Events

WWOCN has designated four major activities to implement its mission statement.

Annual Employment and Training Conference

WWOCN was created to provide a focal point for activities that will empower women of color through employment and training. Having a job means economic survival, rising from poverty, and gaining dignity and self-confidence. Each year, WWOCN conducts an employment and training conference which offers a wide range of subject matter relating directly to job opportunities, workshops that give practical instructions and hands-on exercises, on how to get a job and keep it, leadership development, networking, mentoring, and career and life planning sessions.

Women of color who come to these conferences find it as a way to learn to work together in improving and enriching their own lives and then return to their communities as better citizens and potential leaders.

Significantly, this activity makes WWOCN the forefront for building bridges between one racial ethnic group with another, between the empowered women and the disenfranchised women so that they can share the dignity of self-help to rise to their maximum potential. Over these bridges can flow the knowledge, insights, talents, and energies as well as the physical and financial resources that WWOCN can offer.

The first annual conference was held on June 11, 1982 in Madison, Wisconsin with funding support from the State of Wisconsin, Department of Employment Relations.
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Quarterly Seminars

The purpose of these meetings is to provide a follow-up on the major issues or topics brought up by participants during the annual employment and training conference. The public is invited to these gatherings.

WWOCN recognizes that consistency and regularity of network gatherings create more and lasting awareness of the opportunities, resources and human relationships that form a solid support system for individuals seeking employment or education.

Quarterly seminars consist of discussions led by persons from the host community, many of whom are members of WWOCN. They are held in facilities which accessible to people with disabilities. Networking, business card exchange, exhibits and door prizes are standard offerings at these gatherings.

Women of Color Fund

The WWOCN Women of Color Fund fulfills our purpose of helping each other to achieve our full potential. Women of color face a multitude of barriers to fulfillment often unrecognized by traditional programs. WWOCN provides to individuals and programs statewide for educational and economic development purposes. Funds are disbursed in the forms of scholarships, grants or loans.

The Women of Color Fund serves as an umbrella to four types of scholarships awarded by WWOCN. These are:
  • The Mabel Smith Memoral Scholarship is designed to provide financial assistance to high school graduates of color who are continuing their education at the vocational, technical and community college level. This scholarship was established in 1990 to honor the memory Mabel Smith, a life-long resident of Madison, Wisconsin, who was well known for her dedication and commitment to helping others. She was also a founding member of WWOCN.
  • The Cammer-Hill Grant is designed to provide financial assistance to women of color to continue their studies at a vocational, technical and community college. This allows payment for special educational expenses not available in other scholarship grants or personal financial resources, i.e., textbooks, study tools, transportation and emergency child-care. This grant fund was established to honor Agnes G. Cammer and Sherry A. Hill who were two of the founding members of WWOCN.
  • The Hattie J. Hilliard Scholarship Fund was established for women of color to pursue their education in the arts.
  • The Future Leaders Fund was established to sponsor youths of color from middle to high school age. It will give them an opportunity to attend and participate in educational activities that inspire and provide skills to become future leaders in the community.
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Career Planning and Job Counseling

WWOCN provides voluntary career planning and job counseling through its members who are professionals in the human resource services area. This is one of the unmet needs of women of color who are unemployed or underemployed. Many are in low-paying jobs that do not provide sufficient income for self or a single parent family.

This activity links WWOCN volunteers with women who need to know how to plan their careers and look for a job. This service excludes job development and/or job-placement on an individual or on-on-one approach. WWOCN members are invited to serve as mentors or tutors.