30 years later, question the same: Where are you at and where do you want to go?'

Headquartered in Augusta,Women, Work and Community has sites in Bangor, Bath-Brunswick,
Belfast, Calais, Ellsworth, Farmington, Houlton, Katahdin region, Lewiston-Auburn, Presque Isle,Rockland, Saco-Biddeford,Skowhegan, South Paris, South Portland, St.John Valley and Waterville, To learn more, go to www.womenworkandcommunity.org.

When Gilda Nardone started as the director for the newly created
Displaced Homemakers Program in 1978,her budget was $10,000
and that included her pay and benefits.

Thirty years later, Nardone is still in charge,
but the organization has grown to 28 people with
a budget of $1.8 million, and the name has
changed to be more in step with the times.

Women, Work and Community has 18 centers
and outreach sites throughout the state,
dedicated to improving the economic lives of
women and their families by getting them into
the workforce, back to work or earning better
wages in a more satisfying job or career.

The centers see 1,200 to 1,500 women (and a
few men) throughout the year, about half
of whom will work through program offerings
that focus on four key areas: Building Your
Career; Starting a Business, Managing your
Money and Becoming a Leader.

The classes are offered at no cost and
range from building self-confidence and
improving communication skills to a 60-hour
course in starting a business, where participants
eventually write their own business plan.
Funding for the center and its programs comes
largely from the state and federal government.
Before any classes, Nardone said, the first
step is for women to answer a question: Where
are you at and where do you want to go?

Some people know this and sometimes
people don't, Nardone said, and being able to
answer that question realistically is part of the process.

So the first question is followed by others.
If women are thinking about going back
to school, the question is whether there is a
payoff for that investment in education. If
they want to start their own business, they have
to consider whether it is financially viable.

We always encourage people to make their
own decisions, Nardone said, but the idea
is to make choices with outcomes in mind.
What brings women to the center the
loss of a job, divorce or death of a spouse
hasn't changed all that much in 30 years, but
women's options have improved.

Nardone, 60, whose mom was widowed at a
young age and went out and got a job as house
mother at the University of Maine in Presque
Isle, said her own career options were limited:
Secretary, teacher or nurse, she said.

Nardone started out as a day care teacher,
living on Cape Cod, until changes in her own
personal life brought her back to Maine.
Then she saw the advertisement for director
of the new Displaced Homemakers Program,
and the rest, as they say, is history.

Success stories Today, as the center
prepares to mark its 30th anniversary, it is
highlighting the successful and diverse
careers of some of its graduates.

A woman, who lost her job when the Hathaway
Shirt Factory closed, started her own
construction company. A stay-at-home mom,
who got divorced, is now a medical secretary.
A single-mother, who went back to
school for a degree in social work, is now an
advocate for victims of domestic abuse. A
mother of six and homemaker for 27 years now
manages a busy visitors information center.

Nardone said the women's center program
now attracting the most interest is for
people who want to start their own business,
particularly in rural areas, where there
are not a lot of good jobs.

That program area has just mushroomed,
she said, and it is the one that's drawing in
men.

Around 14 percent of the people served by
the center are men, and Nardone, who laughs
easily, joked they are well-behaved.

Making a plan The program, called
New Ventures, is the most intensive course
the center offers, and includes 60-hours of
classwork over 10 to 12 weeks.

It covers topics including understanding the
customer, competition, marketing, record keeping,
taxes, legal aspects of a small business,
financing and operations. By the end, class
members will have written their own business
plan.

The center also offers a program on building
a career, which covers everything from deciding
whether to go back to school, to finding a
dream job and keeping it. There are classes on
financial management, too, which teach women
how to manage their money, save it and build
assets and financial security.

And, finally, there's one on becoming a
leader. That program shows women how to
have a voice in their community and move
into elected office or advocacy. As women
get more stable in their lives, they're encouraged
to be an informed citizen, get registered to
vote and get involved, Nardone said.

The center hasn't created a state legislator
yet, but their women are holding elected office at
the local level and serving on non-profi t boards.