History

Vermont Works for Women was founded in 1987 as Northern New England Tradeswomen (NNETW) to help women enter, advance, and remain in the skilled trades.   Today, through an array of innovative training and education programs, VWW assists women and girls in thinking about their lives in the broadest terms and helps them develop skills and capacities that are critical to long-term economic independence.

In 2000, with programming expanded to include the Women Can Do conference and Rosie’s Girls as well as a program in information technology (Step IT Up), our mission was expanded to “train, educate, support, and advocate for women and girls exploring and pursuing opportunities in trades and technical fields.”

Our mission statement was revised again in 2005 by replacing “trades and technical” with “nontraditional” to allow us to broaden our scope further to include programs like Step Up to Law Enforcement:  NNETW helps women and girls explore, pursue, and excel in nontraditional careers that pay a livable wage.

NNETW became Vermont Works for Women in 2007 – with a revised mission statement reflecting our new name:  Vermont Works for Women helps women and girls explore, pursue, and excel in nontraditional careers that pay a livable wage.

In 2009 the current mission statement was adopted:  VWW helps women and girls recognize their potential and explore, pursue, and excel in work that leads to economic independence.”

In July 2011, Girls Move Mountains joined with Vermont Works for Women, expanding our girls’ programming to include Dirt Divas and Rock and Adventure.  Girls Move Mountains also brought their back country skiing clinic to our programs as well.

We are proud of our extensive record of accomplishment working with women, young adults, educators, and employers in developing, implementing, and growing inventive, results-oriented programs; and we are honored to be viewed in the community and among our peers as a leader in program development and advocacy.  Our program curricula have been sold and replicated nationally to organizations and state agencies interested in boosting the profile and appeal of nontraditional careers for women and girls.

The National Association of Mayors, the City of Burlington, the Vermont Governor’s Commission on Women, the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, The Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce and the John Merck Fund have all honored VWW for the quality of its work.