Partnership with Tailored to Hire

RootsUp is very excited to be partnering with another local nonprofit Tailored To Hire.  Wanda Alberts, the founder of Tailored to Hire will be presenting an ongoing cycle of job skills training courses to members (especially women!) of the RootsUp target community.

Tailored to Hire provides assistance and guidance for every step of the job seeking process from resume building and getting through the application process to one-on-one interview skills workshops, and clothing assistance for interviews and/or work uniforms.  They also work with businesses who are looking for employees to help find the right "fit."

Wanda has already begun to craft a program tailored specifically to the RootsUp mission for community building and empowerment. This program will teach important job seeking/retaining skills including: job resource location, networking, resume building, interview skills, workplace etiquette and budgeting.

Welcome to the team, Wanda and Tailored to Hire!  We are so glad to be working with you!

Target Community Unveiled!

After many hours sifting through and sorting demographic data, RootsUp has chosen its target community.  The area that we have chosen to launch our efforts is US Census tract number 10, which falls between Walnut St. and 15th Ave. and the Rock River and Kishwaukee Street.

This location is very diverse and ripe for community work.  This relatively small area includes many important community elements which can be tied together to support each other and grow.  The area consists of housing from low-income housing projects to upper-middle class homes. There are at least two known thriving neighborhood associations including Haight Village and The Orchid Neighborhood Association.  Large businesses such as Behr Recycling can be found in tract 10 as well as small businesses like Ricotta's Automotive.  Public service buildings can also be found in tract 10 such as the 9-1-1 building and the Winnebago County Health Department.  Tract 10 has two public parks, one public school, several churches of varied denominations, and a Boys and Girls Club.  Most importantly,the people living in tract 10 meets all of the demographic standards of need that have we have established.

RootsUp is very excited to begin working with the people of Tract 10.  Our first orders of operation will be to meet with the existing businesses, organizations, and neighborhood associations to gain insight into the existing assets and needs of the area.   More to come on this as it unfolds!

Giving to RootsUp

Many people have asked about donating to RootsUp and I am happy to announce that we are finally officially accepting and welcoming monetary contributions.

So where will your money go if you donate to RootsUp?

RootsUp is about one thing: building community through the support of women and children.  Our projects will always have those goals in view. RootsUp will be working within a specifically-defined geographical location in its community-building efforts.

So what is RootsUp going to do in its chosen area?  We have several projects simmering: community classes, services networking, early literacy services, parenting support, job skills training, especially for women, and skills workshops for young adults.

We are looking for volunteers and financial contributions to help support these important projects.  Our goal is to drastically change the face of the area we work in; recoloring its place on the map to make it a vibrant, thriving community that supports the success of its people and that is supported by the success of its people. Who wouldn't feel great about being a part of that?

Sew-In Success!

The Sew for Women Sew-In was a great success.  A lot of people came by to help or donate materials.  Amy Lawrence from IPE generously donated lots of fruit, snacks, and tea which were greatly appreciated by those who participated.  The sew-in atmosphere was very enjoyable with food, coffee, and conversation swirling alongside constant cutting, pinning, sewing, and snipping.  The several kids who came along had a great time tumbling around together around the work.  Overall it was a great time for people to meet and get to know each other over a good cause.

Those who were unable to come to the sew-in have offered their generous help in other ways, some contributing materials and others contributing time.  Altogether we need to make 15 large bags, 15 oil cloth bags, 45 liners and 135 inserts.  We are far from finished but plugging along at a very nice speed, collecting volunteers as we go along. We have even recruited some of the employees of the fabric stores we have been frequenting!

I would very much like to hold another sew-in this month to give the project one more nice hearty boost.  It's a very busy time for us and organizing another sew-in may be a scheduling nightmare but I hope to have these kits ready to send off by mid-May.  If you are interested in participating in this project we can use your help!  Please contact us at RootsUpRockford@gmail.com

Busy, Busy!

I have been busy creating working on the sanitary napkins and I look forward to our sewing party this weekend!  After a few trial runs, I have successfully created a prototype and pattern for our sanitary napkin.  The winner has been decided in a tight race between two styles. Having made one of each, I ran a wetness test last night and found that Style 1 won in leaps and bounds over Style 2 in absorbency and functionality, so-- it's a deal! We have our prototype.  Next, I need to create patterns for the other parts of the kit-- the interchangeable liners and the carrying/storage bag.  Ideally, I would like to include biodegradable soap and a few pairs of underwear in the kit as well, but that would be a call for IPE, as we are working together on this project and must agree on the cost for each kit.  However, we have been able to do this much on a shoestring.

Saturday, I will equip my household with lots of coffee, sweet rolls, muffins, and other assorted breakfast items and hold a "sew in" with open invitation.  Everyone will be able to come and help with cutting, finishing, sewing, or any other task while our kids tear the house down!  It should be a good time and for a good cause too.  Cheers!

International Partners for Education

Meet IPE, International Partners for Education.  IPE is a locally-organized nonprofit that supports AIDS orphans in Malawi while they attend secondary school, paying their tuition, cost of supplies, uniforms, and other basical essentials so that they can attend school.  Their mission is simple:


IPE’s primary mission is supporting the secondary education of girls in St. James Presbyterian Church of Blantyre, Malawi who have been orphaned (lost one or both parents) by HIV/AIDS and support them as they matriculate. 

In addition, IPE offers support to the Women’s group at St. James Presbyterian Church for emergency health and food needs of families with orphaned children and group’s administrative costs related to grant goals. 

Sometimes girls in secondary school might have needs you and I wouldn't think of.  Sometimes the most basic of necessities simply are not available to these young women.  One evening, while we were talking, a board member of IPE remarked that what the girls that they are supporting really need are washable cloth sanitary napkins so they don't have to miss school during their menstruation.  That might sound preposterous to some of us, who can simply run to the store and pick up any number of convenient, cheap, disposable--even fragranced! essentials to minimize or eliminate any incovnenience that our body's cycle may cause.  But what would we do with those sleek and fancy things if there were no waste or sewage management to deal with the garbage they create? I doubt we would use them at all; very soon they would become useless and we would find ourselves again fettered by our functions-- afraid of the embarassment of leaks and unable to spend eight hours a day at work or at school in a row.  Such is the situation of many of the girls that IPE supports, for whom missing important school days while menstruating is a sad fact of life.  

That's where RootsUp comes in.  Since we backlogged in homework: combing through demographics, making contacts, organizing action plans, and working to create partnerships and raise funds RootsUp decided to take on a more hand-on project to give our members and our group something to chew on for a while.  We have offered to hand-make cloth washable sanitary napkin kits (complete with carrying bags and changable inserts) for up to 15 of IPE's female students.  This project, challenging as it may be, has offered RootsUp a welcome break from the books and a great opportunity to get our hands busy doing something good for women.  

Half the Sky

Back in December RootsUp got involved with the Half the Sky Initiative at Rockford College.  We hosted several book discussions around the book Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn and helped promote events linked to the Half the Sky Initiative.  We met a lot of great people in the process-- people from all kinds of backgrounds and perspectives who are making a difference in this community and in communities around the world.

The Half the Sky Initiative culminated in a day-long visit to Rockford College by Sheryl WuDunn.  I was fortunate enough to attend a Q&A session with her in the afternoon.  Topics covered in the discussion delved deeper into subjects that were discussed in the book and many questions that I had gnawing on my brain after reading Half the Sky were answered or explained.  The only question I wanted to ask but didn't was how Sheryl and her husband have found balance between their very successful careers and their families.  It didn't exactly fit in the conversation, but I'd love to know nonetheless! 

Later in the evening was the patron reception with Sheryl which Rachel, Zoe, and I were graciously invited to attend by Jim and Pam Keeling.  Again, we got to meet and talk to some very interesting people who have dedicated their lives to bettering their communities. 

Finally, Sheryl WuDunn gave a public lecture which basically encapsulated the themes of Half the Sky, ending with the idea that we have all "won the lottery of life," by finding ourselves in a peaceful, bountiful, and comfortable position in life so we have a responsibility to watch over and care for those who have not been so lucky.  

Half the Sky was a great experience for RootsUp-- it really propelled us forward in our pursuits, connected us with a network of people who will be great resources for our work, and gave us something meaningful to work on while we worked on the background organizational structure of RootsUp.  We excitedly look forward to what will happen next for Half the Sky as the Keelings hope to bring the message of the book right here to Rockford by organizing networking opportunities for local nonprofits and other events that will strengthen charitable, community building, and women's issues work here in Rockford.