Workforce Opportunity Grants (Formerly Women's Economic Stability Initiative (WESI)/Women's Economic Stability Partnership (WESP))

Workforce Opportunity Grants (Formerly Women's Economic Stability Initiative (WESI)/Women's Economic Stability Partnership (WESP)) is sponsored by Trio Foundation of St. Louis. The Trio Foundation of St.

Louis has historically supported initiatives like the Women's Economic Stability Initiative (WESI), now the Women's Economic Stability Partnership (WESP) incorporated into the YWCA.

WESI / WESP — Trio Foundation of St. Louis Women’s Economic Stability Initiative (WESI)/Women's Economic Stability Partnership (WESP) The Women’s Economic Stability Initiative arose out of a decision on the part of the Trio Foundation of St. Louis to identify an urgent issue in the St.

Louis community. The Foundation planned to address the problem through a multi-year collaboration with a local agency with a focus on economic empowerment for single, low-income mothers.

The research revealed the difficulties faced by these women in achieving financial stability when faced with the conflicting demands of pursuing an education while simultaneously dealing with the issues of childcare, housing, transportation, educational costs and often debt reduction.

Trio’s vision was to fund and collaborate with an agency on a program that would support ten low-income women who were pursuing non-traditional careers that would provide higher wages and economic stability for their families. Trio funds were intended to permit the agency to flexibly address obstacles to the completion of the women’s educational and career goals.

In early 2007 Trio issued a request for proposals to implement the initiative and in May 2007 awarded the grant to the YWCA of Metro St. Louis. In January 2011, The Gateway Center for Giving recognized the Trio Foundation of St.

Louis with its “Giving is Ongoing” award for the Women’s Economic Stability Initiative ( http://blog. centerforgiving. org/?

s=eulonda ). We were pleased to receive this award, but the women in the program are the ones we honor. We consistently admired their commitment to their children and careers and were privileged to play a part in helping the women achieve their dreams and secure their futures.

One of the participants from Class One, Jennifer Wall, describes the impact in this video . The program was so successful that the YWCA incorporated it into their regular service offerings and renamed the program Women's Economic Stability Partnership (WESP). WESP, the new iteration of WESI, is being supported by the United Way, Trio Foundation of St.

Louis, as well as several other foundations and YWCA board members. Key findings and a full report on the first five years of the program can be found here: Women's Economic Stability Report .