SobelCo is proud to welcome in the new year by shining our January 2022 nonprofit spotlight on WomenRising – a Jersey City organization that provides resources to help women and families survive and thrive.
A proud history – how it began
For over a century, WomenRising has held fast to their mission, “To assist women and their families to achieve self-sufficiency and live safe, productive and fulfilling lives, through social service, economic development, and advocacy services.”
In May 1905 when a group of 168 women employees at Colgate and Company got together and founded the Jersey City YWCA, their offerings included Bible Study classes and residences for single women. By the end of their inaugural year there were 550 members! Just six years later the YWCA was already involved in community issues, fiercely fighting for sanitary conditions, especially in the bakery industry and advocating on behalf of the community by collaborating with the Jersey City Health Council and the Interracial Council of Jersey City. In 1918, as they celebrated their thirteen-year anniversary, they did so by establishing the International Institute to assist foreign born women and girls.
As the 1920s drew to a close, the Jersey City organization’s rapid growth and serious dedication to improving the lives of women and girls, as written in their mission statement, led to a successful building campaign raising over $1 million that enabled the move to 270 Fairmount Avenue, where they remain today.
Impressive outcomes
The extraordinary professional team at WomenRising, led by Executive Director Roseann Mazzeo, S.C. along with Virginia Cory, President of the Board and all of their Board Members and Trustees, continues to work together to foster this impressive legacy.
Today the numbers tell their story as they demonstrate the significant impact WomenRising has on the community:
- Serving 11,480 individuals
- Delivering immediate assistance to 3,630 clients
- Advising 1,180 women on their legal options
- Providing 170 families with a safe place to live
- Placing 150 individual in jobs
- Serving 1,500 women and families with counseling services
A focus on domestic violence
The early visionaries who launched the Jersey City YWCA set the stage for the organization’s powerful, positive impact as they successfully addressed the constantly evolving and changing challenges facing women – both personally and professionally – at home and in the workplace continuing into the 21st century.
WomenRising is the State’s designated provider of domestic violence services for the Hudson County community. This leadership role includes comprehensive services for victims, survivors and loved ones. Awareness and education of the patterns of abusive relationships, essential information on resources, local hotlines, support groups, court advocacy and legal services, assistance in safety planning, safe shelter, advocacy to obtain financial and other forms of assistance are integral to supporting victims and offering options to move forward.
From crisis to self-sufficiency
From Bible Study classes in the early 1900s to vocational guidance and clerical skills building programs during the Great Depression of the 1930s and 1940s to the supportive counseling, crisis intervention, workforce development, job placement, permanent supportive housing, domestic violence services which are available in 2022, the staff and volunteers have continued to sustain and grow the mission to assist women and families to achieve self-sufficiency and live safe, fulfilling and productive lives.
Please visit their website to learn more and to donate: www.WomenRising.org
