Smart Business Magazine, October 2017

October 2017 Smart Business Pittsburgh 19 business on a daily basis now that were a much larger organization Arnet says Connect the dots With Femisphere the WGF is a connector and coalition builder While Pittsburgh has undergone an economic renaissance single mothers with school age children arent seeing the benefits They represent 77 percent of Pittsburgh households living in poverty up from 73 percent in 2004 Arnet says the WGF is working with key community partners to improve the economic security of these moms Femisphere includes helping develop educational and workforce development programs that offer transportation and child care assistance and higher quality child care within neighborhoods where most low income moms and kids live It will survey the need for non traditional child care to serve service restaurant and retail employees who dont work 8 5 The WGF is working with more than 90 organizations to establish a state level solution to provide paid family and medical leave to all workers in Pennsylvania Femisphere also supports the Womens Law Project Were not a direct service provider and thats not our role But we do feel that theres a tremendous amount of good work to be done in helping to connect the dots and fix some systemic gaps in the system Arnet says Connecting more transportation and child care support to higher education workforce development means more single moms will take advantage of them and their poverty rates should decline Finding ways for small businesses to afford paid family and medical leave for their employees should increase job retention and make more families economically stable Gains and losses The growth is exciting but the WGF faced administrative challenges recruiting and helping new hires hit the ground running Arnet says it takes time to orient staff on the organizations mission and to develop relationships between the new and existing staff Were trying to be very thoughtful about that change management as its happening so that we invest that time upfront she says One surprise has been how the office went from feeling too large the WGF used to sublet part of its space to too small in a short time Arnet says The most useful tool shes found so far has been a book by William and Susan Bridges Managing Transitions Making the Most of Change Its been transformational for Arnet to learn that every transition good or bad involves some loss or ending Its been helpful as we go through this transition to think about what losses people might be experiencing and how do we talk through that she says We were three people now were eight There are things that the new people are doing that some of us used to do Theres relief but also moments where employees miss a task they enjoyed doing but is no longer part of their job description Understanding those moments and giving team members space to articulate them and work through them is really important Arnet says Thats been profound learning for me How to reach Women and Girls Foundation 412 434 4883 or www wgfpa org Theres a tremendous amount of good work to be done in helping to connect the dots and fix some systemic gaps in the system HEATHER ARNET CEO WOMEN AND GIRLS FOUNDATION