Louise Moss, Executive Director and co-founder of Women's Mentoring Network has helped countless women. Women who have been used, abused and neglected, women who society has written off learn to manage their lives, acquire an education, mainstream to professional careers and secure a future for themselves and their families.

Employed as a case manager at the local welfare office, she worked daily with women who had inadequate educations and no marketable skills and she recognized how trapped they were. With no non-profit experience and nothing but a gut instinct, she worked with a friend to design a structured program that would promote financial independence and economic empowerment for disadvantaged women. That was the beginning of Women's Mentoring Network, the first program in Connecticut and one of the first four national programs to use mentoring as a means to improve the lives of disadvantaged women.

Despite the fact that her friend moved away shortly after the project started and the funding organization failed to meet their obligation for the project's second year of operation, she was determined to carry on.

Louise's efforts proved worthwhile. WMN was nationally recognized as a Presidential Point of Light; identified as "one of America's best grass roots programs in the battle against hunger and poverty" by Reinvesting In America; cited for its "commitment to the empowerment of women and families" by Steve and Sharon Fiffer in 50 Ways to Help Your Community; and featured as a model for replication in What Works: Effective Programs for Children and Families, United Way of America. Louise is a recipient of the Stamford Women in Management Recognition Award for "exemplary leadership offering unique and beneficial services to women in poverty". 2011 marks the agency's 21st birthday!

Founded in 1990, Women's Mentoring Network (WMN) is a grassroots organization serving Lower Fairfield County to promote sustainable economic security for disadvantaged women and their families. Today the agency provides employment and education services to approximately 275 women and their families annually.

Louise's passion is helping women meet their full potential despite the odds and pay the benefits forward to their children and others.

The CT Women's Alliance Inc. looks forward to honoring Louise at the 2011 CT Women's Conference, Thursday, March 24th at the Hartford Farmington Marriott!

By HWO Staff

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