“Give someone a fish and you feed HER for a day; Teach someone to fish and you feed HER for a lifetime.”
Last night, I had the opportunity to attend an event for the Women’s Initiative. I am aware of many great non-profits, but the Women’s Initiative is one that I rank as outstanding.
The Women’s Initiative is an organization that helps low income women break the cycle of poverty by providing development training and financial backing to start their own businesses. In twenty years, some 11,000 businesses have been created. These women are overcoming obstacles such as poverty, language, disabilities and single parenthood to turn their lives around through sparking their entrepreneurial spirit. But it doesn’t stop there. Women who are empowered return that power by giving back to their communites by employing and mentoring others and working toward the vitalization of their neighborhoods.
Among the attendees at last night’s Women’s Initiative event were graduates of the program. One woman who I spoke to had started a fashion business. She had negotiated with vendors to complete her line. She had financial backing obtained through a business plan. Her dream is to grow her business so that she can bring on even more women to sell her clothes. Her top priority is to make it affordable for them to invest in their own futures. She had learned to dream and make it come true. Now she wants to share that dream with others.
California’s First Lady, Maria Shriver had this to say about the Women’s Initiative at the 2007 Governor and First Lady’s Women’s Conference: “California’s full economic potential will only be met when all women are supported in their efforts to contribute to the entrepreneurial spirit of California. WE Invest supports and encourages women and their families in this endeavor –putting money in their pockets, hope in their hearts and a future in their hands.”
