Based on ongoing discussions
with women of color (primarily with African-American, Asian, Hispanic and
Native-American women, across the country whose opinions we valued, we
learned that all of us felt it was critical for us as women to share our
successes, triumphs and yes, our failures with our peers and younger women
coming along behind us.
Thus, we developed a
unique concept and forum to facilitate the collaboration, networking,
mentoring, sharing, development and training of women and girls of color.
While our personal and professional goals are perhaps the same as other
women, our career challenges, family pressures, social obstacles and life
stresses as women of color are very different.
Five major
programs/activities have been developed to address these concerns:
- The
Women of Color Foundation (a 501c3, tax-exempt foundation organized
in 2005), to foster networking and to provide personal and professional
development, education and training to all women of color. Our
predecessor organization was under the umbrella of
womenofcolorevents.com, which hosted the executive retreats
described below.
- “Connections,
Community and Career: A Personal and Professional Development Retreat
for Women of Color,” (an
annual training retreat for executive women of color held in
2003, 2004, and 2005, in Cleveland, Ohio exclusively; held in Cleveland
and Columbus, Ohio in 2006; and expanded to include Cleveland, Columbus
and Cincinnati, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois in 2007)
- Women of Color
Leadership Development & Training Institute
(an annual leadership development and training conference
targeting a broader cross-section of women of color, held in November in
Cleveland, Ohio only)
- The
ISIS Awards Luncheon
(an annual event celebrating Women of
Color and honoring a “Professional Woman of the Year”
and a “Young Professional Woman of the Year (under the age of
40)”, during the Institute)
- The WomenSpeak™
Collaborative (a consortium of
local, regional and national organizations focusing on the needs and
concerns of, and programs benefiting women of color)
- Speaking of
Women (a newsletter and TV
show focusing on women of color)
Because of the tremendous
response to our programming and the resulting success stories based on
participant and sponsoring organizations’ experiences, it is our intention
to expand our annual training programs to include women of color in
Pittsburgh, Detroit, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Louisville by 2009.
It is also
our vision to host a national training and networking event
for women of color to be held in Atlanta, Georgia during 2010.