Natasha "Tasha" Robia, Power Up! program graduate (Submitted)
The Saint John Women’s Empowerment Network (SJWEN) will virtually launch Power Up! Saint John, a free 10-week leadership empowerment and training program to help women move forward in their lives next week.
“Power Up! is our signature program here at the Women’s Empowerment Network,” said Executive Director Sharon Amirault. “It focuses on everything from working in a group, connecting with others, connecting with your community, getting to know your community and building skills for the next steps in your life.”
Amirault explained one of the best ways to combat and move people out of poverty is to help them find meaningful and gainful employment. Power Up! does this through helping participants figure out they want to do next with their lives, along with teaching the insight, skills and knowledge to accomplish their goals.
The program will be held virtually three days a week across ten weeks, beginning Monday January 11. Examples of topics covered and taught include group work, communication styles, personality types and creating healthy relationships and boundaries.
“Part of the program is what we call ‘Neighborhood Days,’ where the group gets divided into smaller groups and they go out into the community and they learn about their community, what is in their community, what opportunities are there,” she said. “If at the end of the program they’re not quite ready to take the next steps, at least they’re very familiar with what’s going on in their community and where they can go for help.”
It is especially important for women in particular to cultivate leadership skills because they have more barriers to employment, such as childcare and other responsibilities women often shoulder.
“The long-term goal for anyone who is able to return to the workforce,” said Amirault, adding some people need the time given by the program to feel confident to decide their next steps. “They’re finding out what their skill sets are, exploring what they love to do in life, and how they can find a career that would be enjoyable for them.”
Many of PowerUp!’s participants stay in touch with SJWEN and return as coaches to meet with the program’s teams and work one-on-one with them to work out their goals and how they will meet them.
Tasha Robia, who graduated from the PowerUp! program In June 2019, returned to school and is in the Administrative Professional: Executive program at NBCC with a 3.0 GPA.
“I find that one of the main things that a lot of women don’t have is confidence,” said Robia. “They’ve been told they can’t do it or, ‘Oh you’ll never achieve anything, you’re a single mom, you’ve got kids, you’re going to stay on welfare for the rest of your life – it’s not true, and I’m living proof of that it’s not true.”
