Profile: Work Options for Women - Community Profile

In 1996, when welfare reform legislation was signed into law, mandating that welfare recipients acquire employment within 24 months or face being cut off from all assistance, the founder of Work Options for Women (WOW), Toni Schmid, recognized the effect it would have on women. From her 14 years of experience working with low-income women, Ms. Schmid knew that in order for them to find meaningful employment that pays a livable wage, many would need substantial training and support. Inspired to create a unique service-learning project to fulfill this need, she partnered with Jane Berryman, a professional chef who had worked in some of Denver’s best known restaurants. Together, they created a multi-faceted job-training and social services program to enable women to permanently leave the welfare rolls. Because the food service industry offers hard-working individuals without significant formal education an opportunity to progress up a career path and earn sustainable wages, it made sense to create this program to reach out to impoverished women and help to break the poverty cycle for generations to come.

Using office space and a commercial kitchen donated by the Archdiocese of Denver, Work Options for Women was born in 1997, with the mission to help low-income women gain the skills and confidence they need to work their way out of the cycle of poverty and into self-sufficiency.

Each year, WOW aims to help at least 30 women achieve freedom from welfare. Based on its success, WOW was offered a concessionaire contract with the city of Denver. In August 1999 the organization began operating the employee cafeteria at the Richard T. Castro Human Services Center and serves more than 300 customers daily, a tenfold increase over its operations at the Archdiocese. For more information please visit: www.workoptions.org