20 - JACKSON HOLE WOMAN, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Nonprofits give a leg up where needed From career training to providing shelter to mentoring, their focus is on women and girls. By Cassandra Whelihan
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t least six nonprofits are making the valley a better place for women and girls. Equipoise, a private charitable foundation, has a mission to enrich and encourage the vision, voice and visibility of women and girls across Wyoming. Board members accomplish that by listening to women who have ideas they want to develop. With the help of Equipoise they incubate those ideas through seed funding. If an idea is viable it becomes a standalone program or part of another organization. Founder and President Mickey Babcock believes Equipoise has an important place not only in Jackson but across the state. “When I was talking to a college friend of mine who had helped start the Wyoming Women’s Foundation, I asked her who the other gender-specific funders in the state were, and she laughed and said I was talking to the other,” Babcock said. Wyoming has the second-largest gender pay gap in the U.S. — 69 cents to the dollar — ahead of only Louisiana. That gap goes against Wyoming’s state motto, “equal rights.” The difference between what women and men earn translates to lost wages and retirement benefits, but it also affects the women’s families and the communities where they live. “We want to see the current programs that we have helped launch
Jeffrey Kaphan / NEWS&GUIDE FILE
Cynthia Riedel and Carole Liebzeit of the Jackson Hole Quilt Guild make a bed in the Newton House of Hope, the Community Safety Network’s shelter. The guild sewed quilts for all the beds there.
succeed,” Babcock said. Womentum, a nine-month-long program that matches women with mentors, started with the help of Equipoise. Womentum supports women interested in furthering their careers, cultivating leadership skills and launching creative endeavors. Womentum also hosts workshops. This year the annual Women in Leadership Luncheon on Nov. 5 will
feature Alexis Owen, founder of the Young Philanthropists Foundation and director of philanthropic services with First Western Trust. Owen will also conduct an evening workshop, “From Beginner to Breadwinner: the Changing Relationship of Women and Money.” “As girls we compete against one another, and at some point we discover that we can be each other’s
best asset, ally and resource,” Womentum Program Director Caryn Flanagan said. “We can open up our vulnerabilities and get to the heart of what drives us in our careers and our personal lives.” Womentum’s No. 1 goal is to make sure the program is on solid ground and sustainable. With about 200 graduates of the mentoring program, See leg up on 21
ROCKY MOUNTAIN BANK Empowering Women to Succeed We’re proud to live in Wyoming, the first state to give women the right to vote and the first state to elect a female governor. We’re proud to live in an era when women have more influence and make more financial decisions than they ever have in history.
L to R: Gabby Corona, Andrea Burchard, Terra Miller, Cathie Burkland, Carol Ramthun, Eva Gottchalk, Cheryl Toland, Kristen Fox, Molly Dawson, Karla Tessler, Kris Lee
In keeping with this community’s remarkable tradition of empowering women, we’re proud to be in a position to help the women of Jackson Hole achieve their own personal and financial goals.
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