Goals & Rationale

Community-based organizations serve as America’s safety net and gathering place. They provide a vast array of services, and at the same time, knit diverse populations together by creating spaces for democratic life, artistic expression and community building.

Women are often at the helm, taking on huge missions with few resources. In the best of times, they are generally under-resourced and overworked.

WiLCO has offered resources and training to six local non-profit agencies led by women in an effort to design and implement a project that will improve the lives of the women utilizing the organizations’ services.

The project also serves as a catalyst for women leaders to network and share their experiences, successes and failures with each other.

One of WiLCO’s major strengths is that the program can be replicated in communities across the country.

WiLCO’s Goals:

Bring women leading community organizations together for leadership support and development
Support an organizational project or inquire into an organizational question
Encourage deeper levels of relatedness and support -- leader to leader and organization to organization
Create a breakthrough result for the leaders, project or organization

Why Agency Teams?

WilCO asks each agency to develop a team of 2 - 4 women who are staff, board or volunteers.

Change is difficult to institute in the best of settings.
Teams provide more ideas and perspectives to investigate a problem
And more investment and will power to implement a new idea.

Each Agency Received

Project funding up to $5,000
A student intern from Saint Mary’s College
A consultant who is doing similar work at the regional/national level
Four skill-enhancing workshops
Five dialogue sessions
A retreat with other women leaders in WiLCO

CWIL · 9 Havican Hall · Saint Mary's College · Notre Dame, IN · 46556-5001 · Phone: (574) 284-4051 · Fax: (574) 284-4141 · E-mail:

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