Whatever the day, the learning and connecting at the Women’s Center offers women from Twin Cities refugee communities with constant sources of Good News to celebrate. Good News was the opportunity to collaborate with the Abigail Quigley McCarthy Women’s Center and the Muslim Student Association at St. Catherine’s University to exhibit traditional Somali weavings created by our Women’s Center’s Textile Cooperative. Our weavings complimented Breaking the Veil, a powerful exhibition of art by 51 female artists from 21 Islamic countries.
(See St. Catherine’s exhibition) 		Good News is the progress being made by the 10 women in the Transition class. Many of these women have been together since 2006. In 2008, they exceeded the ESL level currently offered in Cedar Riverside, and Transition classes were created to prepare them to enter GED classes. Currently, the women are using the Child Development Associate curriculum with seven students preparing for CDA certification.
(See CDA certification)
See St. Catherine’s exhibition
Good News came when our land-lord, Sherman and Associates, offered to rent the Women’s Center approximately 1500 square feet just across the Plaza from the current Women’s Center. Because we have such a demand for childcare, the plan was to move the sewing/activity spaceinto the new space and use the old space to double our childcare capacity. Although the loss of some funding stopped us temporarily, we plan to be using the new space
by June 1.
(See Annex)
See Twice the Gift

Good News came last November and December when the Women’s Center was again invited to participate in the Twice the Gift seasonal gift shop. For three years, Twice the Gift (originally sponsored by the Pohlad Foundation) has hosted the shop carrying work from local non-profits. The sewers in the Women’s Center’s Textile Cooperative had the opportunity to generate income through the sale of their work, participate in a business venture, and connect with women from the larger community.
(See Twice the Gift)

 
See “5th Day” program
Good News is the Women’s Center’s new cross-cultural Advisory Council—six women who come from the communities we serve and six from the broader community. Together, they bring knowledge of the multiple communities the Women Center serves as well as expertise in finance, development, and health.
(See Advisory Council)
See CDA certification
Good News is happening Thursday and Friday mornings—thanks to a grant from the Carolyn Foundation—because women can now come to the Women’s Center’s “5th Day”/Living in America program two mornings a week. Thursday mornings the women are learning English by learning to sew. On Friday mornings, women learn nutrition by cooking together, discuss the challenges of parenting, study early childhood development, practice their own English, and build friendship networks.(See ”5th Day” Program)
With Good News comes some Bad. After having a three-year Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) grant, the Women’s Center was hoping to get another.It did not happen, and the Center lost approximately 45% of its funding. This meant significant cuts: with the childcare full and 60 children on the waiting list, the morning session closed; the morning Transition class also closed. We cut our sewing classes and the girls lost their homework help. Two staff members were laid off and everyone else took cuts in their hours. But with the positive outcomes of the Women’s Center’s programming, the support of partners and funders, and the energy and commitment of the women in our community, the Women’s Center is rebuilding—one day at a time.
See Annex
See Advisory Council
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