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Mentoring: Giving Back to Those Women Who Have Given So Much

Posted by YWM on January 30, 2012

This article first ran on the Huffington Post
By Deborah L. Frett

Deborah L. Frett, BPW Foundation CEO

You aced the holiday dinner, picked out the perfect presents, rung in the New Year with style, and started working on those resolutions. By now, you’ve got that gym routine down and even shed a few holiday pounds. You dusted off the resume, reached out to your networks and updated the LinkedIn profile. Check, check, and done. Yet you still feel like something is missing.

January is often the month when we take stock of our lives and realize that among our many goals and accomplishments, giving back sometimes takes a back seat. January is also National Mentoring Month, and for a decade now, it has been highlighting mentoring as one of the most personally rewarding ways to give back. This year, Business and Professional Women’s (BPW) Foundation is taking the power of mentoring and focusing it on those women who have given their lives and their loves to protect our freedom: women veterans and military wives. BPW Foundation has deployed Joining Forces for Women Veterans and Military Spouses (JFWVMS) Mentoring Plus®, a program dedicated to helping women veterans and military spouses connect with working women mentors and subject matter experts (SMEs) to receive support and guidance, career development, and ultimately, to obtain meaningful employment.

Beginning in 2005, BPW Foundation made a commitment to better understand the employment transition of women veterans. We realized that every day, women in the military proudly serve our country, but when they return home they are faced with different challenges and often do not receive the recognition, benefits, or services they have earned. Our research highlighted translation and portability of skills as major obstacles and underscored an overwhelming gap in career and employment support among the growing population of military women upon their return to civilian life. Armed with this learning, BPW Foundation initiated studies and engaged private and public sector partners to outline employment access strategies, culminating in October 2010 with the inaugural Joining Forces for Women Veterans National Summit. More than 80 corporate, community and public sector leaders, including high-level White House and Administration officials, joined with women veterans to discuss key reintegration issues.

BPW Foundation’s Joining Forces for Women Veterans and Military Spouses Mentoring Plus® was conceived and developed following this conference to address the critical ongoing need for informed, committed mentors to position and assist women veterans and military spouses as they search for new employment, hone their career goals, and package their military skills and experience to gain access to civilian jobs. First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden acknowledged this “mentorship gap” when they recognized BPW Foundation’s mentoring initiative as part of the White House’s national Joining Forces effort.

We chose to officially launch this landmark program during National Mentoring Month 2012, as it builds upon the research and experience of effective mentoring programs that have successfully impacted the lives of so many. JFWVMS Mentoring Plus is focusing on helping thousands of women veterans and military wives by connecting them with volunteer working women mentors over a sustained period of time. Veteran and civilian mentors of all ages across the country will provide insight, advice, and encouragement to help women veterans and military wives steer an individualized course of action in the civilian workplace.

The Mentoring Plus structure will enable mentors and mentees to work together to design and develop the goals and benchmarks for mentee employment plans. A cadre of online resources and subject matter experts will assist mentees in areas that affect workplace attainment, adjustment, retention, and/or supplier chain participation for small businesses. With this grassroots capacity to guide women veterans in their job searches and career development, we will initially pair 10,000 mentees with mentors. Ultimately, we will engage partners toward a widening target of 100,000 mentoring relationships, recognizing that more than 150,000 women are projected to leave the military over the next five years and join the more than 1.8 million existing women veterans who have proudly served our nation.

So as you take stock of your life and lay out your goals and resolutions, resolve to give back to these women who have given so much for your freedom and way of life. Being a mentor for women veterans and military spouses is a great way to give back and pay it forward. Recent polling shows that mentors not only find great reward in helping others succeed, they also discovered that they improve their own leadership skills, expand their own networks, and surprisingly keep more current with industry trends. BPW Foundation can help you become a mentor and invest in America’s “sheroes.” To join Mentoring Plus, please visit www.bpwfoundation.org.

Follow Deborah Frett on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BPW_CEO

Posted in Joining Forces, Joining Forces for Women Veterans, Mentoring, Misbehavin' Notification, Uncategorized, Veterans, Women Veterans | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Everyone Can Lend a Hand Through Mentoring

Posted by serenity order simplicity on January 26, 2012

At a year old, Rachel can walk. However, when we saw her a month ago, she still preferred assistance. She would commandeer the closest adult. Without a word, she made her needs clear. She would lift her arms and whoever noticed knew to extend a finger or two. She grabbed on and headed off—a 2-foot-tall dynamo leading the stooped over, willing adult.

So, what does this have to do with mentoring? Rachel is not your typical business associate. While my connection with my granddaughter is certainly not professional, our interaction has aspects of mentoring.  We have a mutually agreeable relationship that includes respect, communication, and setting boundaries.

Within each of us is the capacity to mentor. And each of us has an area in which we could use mentoring by someone else. Mentoring is more about relationship than skills or knowledge. Probably the biggest “skill” a mentor needs is the desire to help. It’s a relationship built on trust and respect.  And it recognizes that at some point, our mentee will no longer need us and be able to “walk” by herself.

A mentor wants her mentee to succeed. Rachel’s ability to walk is independent of me, but my helping hands have encouraged her in the process. And you can bet I’m there to applaud every step she takes. I’m also there to pick her up when she falls; drying tears if needed.

January is National Mentoring Month, focusing on mentoring as a way to give back.  This year, Business and Professional Women’s (BPW) Foundation is concentrating on women veterans and military wives.  BPW Foundation has deployed Joining Forces for Women Veterans and Military Spouses® (JFWVMS) Mentoring Plus, a program dedicated to helping women veterans and military spouses connect with working women mentors and subject matter experts (SMEs) to receive support, guidance, and career development.

There is a role for everyone to play. Our mentors and mentees are women of all ages, eras, ranks and skills. Follow this link to sign up to be a mentor, subject matter expert or mentee.

Did you ever teach someone how to use Facebook, or knit, or mix a margarita? Congratulations, you have the skills to be a subject matter expert (SME). While, Mentoring Plus is focusing on career-oriented skills, it’s not so different than teaching other things. In the new world of job seeking, there’s overlap between personal and professional roles. A SME might advise you to have a Linkedin profile or possibly edit the photos you post on social media sites.  Maybe you’d like to rehearse interview questions and a mentor or SME can help. A mentor may also share contacts on her network, point out opportunities, and open doors.

Rachel’s successes are hers to enjoy. I feel honored to accompany her as she blossoms from baby to toddler. Who knows how her life will unfold, but you can be sure of this: I’ll be there to share and shape and guide the person she becomes. You’ll recognize me by my loud cheering, whether she’s jumping off a diving board or walking across a stage to pick up her diploma. And if you are involved in a mentoring relationship, you can probably relate.

Please help us connect 10,000 women veterans and military spouses with mentors during 2012 by sharing this information on webpages, social media, and at meetings.

If you have questions or need further details, please contact us at JoiningForces@BPWFoundation.org.

For updates, follow us:

http://www.facebook.com/BPWF4WomenVets 

https://twitter.com/#!/BPWF4WomenVets

Posted in Mentoring, Military, Successful Workplaces, Veterans, Women Veterans | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Women’s News to Chew On: Link Love for Lunch

Posted by YWM on January 20, 2012

January is National Mentoring Month – Sign Up to Mentor a Women Veteran or Military Spouse -

Successful, Equitable Workplaces -

More young women are covering campaigns [Politico]

Does it pay to be one of the guys at work? [Forbes]

38 years after passage of legislation designed to enforce workplace equality, the Equal Pay Act is often violated [KStateCollegian]

Empowered Work Force

How the gift of mentoring changed two lives [Naples News]

A mentor can help you reach your goals at any stage of your career or life [Chicago Tribune]

Chart showing women’s earnings as a percentage of men’s in 2010 [HR Compliance]

Wal-Mart Women file expanded Texas Class Action [MarketWatch]

Walmart seeks to halt refiled gender discrimination law suits [Insurance Journal]

Rutgers study finds that paid family leave leads to positive economic outcomes [National Partnership]

Health

New recommendations for older women and bone tests [New York Times]

VA says women veterans getting screened for cervical cancer [DODLive]

Women’s groups file Supreme Court brief supporting Health Care Reform Law [National Partnership]

Small Business

Women have to shine to attract investments in their businesses [Women2]

California, Texas and New York have the most women owned businesses [Gisuer]

Are women more careful entrepreneurs than men? [Forbes]

Do men and women bring different skills to entrepreneurship? [FastCoExist]

Three in four women small business owners see more tough times in 2012 [Insurance News]

STEM

Encouraging biotechnology workplace diversity [BioTech Now]

Gonzaga University awarded grant aimed at bringing more women into STEM careers [Spokesman]

Gen Y

Millennial Women are burning out at 30 and starting their own businesses [Forbes]

Other Interesting Items

Professional women rate 6 biggest mistakes businesses make when marketing to women [SFGate]

Men and women are still both from earth despite study showing “brain” differences [Huffington Post]

Commission on Status of Women to get budget ax in CA [SFGate]

A furor over gender marketing for Lego toys [Huffington Post]

Dr Pepper’s bizarre “not for women” ad campaign [Forbes]

NY area female retail workers experience low pay, little health insurance, scheduling instability and an abuse of part-time job status. [Women's eNews]

Politics

Political Parity’s drive to help women win office [The Daily Beast]

15 women GQ could have named to its most powerful in Washington list [Think Progress]

Why women still won’t run for office [Elect Women]

Military/Veteran

Film, “The Invisible War” takes on rape in the military [Huffington Post]

Jill Biden writes children’s book about military family’s struggles [Huffington Post]

The Battlefield and the Barracks: Two War Fronts for Women Soldiers.  Why Do Soldiers Rape? Part 1 of a 5 part series [Truth-Out]

Female vets struggle to find work [WWLP]

Cengage and BPW Foundation partner to support women veterans with career transitions [InfoTechSpotlight]

PTSD—an equal opportunity disorder—rates are same among male and female vets of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, with about 18 percent of both groups [KQED]

About one in five women and one in one hundred men reported that they’ve experienced military sexual trauma [MotherSatWar]

The double trauma of war and sexual assault by “brothers-in-arms” in the military leaves women feeling unsafe [Truth.Out]

The first VA patient to receive all of her prenatal care from the VA [SL Tribune]

Panetta announces new measures to combat sexual assault [Stripes]

Posted in Feminism, Link Love, Mentoring, Small Business, Uncategorized, Women Veterans | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Women’s News to Chew On: Link Love for Lunch

Posted by YWM on January 13, 2012

Empowered Workforces

Women are opting into career advancement strategies, including mentoring, and giving up work life balance [Forbes]

According to Ginny Rommety, IBM Chief Ex, women round down rather than up when assessing their skills [HBR]

Its time the U.S. adopts paid family leave [WomenseNews]

Women have a hard time taking credit for their success [Huffington Post]

As more husbands stay at home to support their wife, we see the rules changing [BusinessWeek]

During past 50 years, women have advanced in the American workforce yet still often receive lower salaries than male colleagues [IB Times]

Since 2009 recovery began, women have only added 43,000 jobs; picture’s even bleaker for female veterans, who just can’t seem to catch a break [Jezebel]

Successful, Equitable Workplaces

Corporate Boards: shifting from aging men to a new generation of women? [Forbes]

Tools and training prepare managers for workplace flexibility [SHRM]

Ball State University investigates lack of women professors [The Star Press]

Health

New York Times editorial: The Republican Party vs. Reproductive Rights [New York Times]

Odds and Ends

High hopes that 2012 will be a good year for women [New York Times]

Women are a mystery to Stephen Hawking [Reuters]

Roughly half of the planet’s visionary leaders are women and they have probably spent years wishing they could change something, or everything, about their bodies and their looks. [Business2Community

Thanking the women who paved the way [Huffington Post]

On Jan. 12, 1915, the US House of Representatives voted, 204-174, to reject a constitutional amendment to give women the right to vote. [New York Times]

Small Business

White House helping small businesses drive innovation [WhiteHouse.gov]

STEM

Meet a top female engineer for GM [Freep.com]

A survey by HSN showed that women outstripped men in their interest in owning electronics [Huffington Post]

Gaming keeps gaining among women [emarketer]

Gen Y

The future of work? Here area the top 10 employers of Gen Y [Forbes]

Millennial Women Battle Mentors: Article on disconnect between older mentors. [Forbes]

Saluting Misbehavin’ Women

Judy Smith recently named to the Women in Aerospace board of directors is a supporter of mentoring [Black Engineer]

Veterans/Military

Female engagement team is first for Michigan National Guard [Mlive.com]

Jobless rate for young female veterans climbed in 2011 [Stripes]

Women at War: women’s growing military roles out pace their health care [Stripes]

Joining Forces: Helping women veterans move into new careers [ICDCollege]

Mentoring programs help veterans make the transition [Career Builder.com]

Members of the US women served in the Cadet Nurse Corps are the only uniformed WWII service people not to be considered veterans. [MPNNow]

Posted in Feminism, Link Love, Successful Workplaces, Uncategorized, Women Veterans | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

January is National Mentoring Month

Posted by egehl on January 4, 2012

January marks National Mentoring Month in honor of all of the wonderful mentors out there working to help others reach their life goals. All of us need mentors at varying stages of life. Mentors help children to succeed in school, support colleagues with figuring out their career paths, or provide invaluable wisdom and guidance when a friend is faced with a hard decision. Mentors can play many different roles and typically they are someone that has your best interests at heart, and can provide feedback and support that you trust and value.

I am lucky to have found mentors throughout my life who have helped to guide me through a number of important decisions. In this tough job market when networking and building relationships is key to securing a new position, having a mentor can be instrumental in guiding you through that process. Mentors are also extremely helpful when you are still deciding on what type of work to pursue and how to reach your professional goals.

In my experience, mentors have been some of my best fans supporting me in every endeavor I undertake. They know my professional ethic, work product and overall value firsthand and have a clear sense of how to convey it to others. Mentors are the people I go to for recommendations, advice on a job search, or when I am seeking to connect to new people and information. They are my friends, colleagues and confidants.

BPW Foundation has launched a new mentoring program specifically geared toward women veterans. BPW Foundation believes that women veterans especially need mentoring assistance as they make what can be a challenging transition back into the civilian workforce. The BPW Foundation Inaugural Joining Forces for Women Veterans National Summit in October, 2010, identified an ongoing need for women veterans and military spouses to find informed, trusted outlets to assess their goals and navigate their way to successful careers –careers that provide economic stability for themselves and their families.

Therefore to meet the needs of these women, BPW Foundation has launched the “Joining Forces for Women Veterans and Military Spouses Mentoring Plus” program. Through this effort, BPW Foundation will develop the tools, outreach, and capacity to support a long term goal of engaging 100,000 women mentors to connect with women veterans and military spouses. By the end of 2012, 10,000 of the total number will be recruited in collaboration with their launch partner, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The BPW Foundation is honored to have received recognition from The Office of the First Lady and the Joining Forces effort, which has highlighted the “mentorship gap” in their selection of BPW Foundation as the point organization for a large-scale mentoring initiative to benefit women veterans and military spouses.

This month think about becoming a mentor or perhaps strengthen the relationship you already have with your mentor. It’s important to maintain your ties with your mentor and keep them up-to-date regarding your professional endeavors so they know how to help you.  And finally, consider becoming a mentor to a woman veteran by getting involved with BPW Foundation’s mentoring program. For more information please visit the website.

Posted in BPW, Education, Mentoring, Military Families, Successful Workplaces, Women Veterans | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Joining Forces: Women Veterans Speak Out – Acknowledging Homeless Women Veterans

Posted by danielleac on January 2, 2012

Read the latest article of BPW Foundation’s every-other-week Joining Forces feature that brings us the voices of women veterans telling their stories.  If you are a women veteran who would like to share your story, please contact us through our Joining Forces for Women Veterans Facebook page, or email dcorazza@bpwfoundation.org.

Acknowledging Homeless Women Veterans

by Debbie Metcalf (as printed in the Asheville Citizen-Times)

 

The horrible situation of being homeless — not having a place to call your own, to lay down in your own bed, make coffee in your own kitchen, and play with your kids in your own den — is made worse if you’re a homeless female veteran, by feelings of embarrassment for being in that situation and anger for having faithfully served our country and still not have a home when you get out.

They come in all shapes and sizes, with varying goals for their lives and differing ideas on how to best attain them. Some of these women are mothers with dependent children to care for. Some are going to school to further their education and increase their work skills. Some of these women are victims of sexual harassment and abuse while serving in the military. Some are addicts and alcoholics. Some are religious and some are not. Some are gay and some are straight. Their lives are as varied as ours.

But their life experiences are very different from ours in that they are experiencing a form of betrayal that most of us have never known. They came home from service in the military to a society that seems to ignore the fact that women have played a vital role in the U.S. armed services for many decades. And contrary to popular thought, women have always been exposed to and participated in very dangerous situations in the military. These women have been injured and experienced loss and sadness while working to serve their country, just as the male veterans. Now, they are homeless.

Asheville is a great area to live and work. We have so many philanthropic organizations that assist people in need. I’m a proud native of Asheville. There are nonprofits dedicated to protecting our rivers, mountains, downtown, greenways, animals, civil rights, air. We have nonprofits to protect handicapped persons and victims of domestic violence, rape, PTSD, child abuse, hate crimes. We also have nonprofits that offer assistance to homeless individuals. The problem in Asheville is that homeless male veterans have a specific place to call their own, whereas homeless female veterans do not have such a facility. The federal government has extended grants to nonprofits to assist homeless veterans in our area. The males have the Veterans Restoration Center at Oteen that houses only male veterans. The women, however, are allocated only 10 beds at the Steadfast House, a homeless shelter that houses all homeless women. Many homeless female veterans are discouraged to accept this housing because of the stringent interviewing process that many feel discriminates against them. These female veterans are also many times left out of the loop about veteran issues and programs available to assist women to achieve their goals in becoming self-sufficient. The homeless female veterans in our area need a transitional facility that serves only veterans and provides information related to their veteran status. It’s only fair.

Homeless female veterans have unique experiences and needs from the general homeless female population. We are committed to doing what we can to bring greater equality for these women. They deserve a group working for them, since they are being short-changed by the existing organizations that are funded to assist homeless vets. It’s the age-old problem of sexism in our society. Women who have served in the military are victims of a patriarchal culture that devalues their worth, minimizing their involvement in the service of our country. We need to stand up for these voiceless women who are living at the mercies of a patriarchal organization and get them some real help; the kind of help that will get them out of their current situation and into a place of their own. They have much to offer society. But first we need to offer them a hand-up so they can get their lives back in order.These women need clothes to wear to job interviews. They need transportation to appointments and sometimes assistance completing applications for housing, food assistance, school, employment. They need a safe and comfortable place to sleep at night, until they can get a permanent place of their own. We are working to make that happen.

For more information on the effort to end homelessness among the women veteran population in Asheville, contact Debbie at mzdjm@live.com

 

Posted in Families, Homelessness, Joining Forces, Joining Forces for Women Veterans, Military, Uncategorized, Veterans, Women Veterans | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Women’s News to Chew On: Link Love for Lunch

Posted by YWM on December 30, 2011

Empowered Workforce

Instead of work young women are postponing work and careers for more education [New York Times]

Without sponsorship from senior leaders, women don’t have the exposure and experience needed to get ahead. Sponsorship doesn’t happen as naturally for women as it does for men.  [Women at the Top]

Why women lowball other women [Forbes]

Successful  and Equitable Workplaces

Women playwrights and gender stereotypes on Broadway [New York Times]

How to retain talented women at the top [Venture Beat]

STEM

How universities fail women inventors [Business Week]

Still Talking about Gender

Does stripping gender from toys really make sense? [New York Times]

Lego bets on the girls and misses the mark [Hello Ladies]

The truth about boys and girls: challenging toxic stereotypes [Columbia.edu]

Small Bushiness

A new book on fathers and daughters: passing on the family business and the problems that can crop up [Business Week]

The case for women entrepreneurs and leaders [Fox Business]

Self-employed men more likely to have employees than self-employed women [Forbes]

If moms can’t find it; they invent it. Women entrepreneurs [New York Times]

Health

No links seen between HPV vaccine and girls sexual risks [New York Times]

Saluting Misbehavin’ Women

The Forbes 10 most interesting women of 2011 [Forbes]

Forbes woman of the year: Women in Tech [Forbes]

Ginger Miller helping other women veterans [Washington Post]

Woman’s Army Corp clippings are a prize for Women’s Memorial [ocala.com]

Starting in 1978, Grete Waitz showed the world women could run safely run 26.2 miles [New York Times]

Veterans/Military

Female vets talk joblessness and homelessness [CBS News]

Military academies report more sexual assaults [Washington Post]

VA issues new regulations on care of newborns of women veterans [Third Estate]

Bio-feedback program helps women veterans [SB Sun]

Female veteran looks back at Christmas in Fallujah [Mesquite Citizen]

Posted in Feminism, Link Love, Small Business, STEM, Successful Workplaces, Uncategorized, Women Veterans | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Support Women Veterans and Military Spouses by Becoming a Mentor

Posted by YWM on December 23, 2011

Yesterday BPW Foundation took the first step in deploying Joining Forces for Women Veterans and Military Spouses Mentoring Plus! We invite women from across the country to join us in this unique program that will lay the foundation for helping women veterans and military spouses find successful employment and careers in the coming year and beyond.

The purpose of the Joining Forces for Women Veterans and Military Spouses Mentoring Plus is to provide a mechanism for women veterans and military wives to use the support and guidance of a mentoring relationship to assist in their successfully obtaining meaningful employment and a career in their field of interest.

During this first phase we are asking those who would like to be Mentors and/or a Subject Matter Expert (SME) to sign up on our new Joining Forces for Women Veterans and Military Spouses Mentoring Plus webpage.  Both of these groups will help women veterans and military wives in their journey to meaningful employment or business ownership.  BPW Foundation will build its Mentor and SME pool starting now through the first quarter of 2012 and beyond, so that we will have a ready group of mentors when we begin matching with mentees.  Women wishing to be mentored can begin signing up on January 18, 2012.

Built on BPW Foundation’s history of women-helping-women, this program will enable professional working women (veterans and civilians) to tap their own workplace and transition experiences, to help women veterans successfully enter and advance in the civilian workforce. We will be working with women of all ages, eras, ranks and skill levels.

BPW Foundation first became interested in the transition of women veterans from military to civilian careers in 2005. We made a commitment to better understand the employment transition of women veterans, conducting research among 1,600 women veterans of all eras. The results highlighted translation and portability of skills as major obstacles and underscored an overwhelming gap in career and employment support among the growing population of military women upon their return to civilian life.

Armed with this learning, BPW Foundation initiated studies and engaged private and public sector partners to outline employment access strategies, culminating in October 2010 with the inaugural Joining Forces for Women Veterans National Summit. More than 75 leaders from private sector businesses, local and national government agencies, and non profit organizations joined with women veterans for a full-day’s discussion of reintegration issues, employment, and homelessness.

BPW Foundation’s Joining Forces for Women Veterans and Military Spouses Mentoring Plus was conceived and developed following this conference to address the critical ongoing need for informed, committed mentors to position and educate women veterans as they search for new employment, hone their career goals, and package their military skills and experience to gain access to successful civilian careers. First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden recognized this “mentorship gap” in their selection of BPW Foundation to implement a large-scale mentoring initiative to benefit women veterans and military wives within the White House’s national Joining Forces effort.

We encourage you to sign up today to become a Mentor and/or a Subject Matter Expert (SME) and make and support women veterans and military wives in their journey to meaningful employment or business ownership.  Please join us in this important work to give back to those who have served us.

Visit the mentoring sign up page.

Read more about Joining Forces for Women Veterans and Military Spouses Mentoring Plus

Posted in Joining Forces, Joining Forces for Women Veterans, Uncategorized, Women Veterans | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Joining Forces: Women Veterans Speak Out – From One Woman Veteran to Another

Posted by danielleac on December 19, 2011

Read the latest article of BPW Foundation’s every-other-week Joining Forces feature that brings us the voices of women veterans telling their stories.  If you are a women veteran who would like to share your story, please contact us through our Joining Forces for Women Veterans Facebook page, or email dcorazza@bpwfoundation.org.

Introduction: Years ago, BPW Foundation realized that newly-minted women veterans were faltering, missing crucial steps during the transition process from military service to civilian life. Research into the topic uncovered the startling fact that the transition process was not a linear process, nor did it follow a specific timeline. In an effort to be proactive in addressing these stumbling blocks, BPW Foundation developed the Dear Jane campaign, a collection of letters from women veterans back to active-duty women who were getting ready to leave the military. Although the active campaign is over, we still collect these insights and publish as visibly as possible in order to continue connecting the dots. Below is the latest submission.


Welcome Home!

by Lisa DeBerardinis

Dear Jane,

I am a Proud United States Navy Veteran – Seabee, I served from 1981-1988.

I salute you, The New Greatest Generation, and members of the best armed forces in the world!

There are many things I would have done differently after leaving the Navy.

I wish that I wouldn’t have kept a “gotta be tough” attitude for so long. I wandered through this civilian world from that time until about two years ago, when I’d finally had enough and reached out to VA for help. So being “tough” means advocating for yourself.

Like many of you might, I returned home and found myself a single parent, I struggled with depression which was recently found to be a result of MST. I’ve experienced periods of homelessness, although I am blessed that my periods of homelessness meant staying with this friend or that, traveling from here to there hoping things would change.

This letter does not specifically address how to deal with every issue that we face, there are too many! I finally have found my niche (it only took 23 years! :) serving the people I care about most, my fellow Veterans, especially my Sisters.

My advice is too please not wait to seek any assistance or help that you need! Advocate for yourself. Should you have any questions, need assistance/guidance on how to utilize the VA, and what we have available, PLEASE DON’T HESITATE to contact me! Sometimes, unfortunately, the VA can be baffling and frustrating but I will try to answer your questions or at least know where to direct you to get what you need. Our system is Nationwide, so it’s not a problem wherever you are. I hope to hear from you. I have all the respect you.

And can’t wait to say WELCOME HOME!

Respectfully,

Lisa DeBerardinis

Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist

Compensated Work Therapy TVHA- York Campus

Lisa.DeBerardinis@va.gov

Ph: 615-225-3926/615-427-5215

Posted in Advocacy, Friendship, Homelessness, Joining Forces, Joining Forces for Women Veterans, Uncategorized, Women Veterans | Tagged: , , , , | 3 Comments »

Women’s News to Chew On: Link Love for Lunch

Posted by YWM on December 9, 2011

The Economy

Women dropping out of the labor force [New York Times]

Mancession fades as more men than women are finding jobs [Forbes]

Women are not getting their fair share of jobs in the latest economic recovery [Forbes]

HERvotes Blog Carnival calls for extension of Unemployment Insurance [HERvotes]

Successful Workplaces

Study says women in Calif. are a century away from breaking the glass ceiling [Los Angeles Times]

Women won’t see pay equity until 2056 unless we act now [Unions.org]

Empowered Workforces

Women in government; help a sister out [Washington Post]

Women spend more time multitasking but pay an emotional toll [Tennessean]

Working moms multitask and stress more than dads [NPR]

Why women leaders need self-confidence [HR]

Do women need to learn to take more risks to get ahead? [CBS News]

Mentoring and manicures: Are women’s networking intended to provide fashion or business tips?  [Forbes]

Gen Y

Gen Y Women: Challenges for attraction and retention [Evolved Employer]

What employers need to know about Gen Y Women [Diversity Executive]

Don’t believe all you read about Gen Y women [ShEO]

STEM

Women in the technology industry lack prominent female role models and mentors, makes it challenging for a woman to envision herself at the top [Blogs.amd]

Veterans/Military

The VA videos with women veterans telling stories of their military experiences [US Generation]

A Sundance film: The Invisible War—is about the rape of soldiers within the U.S. military, the cover-up, and the consequences  [Bleeding Cool]

Women veterans get their due at VA [Saipan Tribune]

C.O.D.E. gives $100,000 to BPW Foundation to support women veterans [Veterans Enterprise]

VA issues guidelines for handling sexual trauma [Navy Times]

Saluting Misbehavin’ Women

CA female teen takes $100,000 science prize [Paper.Li]

First female to lead Miss. Air Guard [Clarion Ledger]

High school’s first female  ROTC program leader no stranger to breaking barriers [Clarion Ledger]

Of interest

Gender Intelligence: Why wiring makes a difference we should embrace [The Glass Hammer]

Advertisers and marketers set their sites on Latina women [New York Times]

U.S. Department of State announces Women in Public Service project [State Department]

Men may support reproductive health, equal pay for equal work, and ending violence against women but some take issue with the way some feminists choose categorize all men as the enemy [Fem2Pt0]

Small Business

Why women have to work harder to do start ups [Venture Beat]

Posted in Feminism, Link Love, Politics, Uncategorized, Women Veterans | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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