BPW Foundation and NCWIT Help Women Veterans and Military Spouses Access Careers in Information Technology

WASHINGTON – Today, Business and Professional Women’s (BPW) Foundation and the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) announced a partnership to bring IT career opportunities and resources to women veterans and military spouses.  The partnership is part of the BPW’s Joining Forces Mentoring Plus® — a program dedicated to helping women veterans, military/veteran spouses and caregivers of wounded warriors connect with working women mentors and subject matter experts (SMEs) to receive support, guidance, career development, and to ultimately obtain meaningful employment.

“Many women veterans leave the military with a wealth of technical training and experience, but they don’t know how to translate those skills into meaningful careers,” said Leslie Wilkins , member of the BPW Foundation Board of Trustees and Founder and Director, MEDB’s Women in Technology Project.  “Having easy access to NCWIT’s library of information technology, career resources and network of organizations will help these skilled women, who unselfishly served our country, leverage their skills and tap into careers in IT. NCWIT’s work can also support the talented pool of unemployed and underemployed military spouses, and bridge the gap (often due to multiple moves) to a successful, mobile career in IT.”

“We look forward to working with BPW’s Joining Forces Mentoring Plus® to connect this pool of talented women with NCWIT’s mentoring and career advancement resources , as well as NCWIT’s membership network,” said Ruthe Farmer, Director of Strategic Initiatives at NCWIT. “With 1.4 million computing-related jobs on the horizon by 2020, women veterans have both the technical skills and the leadership experience needed to help fill these positions.”

BPW Foundation CEO Deborah L. Frett and Ruthe Farmer introduced this new partnership and highlighted these resources and opportunities at the Colorado Women Veterans Conference in Denver on Saturday, September 14, 2013.  Women veterans in attendance responded favorably to the announcement, and several have already signed up to take advantage of the free professional coaching and resources available to them through Joining Forces Mentoring Plus®.

Joining Forces Mentoring Plus® is a FREE, “High-Tech High-Touch national mentoring program using both one-on-one contact and a sophisticated on-line platform of resources for women veterans and military and veteran spouses. Joining Forces Mentoring Plus™ is based on a career development model that can be used by women of all ranks, eras, and skill levels. Mentorships and resources extend beyond job attainment to support job retention and career advancement.

The underlying principle of Joining Forces Mentoring Plus®  is “working women helping women work®”, whereby working women share their experience and expertise to help veterans navigate and succeed in their personal development plan — identifying career interests and goals, exploring industry opportunities, translating military experiences and training into civilian work skills, advancing education, networking, preparing quality resumes and job search strategies, and addressing those life challenges that get in the way of career access and success.

To learn more about BPW’s Joining Forces Mentoring Plus® or to sign up to take part in the program, please visit: www.joiningforcesmentoringplus.org

Business and Professional Women’s Foundation supports workforce development programs and workplace policies that recognize the diverse needs of working women, their families, communities and businesses. BPW Foundation is a 501(c)(3) research and education organization. To learn more, visit www.bpwfoundation.org. To join Joining Forces for Women Veterans and Military Spouses Mentoring Plus® as either a mentor, subject matter expert or mentee sign up on the Joining Forces Mentoring Plus® webpage.

About NCWIT 

The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is a non-profit community of more than 450 universities, companies, non-profits, and government organizations nationwide working to increase women’s participation in computing and technology. NCWIT helps organizations more effectively recruit, retain, and advance girls and women in K-12 through college education, and from academic to corporate and startup careers. Find out more about NCWIT and available resources at http://www.ncwit.org/resources