Resource Spotlight: Woman to Woman Sends Boston Moms to Work

For a mother of one school-aged child to make ends meet in Boston, she needs to make about $41,521 a year. That's $19.66 an hour. In today's economy especially, jobs that pay that much are hard to come by. While education is certainly the key to finding good work, taking out loans to pay for such education seems to be an imperfect or even impossible solution to getting back on one's feet. CWU's Woman to Woman program breaks the cycle that connects lack of career opportunity, lack of education, and lack of financial resources for single mothers in Boston.

As students of the Woman to Woman program, women meet every weekday to take classes in computer training, career development, financial and life skills. As part of their computer training, participants learn about the internet, email, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and also about hardware and operating systems, getting the opportunity to break a computer apart, see what's inside of it, and put it back together. Education coordinator Patricia Carrington, who herself went back to work at age 40 with the help of adult education classes, says that what keeps many women from learning at first is a fear of computers. "But it's hard to be afraid after you've opened it up and touched every part of it," she says.

Participants also learn how to make a resume and participate in mock interviews to prepare them for their job searches. These skills are of immeasurable worth to women trying to enter the workforce. Carrington fondly recalls one of many success stories, about a woman who we'll call Mary. Before participating in Woman to Woman, Mary had interviewed several times with various temp services, but was never able to get past the beginner level on the Microsoft Word and Excel portions of their required tests. After graduating from Woman to Woman, Mary was tested again and ranked at the intermediate level. She proudly told Carrington that there was also a hardware portion of the test, and that her knowledge in this area surprised even the interviewer. Mary worked for a period of time in finance for CWU, but recently began a college prep course and is currently working toward her bachelor's degree. She still reports to CWU on Fridays, wanting to continue her work here as a way of giving back. Carrington speaks of Mary very warmly, with a proud smile. "I teach these classes to see someone go from hopelessness to believing they have something to give back, and somewhere to go," Carrington says. "I feel fulfilled with the steps that students take. We're giving them the tools they need to go out and do their best."

Info sessions for the 3-month cycle of Woman to Woman starting in January have recently begun. Carrington says that the most popular response to the program has been, simply, "FREE?!" as it seems almost too good to be true. "There's no catch," Carrington responds. "You just learn what you need to get started; to go straight into a career or to find more education."

For more information about Woman to Woman, visit http://liveworkthrive.org/womantowoman.php or call (617) 259-2974.