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Founded in 2001, West Virginia Women Work! is a non-profit
organization that helps women earn a living wage and enter
into careers of their choice. West Virginia Women Work!
serves women seeking a career change, single parents, or
women who are displaced from their careers as homemakers.
Striving to empower women to leave welfare, food stamps,
Medicaid, and low wage jobs, West Virginia Women Work! helps
women become economically self-sufficient.
To achieve their
goals, West Virginia Women Work! implemented a series of
programs and advocates on behalf of women’s issues. One key
program, Step-Up for Women, provides direct training and
employment for women entering construction occupations.
Step-Up is a formal, intensive eleven-week training class
followed by a job search placement period. The formal class
is designed to teach both basic construction and mechanical
skills, and also help women to overcome many barriers to
non-traditional employment. Women are also encouraged to be
strong and physically capable of performing manual labor.
The main components of the Step-Up program include physical
conditioning; hands-on classes in areas such as carpentry,
electrical, welding or special industry needs; resource
classes including math review, introduction to union
apprenticeships, guest speakers, job search skills, work
discipline, field trips, and introduction to role models;
and guidance and contacts to enhance graduates’ job search,
placement, and retention. Additionally, students are not
charged tuition for the program, which allows participants
to begin work after graduation without the burden of school
debt.
The Mollohan Foundation awarded West Virginia Women
Work! a grant for $4,848 to provide hand construction tools,
tool belts, and safety equipment for twenty-four graduates
of the Step-Up program. At this point, West Virginia Women
Work! has graduated 33 pioneering women in the skilled
trades program and 91% are now working on residential
structures, commercial building sites, and West Virginia
state highways and bridges or have entered a union
apprenticeship. These positions enable women to earn well
above minimum wage and create a new life.
For more
information about West Virginia Women Work! or the Step-Up
program, please contact Janis Gunel at (304)-598-0114 or at
http://www.wvwomenwork.org. |
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