About the Nonprofit
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Women of the Dream (WOD) provides program services to girls, ages 12-18, in Camden, NJ. Camden is the poorest city in New Jersey and among the poorest cities in the country. The city is predominantly African-American and Hispanic, with a poverty rate of close to 40%. Women ages 18-24 represent the poorest demographic in the city because of early childbearing, high school dropout, and lack of the necessary skills to compete in a global job market. In light of the poverty status of women in the city of Camden, WOD plays a vital role in reaching and helping girls and young women to understand the cycle of poverty and how to avoid risky behaviors that can lead to poor outcomes, including poverty.
WOD's model is school-based in that we partner with public middle and high schools where all program services take place at schools and during school hours. This model provides access to services where children spend the majority of their time. WOD's mission is to strengthen the leadership, power, and voices of girls from marginalized and underserved communities. This mission represents WOD's commitment to providing a safe and confidential forum to prepare our girls for leadership, empower them to make positive choices and decisions that will lead to healthy life outcomes, and encourage and validate the healthy expression of personal social, and political concerns. The mission is carried out through four core programs: Life Skills Programs, College Prep, Career&Workforce Readiness Program (Empower Program), Girls Talk, and the Scholarship Program.
The Life Skills Program targets girls in grades 7-10, where participants receive critical life skills to enable them to have a thriving middle and high school experience and prepare them for successful outcomes in their adult life. Life Skills include decision-making, conflict resolution, financial literacy, household management, health and wellness, managing family dynamics, and partner selection/healthy and unhealthy relationships.
Girls in the Life Skills Program transition to the Empower Program in the 11th grade, and for the next two years, they are provided hands-on assistance for college admission, trade school, or whatever plans they have for life after high school. The participants are prepared for leadership in their chosen profession and society in general; they are prepared to succeed in the workplace and compete in the global job market. Girls Talk addresses trauma and self-identity issues in girls who have experienced any form of trauma to include sexual abuse and assault, parental abandonment, exposure to violence, and other forms of trauma.
The Scholarship Program is open to any girl graduating from a Camden high school with plans for college or trade school in the fall. However, girls enrolled in our Empower Program receive hands-on assistance with preparing and submitting the scholarship application including writing the essays and preparing for the personal interview. Since 2017 WOD has provided over $50,000 in scholarships to 32 young women. To see profiles and pictures or scholarship recipients, visit https://womenofthedream.org/scholarship-recipients/. The overarching theme across all programs is breaking the cycle of poverty.
In addition to these core services, WOD sponsors an annual Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Conference for girls in partnership with Drexel University in Philadelphia. Each year close to 200 girls from Camden and other underserved communities attend this annual STEM Conference. They are exposed to careers in STEM, how to prepare for careers in STEM, and an opportunity to meet and be mentored by successful women of color in STEM. This conference is critical because many girls in underserved communities are not exposed to careers in STEM and are not receiving information that will assist in deciding to pursue a career in STEM. Yet STEM careers represent the fastest-growing careers in the global market, and women continue to be underrepresented in STEM careers.
For more information on WOD, our history, leadership, and program services, please visit our beautiful website at www.womenofthedream.org.
Socially and culturally relevant activities complement our core program services. Field trips include visits to museums, colleges, corporate sites, leadership conferences, teen conferences, and workshops. Fun activities include Great Adventure! Last year we sponsored a trip to Great Adventure on Halloween night; we have sponsored several trips in the previous years. There was a point where we received complimentary tickets through our partnership with New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) that had a partnership with Great Adventure. However, the contact person is no longer at Great Adventure. This summer and last summer we took our girls to Six Flags in Bowie, Maryland! This was an opportunity to expose them to a location beyond New Jersey.
We are seeking to sponsor a trip to Great Adventure on October 30, 2021, but require some form of partnership because of the expense associated with ticket purchases for a large group of girls. WOD does great work and is highly respected for our work with Camden youth. However, we are a small organization with a small budget that requires partnerships in order to provide our girls with fun activities that they are not able to provide for themselves. Creating opportunities for fun is critical to this population of girls because so many truly carry the weight of the world on their young shoulders primarily because they are poor.
