Making Connections: Innovative Changes
One of the magical moments of working at a non-profit is when you make a meaningful, useful, and unexpected connection. When this synthesis happens between two non-profits, it feels like community happening, the way it is meant to be.
For the second consecutive year, OTI connected with Innovative Changes for the Tradeswomen Leadership Institute. Although, I should pause to clarify, we actually work with them pretty often. On the surface, our missions seem disconnected but we send our students to them for financial planning education when entering the trades.
Innovative Changes assists low-income people build their long-term financial health. OTI is dedicated to promoting success for women in the trades through education, leadership, and mentorship. OTI also serves many low-income women for whom a career in the trades is a pathway out of poverty. Plus, as many of you who work in the trades know, there is a huge transition to make financially when you begin to work in this industry. It is hard to resist a spending splurge when money first starts coming in but it is also difficult to be prepared in the event of a layoff! Innovative Changes help tradeswomen enter and then stay in the trades when they work directly with our students and graduates and also when they present at the Tradeswomen Leadership Institute.
We were so grateful to have their volunteer, Landra Glover return on Saturday, September 26 to talk to attendees about financial planning. Last year, she was so well received that the planning committee was thrilled to have her return. OTI hopes that we can continue to grow and develop this relationship into the future.
As you may know, the Women’s Foundation of Oregon also believes in the work of both of our organizations: OTI and Innovative changes were the two winners of their 2015 Legacy Award. Thank you to WFO for supporting both of our organizations so that we can each have those magical moments of connection and furthering our missions.
– Tiffany Thompson, Advocacy Program Manager