Up with Women

Published purpose

Through this 33-month systemic-change project, Up With Women∕Exponenti’elles will scale the Up with Experts project to advance women’s economic security and prosperity. It will scale to reach more professionals including those who live in rural areas to serve as subject area expert volunteers for their clients and alumni. The scaling will also deepen the learning so volunteers will have a better understanding of how to integrate trauma and gender awareness into the work they do. Ultimately, this will create workplaces that are more inclusive and supportive of vulnerable women and gender-diverse people. To do so, the project will develop and deliver industry-specific trainings on how to support vulnerable people, partner with industry associations to include the trainings in their micro-credentialing program, implement a user-friendly online community platform, and continue engaging companies and their employees. At the end of the project, vulnerable women∕gender-diverse-people will have access to trauma-informed professional advice; subject area experts will be volunteers equipped with skills and compassion to support vulnerable people; companies will demonstrate a change in perspective, practice or policy to reflect greater inclusion and support of vulnerable people; and professional associations with include and promote the training as part of their micro-credentialing program. With the supplemental funds and extension provided in early 2026, Up with Women (UWW/EXP) will develop and run a bilingual National Alumni Leadership Initiative, expand trauma-informed training access across community and employer partners, and develop and pilot a foundational collaborative framework to embed lived experience leadership within institutional and community-sector practices. Through this work, Up with women will further advance gender equity.