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In this issue |
Past and current CWU program clients will tell their personal stories at a Massachusetts state legislative hearing in September on the CWU-initiated Workers' Pathways to Self-Sufficiency Act of 2009. Two CWU Woman to Woman graduates will appear before the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities on September 15 at the State House. The remarks of the Woman to Woman graduates will support the provision of the legislation that recapitalizes at the $3 million level the Educational Rewards Grant Program for working adults. |
CWU will celebrate CFO program opening CWU's Healthy Families wins award Count the ways to become a CWU Corporate Partner |
These grants encourage low-income students, especially those studying part-time, to pursue degrees leading to jobs in the state's high-demand occupations. CWU Woman to Woman graduate Stacy Williams, now studying to be a patient care technician with the goal of becoming a registered nurse, received a $1,500 Educational Reward Grant last year. "I used that money to buy stethoscopes and blood pressure cuffs I needed for my classes," said Williams. |
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| More than 400 students throughout the state have received the grants since 2006. The program will run out of money by December. | ||
CWU will celebrate CFO program opening Crittenton Women's Union will celebrate the official opening of its Career Family Opportunity (CFO) on CFO Grand Opening Ceremony Continental breakfast Among those invited to the CFO Opening Ceremony are Governor Deval Patrick, Mayor Thomas Menino, members of the Massachusetts Legislature, and other CFO supporters, advocates and partners. The ceremony will be webcast live at www.liveworkthrive.org. CFO, an innovative, pilot program for low-income single parents, has 22 participants enrolled to date. Each participant is working towards a family-supporting job and building a savings account. CWU received funding for CFO from the IBM Foundation, the Mabel C. Riley Foundation, the Walmart Foundation, and other donors. The program is in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development and the Boston Housing Authority. To attend the CFO Grand Opening celebration, please RSVP by Tuesday, November 3, to Sanjeebani Poudel, 617.259.2921 or spoudel@liveworkthrive.org
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| CWU’s Healthy Families wins award |
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CWU's award-winning Healthy Families program graduated 16 mothers and one dad this summer. HF mother Vena Priestly, a Pine Manor College senior, and her three-year-old Giovanni (left) accept congratulations and gifts from HF staffers Heather Mook (center) and Amparo Gaibor. |
CWU's Boston Neighborhood Healthy Families program has received a 2009 Program Excellence Award from its funder, Children's Trust Fund. The program graduated 16 mothers - and one dad - this summer. Our Boston Neighborhood Healthy Families (HF) program, which served 118 families last year, supports first-time young parents. Working with HF home visitors, participants identify their needs, set goals, create timelines, and assess their progress on their path to economic self-sufficiency. HF participants nominate their programs for the Excellence Award, and Omara Quintana Estrada wrote the following in support of CWU's HF program: "This program has changed the way I think so much. There isn't much help and programs for teen parents and their kids. Healthy Families has been there for every struggle I have had." In 2009, 82% of CWU's HF participants had a plan in place to pursue further education or a job. |
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| Count the ways to become a CWU Corporate Partner |
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CWU Woman to Woman student Tracy Gales (left) participates in a mock interview with volunteer Tammy Guillery who is BNY Mellon’s Operations Support Training Team Leader. Mock interviews are just one of the many ways companies and their employees can contribute.. |
The CWU Corporate Partners Program offers companies and their employees varied opportunities to support the work of Crittenton Women’s Union. Your company can sign up for one of CWU's Caring Community Days coming up in the fall. As a corporate partner, you can help paint a room or three, patch up the playground, or rake leaves at our Brighton shelter. Or, you can get involved with our Woman to Woman workforce development program. Members of your team can conduct mock job interviews with our students for just one hour once a semester. We’re also always looking for job shadowing opportunities or internships - paid or unpaid - for our students. You can keep our guest families warm inside and out during the holidays by donating warm coats, gloves and hats for adults and children, and books and toys for children in our shelters and programs. As ever, events sponsorship and corporate grants have an enormous impact on CWU's day-to-day work helping low-income women become economically self-sufficient. We encourage all our corporate partners to make an investment in this work that yields the highest of returns for hundreds of families - a secure future. For more information for any of these opportunities and others, please contact Rachel Freeman at 617.259.2943 or rfreeman@liveworkthrive.org. |
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| Latest CWU research
How “cliff effects” affect real lives |
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In their own voices low-income women reveal the tough choices they often must make between taking higher paying jobs and losing critical work supports in CWU's recently released, "The ‘Cliff Effect' Experience: Voices of Women on the Path to Economic Independence." "They designed [the government support system] in a way that you don't quite get over the hump," said Joanna, a 30-year-old mother of two who lost food stamps and MassHealth when she began receiving child support. "You get halfway up the hill and it's like driving a standard [car], you let go of the clutch and now you're rolling backwards." |
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CWU's Research and Innovation team interviewed women about how they made decisions around work when factoring in eligibility rules of government work supports, e.g., Section 8, food stamps, child care vouchers, MassHealth, etc. Although work supports subsidize the needs of working poor families while they are on the path to economic self-sufficiency, small increases in earned income can lead to a disproportionate drop in these supports, known as the "cliff effect." "In Massachusetts, a family of three needs to earn about 300 percent of the federal poverty level to make ends meet," said CWU President and CEO Elisabeth D. Babcock. "However, most public assistance program thresholds don't reflect that reality. We need a system of graduated supports that will sustain low-skilled working parents as they pursue the education and training necessary to become economically self-sufficient." "The ‘Cliff Effect' Experience" is a companion study to "Fits & Starts: The Difficult Path for Working Single Parents," which CWU published in partnership The Center for Social Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston in 2008. |
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Dorothy Reardon Murray Memorial Fund
In her memory, her family has established the Dorothy Reardon Murray Memorial Fund. Contributions to the fund can be made online or by mail to Crittenton Women's Union, One Washington Mall, Boston, MA 02108. |
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Did you know that a single mother with two children living in Boston must make $58,133 to meet her family's basic needs? Help CWU help women make it in Massachusetts. Donate to our fall fund drive. |
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| Copyright (c) 2009 Crittenton Women's Union. All rights reserved. | ||
| Crittenton Women's Union transforms the course of low-income women's lives so that they can attain economic independence and create better futures for themselves and their families. | Crittenton Women's Union One Washington Mall, 2nd Floor Boston, MA 02108 Tel: 617.259.2900 Fax: 617.247.8826 www.liveworkthrive.org |
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Dorothy Reardon Murray, mother of CWU Chair, Pamela Murray, died on July 12, 2009. Mrs. Murray was devoted to her community and issues of social justice. When she moved from upstate New York to Boston several years ago to be closer to her family, she became a strong supporter of CWU. Her lifelong commitment to women's issues made her an enthusiastic participant at the Amelia Earhart Award Luncheon, and she certainly will be missed at future events.
