Last November, (2007), the “Women’s Empowerment Portfolio,” a unique sub group within the Orange County Chapter of United Way, began a series of in-house educational meetings for the purpose of becoming more aware of the range of problems and challenges that confront girls and women living in Orange County. The Portfolio group is one component of a two-part group of well-connected and very active volunteers; the other wing is focused primarily on fund-raising. Many of the volunteers are members of both groups.

A member of the UW/OC administration, based on a series of referrals and phone calls, contacted the Women’s Center at CSU-Fullerton and spoke with the Center’s Director, Barbara McDowell. The UW wanted someone to attend the first meeting and lead a panel discussion on life stages in general and life-stage issues of midlife women. Barbara immediately recommended me… and that’s how this all began.

For the next several months, continuing into the current year, the WEP group continued to learn, meeting monthly and hearing from a cross-section of people – mostly service providers, (ranging from the Director of Jewish Family Services of Orange County to the Director of Girls, Inc.) – and gaining a much more informed sense of what United Way/ O.C.’s dollars were needed to do. Along the way, they asked me to move from “guest” to board member.

From the beginning, Sue Parks, board president, had a vision of what she labeled a “Summit” to function as a forum in which to share the information these educational meetings collected. The audience for the forum – Summit – would not be the end-users but those who provide services to the end users – the girls and women of Orange County. This would enable better grant writing and better allocation of funds.

The date for the Summit was set about two months ago, (late spring): Friday, September 19. The site will be the conference hall at Allergan Pharmaceuticals in Irvine. Allergan has volunteered use of their facility, which holds approximately 250 people in a theatre-style auditorium. They are also underwriting a reception at the end of the day. Orange Coast Magazine, a prestige special interest publication, is including a focus piece about the Summit in their September 2008 issue, (which should be “on the stands” in late August.)

Seven main themes were identified as recurring concerns for both service providers and their clients, but all of these cannot be adequately addressed in one half-day event. There will be three moderated panels, each addressing one of the needs identified by the educational meetings.

One theme that persisted in terms of basic needs is transportation: a teenaged girl trying to get to Girls, Inc. needs transportation; an emerging adult without a car needs transportation to take classes to better herself; and women in other life stages are equally in need of the means to get from one place to another, either for training, work, or treatment, or to get someone for whom they caregive to some service. While Los Angeles has some “mass” transportation, Orange County, almost as large, has, essentially, none – unless you consider the mass of cars on the various freeways.

Also, many too many people assume that Orange County is populated by wealthy folks who do not have problems and that, moreover, typical urban center problems are not a feature of the O.C. landscape. Nothing can be farther from the realities.

The second panel will discuss education, particularly technology training and career readiness. The third will address economic self-sufficiency – earning a wage one can actually live on – and include strategies for managing transitions – both planned and unexpected; i.e. job loss or loss of a spouse.

Each panel will have someone representing the “academic” perspective, someone from the service provider sector, and someone to discuss unmet needs and potential solutions. The general format also anticipates input from the attendees in the forms of (1) Q & A at the conclusion of each panel discussion; (2) cards which may be submitted for after-Summit consideration; and (3) an online survey following the Summit.

This is a Very ambitious agenda in terms of both the “vision” and the implementation – the actual Summit. My role – thus far – is to follow Sue Parks’s opening remarks and set the stage for the developmental segments in the lives of girls and women that serve as the backdrop for the issues to be discussed. Working with this group of women, all of whom lead incredibly busy lives, most of whom are either engaged in the corporate sector or own their own businesses yet make the time to be purposeful members of organizations such as United Way, has been a rewarding experience and one which has provided me a more informed perspective regarding girls and young women/emerging adults in this area – which is “value added” for my students, especially those taking courses on Adolescent development and expecting to be educators in Orange County.

…stay tuned; I’ll keep you posted…

V O’K