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VWW's office remains closed as staff primarily work remotely. Please contact us in advance if you need to visit our Winooski office; our team is available via phone or email.

Vermont Works for Women (VWW) supports women, girls, and gender-expansive individuals in Vermont to explore, pursue, and excel in careers that meet their needs and wants. Our programs, from middle school through adulthood, provide participants with new skills and confidence.

Our Adult Programs focus on:

  • Supporting individuals at various stages of their career journeys through coaching, mentorship, and networking
  • Encouraging career exploration and technical skill growth in the trades and STEM fields
  • Breaking down harmful gender stereotypes to help people reach their goals
  • Connecting individuals with trades employers and creating safe spaces for women and gender-expansive individuals in nontraditional careers

We are committed to connecting participants to experiences that will put them on a path to economic independence. Through Employment and Career Services, Trailblazers, and programs for women with a history or current involvement with the justice system, we help hundreds of women each year to find employment with supportive local employers.

Trailblazers participants rewire electrical cords
Paige works with participants at an event to help them craft elevator pitches
Trailblazers instructor shows a participant how to use a speed square
VWW employee meets with participant to work on computer skills
Trailblazers participant uses a table saw to cut wood
Trailblazers participants rewire electrical cords
Paige works with participants at an event to help them craft elevator pitches
Trailblazers instructor shows a participant how to use a speed square
VWW employee meets with participant to work on computer skills
Trailblazers participant uses a table saw to cut wood

Adult Programs

  • ADULT

EMPLOYMENT & CAREER SERVICES

Our Employment and Career Services help women to gain employability skills that can lead to meaningful work and economic stability. Our work is targeted to serve women in transition: women with substantial barriers to employment such as generational poverty, histories of substance use disorder or incarceration; women transitioning between career fields; and women advancing in their careers. Services include: free 1-on-1 career coaching. virtual workshops, a volunteer career mentor network, and access to Build Your Skills our self-paced online curriculum and resource center. Explore our resources to help advance in your career journey.

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Vermont Works for Women's Employment and Career Services Manager sits down at a table with a participant.
  • ADULT

CAREER MENTOR NETWORK

Our Career Mentor Network follows the motto “lift as we climb.” Through our network, women and gender-expansive individuals ages 16 and up can access free mentorship from any one of our 100+ volunteer mentors who are experienced, working professionals in Vermont. Mentors offer insights into a variety of roles and career fields, support with writing resumes/cover letters and practicing for a job interview, and advice on how to achieve one’s career goals. Our mentor network is free and flexible to meet your needs. Sign up today!

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Young woman rests her head on clasped hands while she looks at a computer screen. All Vermont women can participate in VWW's Career Mentor Network.
  • ADULT

TRAILBLAZERS

Vermont Works for Women’s roots are in training women to enter careers in the skilled trades. We continue to offer trades training to this day through our Trailblazers program. Offered in several communities around Vermont each year, Trailblazers trains women and gender-expansive individuals ages 18+ in construction skills. Over seven weeks, participants earn certificates in OSHA-10 and get hands-on experience through field trips, community build projects, and a paid onsite work experience with a local employer. Find out where and when we will be offering Trailblazers next!

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A Trailblazers participant uses a saw during the trades training program in Rutland.
  • ADULT

JUSTICE-INVOLVED SERVICES

As a contracted service provider for the Vermont Department of Corrections since 2001, our staff works with justice-involved women to develop personal and job skills during their time at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility. Our prison-based programming includes career coaching, helping participants to make a transition plan, accessing job training programs, group workshops, and empowering our participants. We focus on meeting the specific needs and goals of each participant to support their successful re-entry into the community. After the women are released, we continue to offer employment and transition support to aid in their community reintegration.

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Vermont legislator Kesha Ram speaks to a group of incarcerated women at Enrichment Night in the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility. Enrichment Night is one of the services VWW offers to justice-involved women.