By Sharla Wasylyshen

This is my vision for BPW Winnipeg Central- what I believe our goals as an organization can strive to be, locally in our community, and beyond.

The executive of BPW Winnipeg Central has set out three goals to work on this 2009-2010 year.

1. Women in Politics –Although BPW is a non partisan organization, we believe in supporting women in politics.  This support can be in the form of assisting or encouraging all women who would like to get more involved in politics, no matter which party they choose to join. We want to  encourage women to help & support women seeking office..  This help may be in the form of delivering flyers, making phone calls or just talking to their friends and families.  We also want to encourage woman to become more politically aware of what is going on in not only their community but in their country as well. This includes knowing there is an election, finding out who is running in their local riding & learning about each party’s platform, where each party stands on current issues which affect each and every women.  We want to assist our members in developing questions to ask their candidates & help them get the courage to ask those candidates the tough questions. Finally, we want to encourage woman to understand the value of actually voting. Every vote really does count.
   
   
2. Individual’s Involvement - BPW Winnipeg Central would like to focus on encouraging women to get involved.  Involvement may include joining organizations which they are passionate about, volunterring or even going back to school. We need to support and guide women through their transition to reaching their goals which may require us to provide stepping stones on their journey from school into the workplace, involvement in the community or wherever their dreams may take them.  Many young women graduate and then struggle to find their proper spot in the community/workplace because society did not provide them with the proper tools to reach their true goal. On the other hand, many women are forced to return back to the workforce after being gone for many years.  These women also require a set of tools to assist in their transition back into the workforce.
   
   
3. Empowerment for Women - BPW Winnipeg Central would like to help women feel that they really can make a difference & that their opinion really does count.  These women may need help getting out of an abusive situation, help in going back to school, or help in getting a promotion.  Helping to empower women can be done through self improvement, self awareness, support & inspirational stories of and from women whose own empowerment overcame and conquered their own personal situation.  We at BPW, want to encourage women to take the first step towards empowerment, which is knowing what they want & where they want to be.  Once this is done, we want them to find the courage to talk to someone who may be able to assist them in getting what they want & where they want to be.  As women become empowered, they tend to spread the feeling and empowering the women around them. This feeling of empowerment can cause a chain reaction to eventually spread those feelings of empowerment to all women.  Become empowered and get linked in this awesome chain.

We, BPW Winnipeg Central, are Women Working for Working Women.