by Pam Henshall, Executive Director
Women In Transition (WIT) is bustling with activity wrapping up FY2023 and setting the stage for FY2024.
The last twelve transitional months have allowed the WIT team to take a step back to evaluate operations and transition new staff into impactful counseling roles. WIT's Program Director, Irene Brantley, led the talented team and assumed the role of Interim Executive Director while always maintaining high-quality program standards for our clients. Irene's leadership kept the processes moving and the WIT family together, allowing the active Board of Directors led by Melissa Landsmann to search for a new Executive Director. That's where I come in.
When I started in March, I was immediately registered for a 45-hour Domestic Violence (DV) training to prepare me for my role. What I wasn't prepared for was learning of the critical need for supportive organizations like WIT to support a crisis on the rise. I wasn't ready to read the domestic violence statistics shared in the training and the various communities it impacts. I quickly realized we were not going out of business anytime soon, and DV had no boundaries. I needed to figure out how to step up the outreach and change the often-spoken phrase, "WIT is the best kept secret," to the understanding that WIT is an organization for supporting all who are challenged with domestic violence.
That leads to exciting changes for the new fiscal year.
We are launching new community education programs, marketing communications, and programming and fundraising events to reach more communities and support survivors.
We are increasing the monthly email and social media activity to offer more information content to educate and share with the WIT community. In addition to the robust monthly newsletter, the Community and Education Department will publish valuable workshop opportunities, information, and resources. The LifeLine team will share interesting stories and in-depth insight into survivors' challenges. Lastly, we will share client success stories, spotlights, and WIT updates for you, our supporters.
We have much exciting work ahead of us, and the team s energized. However, I have one request. We need you to help us switch "The Best Kept Secret" to "One of the Best-Known Organizations." We hope you will share our emails and posts and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and soon Tik Tok!
"I'm a girl who loves to share information, especially empowering, life-changing information."
~Marilu Henner