| 2000 will mark the
fifteenth year of Black Women
United for Action [BWUFA]. Little did I know that when we came together at the First
Baptist Church, Vienna Va. late September 1985, that we as professional volunteers would
make such a positive difference in the relatively short time. But then again I should have
known that those incredible founding visionary women, later joined by other
dynamic, dedicated, and committed ladies would combine their excellent talents and skills
to make a profound impact within our community. Nine
of the twelve founding adults, a young student, and helper members remain actively
involved today. As you read further you will see that we have developed and implemented
comprehensive community programs designed to benefit our total community with great
enthusiasm to fulfill our mission statement as we accept daily challenges and struggles in
reaching our goals.
During BWUFA’s last eight years, growth in every area of
our development occurred mostly through the generosity of dedicated volunteers,
contributions of office space through Unified Industries and other supportive measures
provided by Christian Relief Services. In 1994, BWUFA was awarded a small federal
HUD grant for our adoption of an "at-risk" neighborhood
that has been a marked
achievement of our success. Our goal to strengthen our male resource volunteer pool has
been extremely successful with the: Lites, Ahart, Hawkins, Blanchard, Fairfax, Bagnerise,
Coates, Mott, Jones, Sims, Henri’, Williams, Perry, Wise, Sweat, Hager, Wilson,
Hunter, Adams, Fields, Fortson, Browne, Daniels, Coleman, Cabral, and Warner families
leading the charge.
Our short-term goals are to increase leverage with other
BWUFA grants so that we can expand our offices' staff and become more innovative in our
community outreach to be greater forces in the lives of "vulnerable" families.
Our logo, "Children’s – Youth Collage,"
includes young people who have participated in various BWUFA projects, during the last
three years. Some youth are from our Mews project, our historical Canadian trip, our
office student interns, our Nikki Giovanni project, and our Slave Memorial project.
One of our major goals is to improve and enrich the lives of
our youth. According to the photos on the cover, we are making some progress.
Sheila B. Coates
President/Founder
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