Dads with a Plan

At the 2nd Father's of Daughters Power of 10 group meeting the group re-united with a lot of enthusiasm to discuss their action plan. They narrowed down their concerns to focus on the top four ideas that address the issues among fathers of daughters.

The first discussion was the website which would serve as a toolbox for dads offering easy access, support and anonimity. One father shared that his daughter experienced a break-up a few days before the meeting and it would have been nice to have a website to refer to for suggestions on consoling her at the time. It was determined that the challenges of creating a website would be reaching the fathers who need it most, manpower and expense. The other ideas discussed were a mentor program, an awareness campaign and father/daughter events.

One of the fathers identified an existing program in the community offered through the Parent Connection's Family Services called "Dads Unlimited." This program offers groups, events, and workshops tailoring to the needs that they could develop and build on. It was decided that the next step would be to meet with the program director to receive more information at the next meeting.

Happy Holidays!

Submitted by: Mindie Boynton, Women's Fund Communications Committee

Determined Dads

The fifth Power of 10 Group is Father’s of Daughters who held their first meeting on Tuesday, December 1^st. The group consists of eight dedicated fathers who find their role challenging; it is difficult to balance being the bread winner and a quality father. They would like to be more involved with the lives of their daughters but are limited by time and options.

The goals determined by the group are to motivate un-involved fathers, plan father/daughter events and construct a toolbox for dads. Ideas for the toolbox included developing a website, social media outlets and networking functions.

These fathers are passionate about raising awareness in the community to recognize the importance that fathers matter. These dads are striving to be everyday heroes.

The next meeting of the Power of 10 group "Fathers of Daughters" will be held this Thursday, December 10. Stay tuned to hear more about the next steps for these Determined Dads.

Submitted by: Mindie Boynton, Women's Fund Communications Committee

Making the Call

The young women 19-21 years old have made the call to grant their $10,000 to the Winnebago County 2-1-1 service. The 2-1-1 service is a 3-digit dialing code that connects people in need to human services. 2-1-1 refers callers to information about local resources provided by the government and non-profit organizations.

The grant will be used to market the program to increase awareness and usage. The target audience is young women 19-21 in Winnebago County struggling with issues such as financial literacy or health & wellness. The image and information will be presented using testimonials and real life scenarios through a variety of mediums. Social media, on-campus communication channels, retail stores, and direct mail were only a few of the creative recommendations provided to the 2-1-1 marketing staff. The marketing efforts will be tracked through reporting systems to determine the success of the program.

The 2-1-1 is a great outlet for the community and young women to connect to local services and programs in the area. Call 2-1-1 for help with food, housing, employment, health care, counseling and more. To learn more visit: http://www.211wisconsin.org/

Submitted by: Mindie Boynton, Women’s Fund Communications Committee

Celebratory Meeting

The date has been confirmed the celebratory meeting will take place on Friday, July 17th.


Submitted by: Mindie Boynton, Women’s Fund Communications Committee

Making the Call

Today was the third meeting for the young ladies 19-21 years old Power of 10 Group. There was a tentative decision made on the $10,000 allocation. This week the group is going to be researching, testing and making contact with an agency.

Stay tuned for the announcement and celebratory meeting date.


Submitted by: Mindie Boynton, Women’s Fund Communications Committee

The Challenge

The second meeting was held on Monday, June 22nd with 7 young ladies 19-21 years old present. This meeting started off with a review from the previous meeting. There was no communication within the group between the meetings. The topics reviewed included health & wellness, financial literacy and college life.

Then there was a brain storming session to decide on programs and ideas of how to best spend the $10,000. There was a lot of discussion on creating an information website and educational programs.

The group is taking a couple weeks to think more about the $10,000 give away and return with marketing ideas. The young ladies asked the Women's Fund to provide them thought provoking questions to help them define issues and struggles that women 19-21 years old face.

What questions would you ask young women 19-21?

Submitted by: Mindie Boynton, Women’s Fund Communications Committee

Progression

The second meeting for the young ladies 19-21 years old will be held tomorrow, 6/22. I am excited to get the group back together and see the plan take form.

Submitted by: Mindie Boynton, Women’s Fund Communications Committee

Limbo-Land

The fourth Power of 10 group is young women, 19-21 years old. This group consists of recent high school graduates, college students and a single mother, all in a transitional place in life. They work various jobs in retail sales, childcare and hospitality.

The current economic conditions have greatly affected this group. They are apprehensive about the unknown, so they feel the need to outline a life plan. Their goals include finishing college, going to graduate school, finding a job, getting married and starting a family. Their fears include veering off track from their set “plan”, not making enough money to support themselves, and lack of financial literacy (401k, investments, etc).

As one young woman put it, “our generation is not going to have the benefits our parents did so we have to be more self-sufficient. “

The second issue identified by the group was mental health and wellness. These women were most concerned about navigating the transition process from student to adult, which is often wrought with anxiety, depression and self-doubt. Addressing how to deal with pressure, build confidence and maintain a healthy body image were of utmost importance.

By the end of meeting, it was clear that the economy is defining this group. Despite the recession, they feel some sense of security by establishing a “plan.” There are a lot of challenges ahead (in the Power of 10 and life), but these young women have the potential to make a big impact.

For more information on the Power of 10, visit www.YouCanCountMeIn.org.

Submitted by: Mindie Boynton, Women's Fund Communications Committee

19-21 Year Olds Kick-Off

The Power of 10 focus group, Young Women 19-21 years old will have its first meeting today, June 15th.

Submitted by: Mindie Boynton, Women’s Fund Communications Committee

Calling young women, ages 19-21!

We need your help with our next Power of 10 focus group, Young Women 19-21 years old.

Remember: The Power of 10 is the Women’s Fund’s 10th anniversary initiative, designed to identify the issues and obstacles facing women of all ages in our community.

This group will be meeting three times in the month of June to discuss, debate and decide how to allocate $10,000 to help other young women in the community. Each meeting lasts about 90 minutes. Final meeting times will be scheduled at a later date to best accommodate the schedules of the entire group.

Please contact Karlene Grabner at Karlene@OshkoshAreaCF.org to participate. For more information on the Power of 10, visit http://www.youcancountmein.org/.

They Did It!

The third Power of 10 Group, Young Women 16-18, have come up with a use for the $10,000 they were given to improve the lives of their peers. This group of dynamic young women determined that the best use of their funds is a program for teenage girls to gather and openly discuss ‘life’. Issues that teens face today can be overwhelming – money, family, friends, school, relationships, future – the list is endless. This group saw a need to create a safe, non-judgmental, open forum (led by an adult) that provided an opportunity to talk.

After several meetings with these young women, it was determined that the Women's Fund needed a partner to make this idea a reality. The Aurora Medical Group got behind the girls' vision and stepped forward as a partner for this project. With some very enthusiastic Aurora staff, as well as UW Oshkosh counseling interns, Aurora will work with the original Power of 10 group (now known as the steering committee for the project) to figure out how to market the program and engage other 16-18 year old girls in the Oshkosh high schools.

It was inspiring to see how the group worked together to come to consensus and maintain enthusiasm about this Power of 10 opportunity. These young women have set a great example by bringing a diverse group of people together. With a little coaching from facilitator Terri Matousek, they learned to trust each other, open up, discover a common purpose and establish a plan of action. And they were able to accomplish this in addition to all their other activities!

This project was important to these young women; it was evident at every meeting and obvious in how they established the groundwork to get their pilot program started. These young women are our future – what a great experience for them as they go out and make their way in the world.

Submitted by: Victoria Beltran, Women's Fund Communications Committee