Happy Thanksgiving Great Lakes Bay Region - we're feeling incredibly thankful to everyone who supports our organization, our sponsors and donors...thank you!

We're also feeling extra thankful because on Monday, we celebrated the graduation for our 2021 Class of Getting Ahead. We ...cannot put into words how proud we are of each of these women for completing the program and choosing to show up for themselves everyday through out it!

Getting Ahead is an 11-week workshop which meets twice a week to offer comprehensive support for participants as they study the patterns of economic class, debt-to-income ratio, financial resources, hidden rules, language, family structures, the impact of trauma, social capital, emotional resources and more to build overall stability in life.

We meet women where they are and support them in creating their future stories through making peace with the past, identifying where they want to go and creating a clear plan with action steps to move forward. All participants leave the class with personal economic action plans for success and are eligible to apply for funding to support education, employment or entrepreneurship. Graduates are invited to continue the journey with our Staying Ahead program, which provides long term follow up support to build resources, increase stability and work through challenges along the way.

We’ve been reminiscing all weekend on how wonderful the Annual Empowerment Symposium was this year.

We truly cannot thank everyone who attended enough. The energy in the room was uplifting, hopeful and (appropriately) empowering.

Thank you again to our speakers - Rae Chesny, ...Alexa Hallberg, Arielle Roth, Jenny Geno and the Midland Area Youth Action Council for your wonderful topics and sessions.

And again to our sponsors - Hemlock Semiconductor, Nexteer Automotive, Saginaw Valley State University, Duperon Corporation, 1st State Bank and Consumers Energy.

Last night felt incredible to back at the Empowerment Symposium to say the least.

Thank you again to our sponsors, our wonderful speakers and to every person who attended. We are so thankful for all of you.

Stay tuned for details for 2022 and pictures from the evening coming soon!

It's the big day, we can't wait to see everyone tonight from 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM for the YWCA GLBR Annual Empowerment Symposium at Saginaw Valley State University. If you were hoping to attend and didn't have a chance to get a ticket, we will have a limited amount available by cash, ...check or venmo at the door!

We'd like to give a huge shoutout to our main sponsor Hemlock Semiconductor. As well as our other program sponsors Nexteer Automotive, Saginaw Valley State University, Duperon Corporation, 1st State Bank and Consumers Energy for making tonight's event possible.

And our speakers for this evening Rae Chesny, Arielle Roth, Alexa Hallberg, Midland Area Youth Action Council and Jenny Geno!

We can't believe it's only two days away from the YWCA GLBR Annual Empowerment Symposium! The world of STEM and trades is changing and that's why we're so excited that Saginaw Intermediate School District's Director of Career and Technical Education, Jenny Geno, is one of ...our breakout speakers.

Jenny will be speaking on "Women Leading the Way in the Trades." In this session participants will learn about workforce development through state approved CTE programs in Saginaw County. New program expansion and recruitment efforts will be discussed. Sarah Campbell, 2020 Heritage High School graduate, will share her unique journey, inspiring women to follow their dreams.

If you haven't gotten your ticket yet, there's still some spots open: https://bit.ly/30yD9Vt

Help is here! Almost every family is eligible
for payments to support the cost of raising kids, even if you
don’t normally file taxes or have income. You could receive up
to $3,600 per child and this money is not a loan.

Learn more about how we can help you: ...https://bit.ly/3F7kLBJ