Posted on Wed, Dec. 05, 2007

A kick-start
Star-Telegram Editorial

It's not easy to change peoples' lives in a significantly beneficial way, but a Tarrant County College program called Women in New Roles has been doing just that for 30 years.

More than 4,000 women have gone through the nontraditional program, designed to help women who have not been working outside the home to return to college and then to the workplace. The program, which this semester celebrated its 30th anniversary, is an exercise in highly practical sociology and applied psychology.

The program is available at the Northeast Campus, Southeast Campus and South Campus.

Those who sign up for the course include widows, divorcees and single moms trying to develop marketable skills. Sometimes they're empty-nesters who want to add a new dimension to their lives. They just need a little kick-start mix of how-to knowledge, self-testing, career placement and peer support. The program supplies all of that.

And it's working.

Graduates have gone on to become business managers and owners, managers, nurses or other medical professionals, accountants, marketing professionals and teachers. Many -- typically with an energized confidence in themselves -- opt for any number of vocational certification programs that the system offers.

The program, initiated in 1977 and launched the next year, enrolls students in two specialized psychology classes simultaneously to help students find direction, confirm a career choice, give confidence and develop communication and leadership skills. The youngest student thus far has been 17, the oldest 82.

It's been a good 30 years' work for the Women in New Roles program, which for the most part has flown under the public radar. The program is an excellent example of how valuable a tuned-in community college system can be in filling a niche need in vocational enhancement.

http://www.star-telegram.com/225/story/342382.html