About Pennsylvania Women Work
Pennsylvania Women Work is a non-profit organization that has been dedicated to empowering women for more than two decades by helping them find lasting employment that pays a family-sustaining wage. We help women overcome life obstacles to employment; develop job search and career skills that are transferable to any job; and forge connections that lead to brighter career paths. Our goal is to help each client achieve long-term career stability and financial independence.
Our free programs are designed to serve a wide range of clients including, displaced workers and homemakers, people reentering the workforce after being incarcerated and educated refugees and immigrants. In addition to our signature career development classes, we provide computer training, job counseling, as well as customer service classes and mentoring opportunities -- all at no cost to our clients.
Each year, PA Women Work offers events and workshops that provide useful information and support to help clients, as well as other individuals in the community, on their journey to fulfill their personal and professional goals. We are best known for our highly successful New Choices career development program, offered throughout the state of Pennsylvania.
Our Mission
The mission of Pennsylvania Women Work is to:
Transform women's lives through empowerment, employment and economic independence.
Our Vision
A future in which:
All women are empowered to join the workforce, earn equitable compensation and attain economic security.
Our free programs are designed to serve a wide range of clients including, displaced workers and homemakers, people reentering the workforce after being incarcerated and educated refugees and immigrants. In addition to our signature career development classes, we provide computer training, job counseling, as well as customer service classes and mentoring opportunities -- all at no cost to our clients.
Each year, PA Women Work offers events and workshops that provide useful information and support to help clients, as well as other individuals in the community, on their journey to fulfill their personal and professional goals. We are best known for our highly successful New Choices career development program, offered throughout the state of Pennsylvania.
Our Mission
The mission of Pennsylvania Women Work is to:
Transform women's lives through empowerment, employment and economic independence.
Our Vision
A future in which:
All women are empowered to join the workforce, earn equitable compensation and attain economic security.
History
The imperative need for organizations solely dedicated to women’s employment began in the 1970s when divorce rates in the United States began climbing toward their present-day average. In the process, many women found themselves “fired” from their jobs as homemakers. Among those affected were Laurie Shields, a 55-year-old widow, and Tish Sommers, a 57-year-old divorcée, who found it difficult to re-enter the workplace after spending so many years away from it. Shields and Sommers, like many women that made up this rapidly-growing population of displaced homemakers, were too old for youth programs, but too young to receive Social Security payments. They weren't poor enough to receive welfare, but they barely had enough money to support themselves.
To raise awareness of these unique problems, Shields and Sommers assembled a national coalition of activists that was known as the Displaced Homemakers Network in 1979. Their motto became, “Don’t agonize, organize!” The group successfully lobbied 39 states and Congress to take action, which resulted in a federal grant allotted to the states that provided career development program funds for women.
Pennsylvania's displaced homemaker programs began operating in the early 1980s under the national Displaced Homemakers Network. When the national network disbanded, a dedicated group of women, headed by Mary Ann Eisenreich, branched off of the former national network and founded Pennsylvania Women Work. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, the organization oversees 12 locations across Pennsylvania that provide career development and training through the New Choices program, one of Pennsylvania Women Work’s services that encourages job readiness and economic independence.
Since its founding, Pennsylvania Women Work has helped over 57,000 women in transition overcome the economic, educational, and emotional obstacles to achieving meaningful employment that creates a world of opportunity.
To raise awareness of these unique problems, Shields and Sommers assembled a national coalition of activists that was known as the Displaced Homemakers Network in 1979. Their motto became, “Don’t agonize, organize!” The group successfully lobbied 39 states and Congress to take action, which resulted in a federal grant allotted to the states that provided career development program funds for women.
Pennsylvania's displaced homemaker programs began operating in the early 1980s under the national Displaced Homemakers Network. When the national network disbanded, a dedicated group of women, headed by Mary Ann Eisenreich, branched off of the former national network and founded Pennsylvania Women Work. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, the organization oversees 12 locations across Pennsylvania that provide career development and training through the New Choices program, one of Pennsylvania Women Work’s services that encourages job readiness and economic independence.
Since its founding, Pennsylvania Women Work has helped over 57,000 women in transition overcome the economic, educational, and emotional obstacles to achieving meaningful employment that creates a world of opportunity.
