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2010 Soroptimist Ruby Award For Women Helping Women Recipient:
Lisa Culp
Watch a short video where Lisa talks about her work.
From a very young age, Lisa Culp wanted to make a difference. As a teenager, she volunteered with Loaves and Fishes, helping feed Sacramento’s homeless population by delivering sandwiches. After college and living in Nicaragua for 10 years, she returned to Sacramento to work as an employee with Loaves and Fishes. But she noticed a change—the face of the homeless population was including more and more women and children.
Lisa watched homeless mothers raising their children on the streets and watched these children grow up, still homeless, to become mothers of new babies born into homelessness. Lisa knew there must be a solution to ending this cycle of poverty.
Working with focus groups at Loaves and Fishes, she listened to women share their stories and needs. Mostly these women said they needed assistance in the areas of training, housing, counseling, vocational guidance and avoiding domestic violence. In 2001, Lisa worked with community leaders to create Women’s Empowerment, an immediately successful solution to ending the cycle of poverty.
The multi-faceted program educates and empowers homeless women with the skills and confidence necessary to get a job, maintain a healthy lifestyle, and regain a home for themselves and their children. Services include counseling, resume writing, interview skills, daycare, parenting classes, transportation and housing.
In 2004, Women’s Empowerment became an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Since the program’s inception, more than 600 homeless women and their 658 children have graduated from the region’s only job-readiness program. Women’s Empowerment also has seen 84 percent of its graduates get into permanent housing and, despite the economic downturn, counts 66 percent of its graduates as financially stable.
Lisa’s most recent venture is partnering Women’s Empowerment with a physician who has opened her practice with a membership program that helps individuals and families struggling with the high cost of health insurance.
The ultimate mission of Women’s Empowerment is to end homelessness one woman at a time. “If you save a woman, you save a family,” Lisa says. “In my experience, it is this transformative power, of Women Helping Women, that is at the heart and soul of both Women’s Empowerment and Soroptimist.”
Receiving her award at the Soroptimist 41st Biennial Convention in San Francisco, Lisa said, “I want to thank all Soroptimists for believing in the potential of dreams and in the collective power of women to transform dreams into realities.” |
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