WORCESTER, Mass. — The United Way of Central Massachusetts’ Women’s Initiative hosted its fourth annual Power of the Purse event on June 8 to support and empower young women.

“This idea came about four years ago as a way to bring members together and engage, but a little more informally than our annual celebration [in the fall],” said Emily McCann, vice president of community engagement and director of the Women’s Initiative.

A silent and live auction was part of the event. This year, as the state is slowly opening up again from COVID-19 restrictions, the event was run as a hybrid model. The in-person portion was hosted at the AC Hotel in Worcester.

“It’s really nice to feel that we can be together again in person for those that can make it,” McCann said, adding that 100 people joined the event in-person and nearly 40 joined virtually.

The auction included designer purses and various packages focused on travel, Worcester, the WooSox, and more. Many items were donated by the organization’s supporters and others came from local businesses.

“Power of the Purse is a wonderful opportunity for women to reach into their purses and use their power to give back to our girls,” said Rita Smith, director of East Coast business human resources for AbbVie and a sponsor of the event.

All of the proceeds support the organization’s women’s leadership and girls programming.

“It’s incredibly important and meaningful to find a way to invest in the lives of those around you – especially our youth and our girls,” said Tamara Lundi, CEO of Community Healthlink and honorary chair of the event.

“The primary part is about bringing women together to enjoy this auction and bid on some purses for a good cause, but a lot of what happens in the event is networking and engaging and meeting each other,” McCann said. “It’s about engaging women to connect, share their skills and expertise to support the next generation of women leaders. [This] supports quality programming for hundreds of middle school girls each year.”

The volunteer-driven Women’s Initiative was created 18 years ago to support women’s leadership and philanthropy with the mission of improving and empowering the lives of local girls from 10 to 14 years old. Their programs, in partnership with organizations like Girls Inc. and the Boys and Girls Club, are focused on violence prevention, empowerment, mentoring, education and financial literacy.

The Dollar Scholar Program, which the Women’s Initiative runs themselves, focuses on financial literacy. It’s the only program of its kind in Central Massachusetts. Girls learn about budgeting and credit through mentors and small group work. Girls are able to see and hear about other careers, meet successful women and hear stories of success. McCann said that this allows girls to imagine their own futures. 

“It’s hard to be on the right path,” McCann said. “It’s really about filling a gap that schools don’t offer. We want to empower girls and help them be independent.”

In the two decades the Women’s Initiative has been active, the organization has helped more than 14,000 girls through its programming and engaged hundreds of women leaders in the effort.

“It’s a transitional time in a girl’s life,” McCann said. “Thinking about all of those things that typically happen for a middle school girl — body changes, relationships, all those things — but add to what happens to girls now, especially in vulnerable communities, the violence they see nationally and locally, as well as racism that we see all over the media.”

McCann said that these efforts are more important now than ever before, with many having problems accessing programming due to technological difficulties. The pandemic has also highlighted various inequalities and disparities faced by this population.

“It’s really important from the Women’s Initiative perspective to raise critical funds to support the work that we continue to do for middle school girls,” McCann said. “Looking back to this past year and this current year with the pandemic, with what’s going on, girls need our help. [They need] to have a mentor, to have a place to go where they feel safe.”