It seemed perfectly fitting that Grammy-winning American folk singer-songwriter Judy Collins served as one of the presenters at last week's Women's Forum of New York's (WFNY) annual Elly Awards luncheon. Responsible for the 1969 chart-topping hit, Both Sides Now, her song perfectly epitomizes the lives of the WFNY's Education Fund recipients - women who are now embarking a second shot at life, after having survived years of adversity and oppression.
How are they doing it? Through education. Education has long been known as one of the most critical areas of empowerment for women, according to UNICEF, enabling them to make genuine choices over the kinds of lives they wish to lead. But it's bigger than that, much bigger.. According to the international organization World Education, when women and girls are denied opportunities for education, family income decreases, health reduces, women and girls are put at risk of trafficking and exploitation, and the economic advancement of entire countries is limited.
Linda Willett, the new President of the WFNY's Education Fund, couldn't agree more. Recognizing that the education grants the Fund provides not only benefit these individual women, but also their families, Willett says, "When women get jobs, they are able to hold their families together. Their value to society is necessary because they help our communities stay whole."
Originally founded in 1974 by Elinor Guggenheimer, the Women's Forum was launched as women's answer to the 'old boy's network.' As its non-profit and educational arm, the Education Fund provides education grants to mature women (over 35) who have heroically overcome such extreme adversity as domestic violence, substance abuse, prison and flight from war-torn countries. "Our mission is to help these women return to college by providing them with the support they need," adds Ami Kaplan, President of the Women's Forum of New York.
And its success has been stellar. Over the past 28 years, the Education Fund has awarded close to one million dollars to over 170 women. Virtually all have earned college degrees, and many have gone on to attain master degrees in everything from medicine and education, to social work and the law. "Our first recipient, a single mother of two young daughters, said she was inspired not only by the monetary award, but more by the recognition from our group of successful women who encouraged her to go back to school," Willett says. "Today, she has her Ph.D. and is the Vice-President and Provost of Farmingdale University. She also sent her two daughters to Smith College, and they both are now successful lawyers."
Then there are the fifteen 2014 grantees, including Carolina Rodriguez, a former high-school dropout and runaway at age 16. Although abuse, divorce and loss of custody of her son followed, she still seized the opportunity to return to school full-time and follow her dreams. With the help of the Education Fund, she is currently maintaining a 3.8 GPA at Hunter College while planning to pursue a doctorate degree in preparation for an academic career. Kathleen Daniel, the youngest of eleven children who grew up in a little village in Trinidad, was told at a very early age that she was not academically inclined, so she became a seamstress. Seeking a better life, she fled to the U.S., and is now attending the City College of New York as the Women's Forum's 2014 DeLoitte Fellow.
But the Education Fund doesn't stop there. Many of the Forum's members have also become mentors to the awardees after graduation, helping them gain positions in fields of their choice. "This adds another dimension to their lives, knowing that our support of their futures doesn't end once they graduate," says Willett.
So, to borrow another lyric from the same Judy Collins song, 'something's lost, but something's gained in living every day,' these women, with the support of the Education Fund, are living an entirely new side of life where no 'clouds get in the way.'
Lori Sokol, Ph.D., is an educational psychologist and founder of Difference Matters magazine.