MARCH 2011

Welcome to the first Women’s Leadership Council enewsletter where we will report our activities to you quarterly.

The Beginning of WLC
The United Way of Greater Cleveland Women’s Leadership Council (WLC) started with an idea that when Greater Cleveland women share their knowledge, power and energy, the result will positively impact our community. About 18 months ago, to activate this idea, then United Way Board Chair Sandy Pianalto, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President and CEO, and United Way Board Member Beth Mooney, KeyCorp President and COO, hosted two events to learn what concerns Greater Cleveland women have and what they want to do to address them.

The participants, more than 80 at each event, said their interest is in educating women and girls, empowering young women to improve their self-esteem, teaching leadership skills and influence making good life choices. The participants also asked for something that was measurable and impactful. With this direction and purpose, the WLC was born.

WLC Now
Today, because of the strength of Greater Cleveland’s women, the WLC has more than 600 women who are interested in this work. WLC Chair Beth Mooney was joined by Co-Chairs Eliza Wing, Sideways President and COO, and Sarah Melamed, Melamed Riley Advertising President. The Membership, Volunteer and Program committees have begun working to make Greater Cleveland even greater. To learn more about what we are doing read on…

WLC members make volunteering priority one. In the first six months WLC volunteers have:

• Participated in four SPARK (Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids) group lessons. During the group lessons, preschoolers and their parents are coached together to help the kids become kindergarten ready. WLC members also donated educational toys, served meals, and made gifts bags for each of the participating families. See photos here.
• Conducted mock interviews with Transitional Housing clients to help them prepare for job interviews. See photos here.

Read what some WLC members had to say about volunteering.

The WLC is committed to United Way of Greater Cleveland and its health and human service work. Through the support of thousands of donors, United Way funds 202 health and human service programs that help more than 450,000 Greater Cleveland residents every year. As WLC members, our philanthropic support to our mission begins with our annual United Way contributions, through workplace campaigns or individual gifts. Additionally, the WLC plans to host several networking and special events throughout the year to raise funds for United Way.

The Power of Purse Strings was the first WLC fundraising event, done in partnership with PNC Bank and Saks Fifth Avenue. It was a purse auction held last November that raised over $4,500 for United Way and earned some very high reviews from attendees. The opportunity to bid on beautiful designer purses, generously donated by PNC, and help our community was priceless!

We welcome new members. So please forward this newsletter to women you know who are passionate about Greater Cleveland and want to make a difference. Go here to join us. Also, visit us online to learn more about us. Your commitment can be as little or as much as you would like. Watch for volunteer opportunities, mentoring programs and our special events in upcoming newsletters.