Around Des Moines

What does it mean to empower women? What is the definition of success? What are the tools and the resources needed to be successful? For the Women’s Alliance, the answer begins with its vision statement: “All women and girls in Greater Des Moines are economically self-sufficient and do not live in conditions of poverty.”

The Women’s Alliance is a project of the Chrysalis Foundation. The Chrysalis Foundation was founded in 1989 with an endowment from the late Louise Noun. It funds programs that help women and girls in Polk, Story, and Warren counties. The alliance is a project that brings together representatives from non-profit and governmental service agencies, and the occasional for-profit business. My business is part of that partnership.

Women’s Alliance partners met in several meetings over the past two years. Discussions included the definition of self-sufficiency and the particular skills and assistance needed in education, housing, and healthcare to achieve economic empowerment. With that information identified, the Chrysalis Foundation was able to issue requests for proposals so that it could fund projects that would help the Women’s Alliance reach goals set in the meetings. Another meeting, facilitated by Martha McCormick of Next Step Incorporated, was held in February 2008 to discuss the next phase of the alliance.

McCormick used a military theme to guide the meeting. She started by asking participants to identify what role they would serve in an army. Apparently all those novels set during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars that I read in my youth, as well as more recent non-fiction reading, left me being the most knowledgeable about military structure. One person vocalized that it was disconcerting to use war-evoking themes when talking about social services. Nevertheless, the answers revealed that there are several roles in any battle. There was the Corporal O’Reilly who keeps things running, the foot soldier who does the grunt work, the sergeant who attracts and shapes new recruits, the marauding scout who finds and disrupts opposition, the West Point analyst who takes successful strategies and turns them into new training courses, and the chaplain who counsels everyone else.

Another exercise was for participants to identify items that are being fought by women seeking self-sufficiency and for resources each alliance member brings to the war effort. The challenges ranged from internal expectations to physical limitations to external attitudes. The resources ranged from the motivational to the personal and on to specific services. As groups set about to put the lists into some order it became very clear that different interpretations were being assigned to the same items. For example, what is meant by “family values?” Is it the concept that there is a man and woman, married to each other, who have children? Or, is it the concept that each family has its own history and cultural story that can offer strength to an individual struggling to break out of poverty?

Any item in the list of challenges that was created could apply to a person who is not living in poverty. Yet, I thought of writing this post when I saw all the items that participants had thought of during the meeting. That was because I don’t believe most people understand the number and variety of problems encountered by women and girls at the lowest socio-economic levels of our society. Those challenges identified include: fear, prejudice, ignorance, bias, indoctrination, violence, media images, low expectations, need for immediate gratification, shattering of dreams, lack of love/compassion, lack of respect, put downs (e.g., too smart, too easy), poor parenting skills, failed family structure, depression, anxiety, stress, insufficient housing, poor transportation, lack of education, lack of childcare resources, lack of healthcare resources, lack of negotiation, low wages, teen pregnancy, sexually-transmitted diseases, and poor nutrition.

One part of the resources list came about because some participants in the meeting had previously commented that high schools in Des Moines do not have the spirit-building symbols of earlier times. Other resources describe what individuals can offer, what professionals provide, and what a partnership can do. The list includes: mascots, toys, fun, creativity, talking, listening, being inviting, gender-specific services, licensed counselors, money (e.g., sliding-scale payments, program funding), passion, optimism, personal energy, training, education, historical data, years of experience, ear of policymakers, ability to meet with legislators, diversity in programs, rights, clout, social capital, volunteers, male allies, friends, families, and bringing people to the table.

At the end of the process, the consensus was that the Women’s Alliance should continue with a few meetings each year. The majority of participants wanted opportunities to learn about each other’s services and agencies. My goal is to help bring that information to the general public so more people understand what is at stake and how they can help.

M.R. Field is editor of Leading Voices: Iowa.