Debra A. Hazelrig

Mature Women With A Goal

4244 SE 122nd Avenue

Portland

Oregon

97236-3786

United States

503-260-6925

Proposed

Proposed Project: Mature Women With A Goal Non-profit Organization Community resources and mentoring of women requires special consideration. It necessitates a specialized community resource organization and stages of growth for the mentee/protégé by way of bravery, exposure, training, and security. Throughout the years, the community resources agencies and trends of mentoring women have grown and changed very slightly. Because of this deficiency in community support and mentoring, mature women have not met their full potential as professionals. Community services have grown significantly for women with children. This segment of the population has easy right of entry to community resources for safe housing, job training, education, health care, transportation, mentors, and domestic violence grants. However, there are limited or non-existent community resources for professional and semi-professional mature women. Women are natural-born nurturers. They give all they have to others, but rarely take care to do the same for themselves. As they grow and mature, women become fragmented and even lose pieces of their self. That further enhances the issue of particular concern because of the three important areas of the life of mature women. These areas are life expectancy, chronic health problems, and fewer avenues of support. In the general U.S. population of today, mature women have a life expectancy at birth of 78.7 years in 2011 — unaffected from 2010. From corner to corner, all races and ethnicities, life anticipation for women (81.1) go beyond that for men (76.3) by almost five years. These women had also started to become aware of bodily changes. They were still energetic and fit, but muscles may twinge more than they once did after a long day's labor, and knees may creak when getting up on a wintry morning. About 34% of these women had high blood pressure, and just about a third had mild warning signs of arthritis. In diminutive, barely discernible ways, the woman's body could begin to call for more of her attention. As her life and her body transform, the mature woman would begin to deal with issues that were new to her. She would have to make lifestyle alterations to be in charge of such persistent conditions as cardiovascular disease or diabetes, and she could have to make informed decisions on whether to take hormone replacement therapy. More mature women are going through transitions in their life. If she had a family when she was youthful, her children might be leaving home, and her main concerns alter accordingly. She might get divorced or remarry, possibly move into a new home. She could be giving up previous responsibilities as her offspring go out on their own; and she could be taking on new ones, such as caring for an aging parent or re-entering the labor force. Fewer avenues of support were in place for the mature woman for various reasons. Nonetheless, these women needed support and information to make the best choices. Where were the community support agencies for this group? There are some theories to explore as to why this target group was under-served. Considerations for the underlying principles in the slack of services for the mature woman could be due to the lack of political popularity. There maybe the existence of a cultural thing- Americans do not like to ask for help; are too proud to ask for help; and are concerned about the perception of others. The existence of a pull-yourself-up-by-the-boot-straps mentality theory when the client does not have the boots or the straps. Some mature women are suspicious of the motives of those offerings. Why are there minimum recourses for these mature women? If there are not avenues established to support this target group, they will continue to suffer and be unproductive members of society. According to Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development, the target group of this proposal, mature women without minor children, are a members of the Middle Adulthood (40 to 65 years) stage. Their basic conflict centers on making a lasting impact in the world or being a failure. The most important events in their life at this stage focus on family and work. For the purpose of this thesis, the target group is 45 to 65. With this information in mind, how are mature women in depressed situations going to fulfill their goals to make positive contributions as opposed to the other option? What is proposed is the creation of a “program hub” for which all programs and resources can be managed, collected, reviewed and dispersed to those in need. The model used for this was a Venn diagram to illustrate how women of seemingly various backgrounds could lead to similarity and how a hub can help them quickly find what they need. This simplified formula would ease implementation and allow a program to assume either a physical form (by way of a building, convention center, etc.) or in the digital (online website, interactive mobile application, etc.). In addition, the hub could also act as a minor social connection and means of networking for women where before they were unsure of where to begin via exposure with other women of like circumstance. Again, this may be accomplished in the form of resource workshops or online chat rooms and forums. Other side benefits to so many women interacting and resources being pooled into a more centralized form were that it increased and promoted the possibility of women mentoring women. This could accelerate the collection of direly needed data toward the purpose of the constructing and continuous evolution of a mentorship program for whatever prevalent need for women. Mature women are confronted with the cumbersome task of navigating many murky waters to locate services to aid them in gaining or regaining self-sufficiency. Life expectancy, chronic health problems, and fewer avenues of support add to this struggle. The obstacles in pursuit of safe housing, job training, education, mentoring, and employment compound it. In addition, the number of homeless mature women has increased. Mature women need a centrally focused hub to meet their needs. Many existing community resources are geared toward a younger population of women, especially those with children, or those who have addiction or domestic violence concerns. The result and possible implication is a local non-profit organization to close the gap in community services for professional and semi-professional mature women without minor children. The purpose of the proposed organization, Mature Women With A Goal, is to establish a central hub of community resources and support for mature professional and semi-professional women who are in transition and seeking to gain or regain self-sufficiency.

Under $25k

To establish the 501 C 3 Non-Profit status and strong basic foundation for the proposed organization

Grant Writer