Our Mission
WHW, formerly known as Women Helping Women, is a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization with the mission of providing the unemployed and the underemployed the skills and resources they need to get and keep a good job. Since 1993, WHW has provided Employment Readiness Services to job seekers at no charge. Many of these job seekers were referred by over 80 partner agencies within the community. Each year hundreds of job seekers participate in programs focused on equipping each of them to be the most marketable candidate for the job they seek.
Our Vision
WHW envisions a day when every person in Orange County who wants to work enjoys gainful employment!
The Problem
According to recent studies, the four biggest issues facing Orange County are:
- Stable Housing – 26,000 Orange County school-age children are homeless or housing-insecure.
- Sustainable Income – Nearly 300,000 Orange County residents don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
- Healthcare – 98,000 Orange County residents have no healthcare.
- Education – 2,145 Orange County students drop out of school every year.
WHW’s Solution
A good job is more than a paycheck. It is essential to creating a stable, safe and educated community. And for many, it is a lifeline.
With a good job families can afford safe housing; they can have access to quality healthcare; they can provide healthy meals to their children and teens can stay in school to get a good education, rather than dropping out and going to work to help support their families. A good job is not the solution to every problem in our society, but a good job is the solution to many of them. And WHW is proud to be part of that solution.
Our job seekers come from a wide variety of backgrounds, including survivors of domestic violence who are trying to put their lives back together; veterans attempting to transition into civilian life; at-risk youth looking for jobs as a way off the streets… and your neighbors, your brother or your aunt or your child who may be facing unemployment for the very first time.
Rather than offering a pre-designed schedule of services, WHW’s staff and volunteers provide comprehensive, tailored employment solutions to job seekers, walking the journey with them and ensuring that each one gets what they need to be successful in obtaining employment. Programs include Employment Readiness Workshops, Computer Training, Job Placement Assistance, Employment Retention Support and Professional Apparel.
The return on the investment of those who partner with us is impactful. With over 2,000 volunteers who contribute more than 25,000 hours of service every year and 100% of every dollar donated going directly to making an impact, more than 80% of our job seekers obtain a good job within three months , which increases their average household income by over 318%.
