program $3,000 a year for 2 years.

I had the opportunity to speak to Murugi Kenyatta, VP Community Development for the Foundation for Women who was born in Kenya. Murugi has seen the microcredit program work firsthand. She says, “It’s proven to be a useful tool for empowering women and breaking the cycle of poverty.”

The FFW San Diego Microcredit Program utilizes the Grameen method (developed by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus), and is serving poor industrious women with microcredit loans of $250, $500, and $1,000 and requiring prospective borrowers form groups of 5 that meet on a weekly basis. The model promotes successful repayment and savings. During the weekly meetings, participants receive entrepreneurial training, financial education and professional mentoring. At least 100 groups of entrepreneurial San Diego women have built their own microenterprises with FFW loans. Through its partner agencies that serve these communities, the Foundation for Women receives referrals for potential borrowers.

There are 80,000 women living in dire poverty in San Diego. 95% of the women are Latina and many are new immigrants or second generation Americans who live below the poverty level. Yet among them are industrious and driven women who have figured out a way to run their own business – from child-care to cooking tamales to jewelry making. Several have joined forces and started commercial cleaning services while one woman has ventured into the male dominated construction business and is passionately encouraging other women to join her.

According to Murugi, “FFW is committed to helping women realize their dreams and fulfill their potential. We want to serve every woman in San Diego who needs a hand up.” She adds, “if you have the drive and passion – here’s the money, here’s the education and training. We believe in you, we know you can do it – go get it!”

Since March 2010, FFW San Diego has served over 560 women in fourteen centers located throughout the County - from Fallbrook to San Ysidro. The demand for the program is high and the capacity is not currently there. In 2012, the Foundation for Women hopes to serve 750 women with a goal of serving 6,800 women by 2014.

Currently, the Foundation for Women is recruiting more staff members and resources to meet this need. They like to promote from within because “it’s really all about women empowerment.” Nora Batley-Nido participated in the microcredit program and is now the program manager. The idea is to train the current “borrowers” so they can fill the staff roles. When FFW identifies a leader among the group, they train her to take on a leadership position.

The Foundation for Women is also looking for volunteers like Diane Adcock, Women Give member. She worked one-on-one with one of the microcredit recipients who’s a jewelry maker by helping her market her jewelry through Facebook and other sources.

In her own words, Diane says, “I got in touch with Foundation for Women after speaking with Murugi Kenyatta at the WGSD Holiday party. She shared with me the scale and scope of their micro-finance program and I was surprised how diverse the women’s businesses were! I decided to attend a few of their meetings and find out how I could help the women promote their businesses. What they were most curious about were online marketing tools and tips on how to buy and sell online. We decided that it would be best for me to create a PowerPoint presentation (which I'm still working on) outlining some tips and to assist individual women on an as-needed basis.

In February 2012, I went down to Chula Vista and helped one of the Micro-entrepreneurs, Elsa Urzúa, create a professional Facebook page for her jewelry business, Se Icon Jewelry. I taught her the Facebook basics, helped her upload professional looking display photos, and also set up a Google Checkout Account so she can accept online transactions. She was very sweet, and offered me a beautiful bracelet that I'll be sure to wear to our next membership meeting to show off.”

If you are interested in being a mentor, volunteer or a guest speaker for the Microcredit program, please contact Murugi at murugi@foundationforwomen.org

The photos were taken by one of our most driven microentrepreneurs/professional photographer, Alejandra Carrera.

Meet our Grantee Grossmont College’s Office Professional Training Program

“Before coming to Grossmont College’s Office Professional Training Program (OPT), I did not have much experience in the world of education. Twice I tried going to college because that’s what everyone does in this society but I didn’t have much luck, mainly because I couldn’t see the benefits of it. I saw school as a waste of my time; I could have been working and earning an income for myself, not deteriorating in a classroom.

At the time I truly believed that a job was more important than an education because that is what was shown me. When my father was sober he would work, when he worked there was a roof over our head and food in the cupboards. But when dad drank he would lose his job and, in turn, lose everything else.

With a job comes money and with money comes a place to sleep, food to eat, and bills that get paid. This is what I knew because this is what was taught me and I was fine with that… until I had my two little girls.

Children have a strange way of changing everything. Suddenly I didn’t want the dead end job working weekends or the manual labor that gave me an injured knee at age 18. I didn’t want that anymore and, more importantly, I didn’t want my babies to have that.

OPT helped me to get away from that. The Office Professional Training Program gave me more than an education, it gave me the means and knowledge to break my father’s damaged cycle. This program helped me to grow as a person and showed me that I have the ability to achieve something significant.

Thanks to the OPT staff I am now working for G.S. Levine Insurance Services and learning the ins and outs of the company. My duties range from helping producers with prospects to managing phones. By way of this position I now have the means to give things to my family I never thought I could, like health insurance and college funds!

As a spouse I am doing my share to provide stability for my family. As a mother I am giving my girls a positive example of what an education can do. I’m proud of where I am in my life and I couldn’t have done it without OPT.”

-- Victoria Stewart, Graduate of Grossmont College’s Office Professional Training Program

The Grossmont College’s Office Professional Training (OPT) program serves unemployed individuals who have been laid off or home with family members or they’ve changed careers or need to start one. I spoke with Mary Leslie, the Lead Instructor of OPT about the program:

“They come to us to update their skills. We put them through one very intense semester where they take 7-9 classes learning Microsoft Office programs like Word and Excel as well as classes on Business English, effective job search, office procedures and keyboarding. Students choose to major in accounting, banking, insurance, or office support.”

Women Give San Diego has granted $15,500 for two years to help the Foundation for Grossmont and Cuyamaca Colleges support the Office Professional Training program, specifically to underwrite the salary of the program’s counselor, Laurel Klotz.

A key component to the program’s success is Laurel Klotz, who is a licensed Marriage and Family Counselor and has served as the Office Professional Training program’s counselor for over 12 years. Ms. Leslie comments: “We were lucky to find her”. Laurel meets with the students (both individually and as a group) regularly, providing personal/crisis counseling to help the students recognize and overcome barriers to their academic and employment success. She provides time management strategies to students who are often juggling a family, school, and unemployment. Depending on the students’ needs, Laurel connects her students to resources and outside agencies. Sometimes students need food for their family, transportation to and from school or childcare while they are taking classes. And sometimes they just need someone to talk to. Ultimately, Laurel’s help retains students in the program.

Although she thinks it sounds like a cliché, Mary Leslie really believes that:

“the program is not a hand out, it’s a hand up. If the students commit to this intensive program for one semester, they can really do anything. When people become unemployed, they lose their confidence. OPT helps them regain it.”

The OPT program not only provides them an education and necessary office skills, it prepares them emotionally for the workplace. As students receive good grades in their classes, they realize they are worthy and can make a difference for an employer. Through the program, they are introduced to new fields in the work world, ultimately setting them up to attain a career, not just another dead end job. Although many will still start in an entry level position, with their OPT education, they are able to excel to higher positions within this career, ultimately enabling them to achieve self-sufficiency for their families.

If you would like to get more involved with Grossmont College’s Office Professional Training program, you can participate in a number of upcoming events:

· Clothing Boutique on Saturday, April 21

· Walk-a-Thon on Saturday, May 5

· Graduation on Friday, June 1

Please contact Mary Leslie directly at: mary.leslie@gcccd.edu.