On April 7, Program Officer Nisha Patel discussed Stepping Stones with Jackie Guerra on The Jackie Guerra Show. To tune in to hear the show, click here!
Nisha shared the opportunities Stepping Stones provides to low-income women and families throughout our region, with a particular highlight on the YWCA’s Washington Area Women in the Trades (WAWIT) program focusing on access to nontraditional jobs for low-income women.
"Non-traditional occupations, or those that employ fewer than 25 percent women, pay wages that are 20 to 30 percent higher than jobs in the service sector and they are more likely to offer work supports, such as health benefits," explains the YWCA.
Such work, which the YWCA does in collaboration with the Community Services Agency of the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO and Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW), fits perfectly into the strategy of Stepping Stones, a multi-year initiative to build the economic security and financial independence of low-income women and their families throughout our region.
By funding Grantee Partners and programs (such as WAWIT) that contribute to the economic security of low-income women, Stepping Stones is generating a large return on the philanthropic investment behind it.
The WAWIT program is a powerful demonstration of that return. Through its work:
- The greater Washington metropolitan area will have fewer families living in poverty and more families paying higher income and sales taxes.
- Within four to six months these newly employed women will have earned income equal to the dollars expended on their training and within as little as five years will have contributed to the tax base a sum equal to the cost of the training.
- Contractors will have a ready resource of skilled women to meet the demands of their workforce and ensure that their workforce reflects the diversity of the community.
- Area residents will have a compelling reason to support construction and revitalization projects that include a training program that directly benefits the area’s most needy families.
- In five years, over 3,000 women will be provided assistance and over 400 graduates will be prepared for high-skill/ high-wage jobs in the greater Washington metropolitan area.
Goodwill of Greater Washington, also a Grantee Partner, has boasted similar success with nontraditional training programs such as its female construction employment class.
Yet more stories to think about as we continue to challenge and re-think the reasons behind the ever-present wage-gap and what we, as women working together, can do about it.