What is WORD?

Since our founding in 1986, WORD has spearheaded, supported and participated with organizations, agencies and individuals who are committed to building community in Missoula.

In 2005 we developed a comprehensive Strategic Plan continuing our long tradition of innovative and effective work. This enables us to build a more secure, stable and sustainable foundation for the programs we offer. The main elements of our plan are summarized below.

Vision: At WORD we envision a socially just world where each person is valued and all are empowered to fulfill their potential. For us, feminism is the conscious, collective development of the socioeconomic, cultural and political conditions that ensure equality, independence and full participation for all women. We believe that these conditions are indispensable to the health and sustainability of families, communities and society as a whole.

Mission: WORD creates opportunities, programs and policies that inspire and support women's development, leadership and choice, for the benefit of our entire community.

Values:As a feminist organization WORD is committed to modeling and actively promoting ways of working that:

• Value and celebrate women's experiences and contributions;
• Respect individual dignity and honor diversity;
• Ensure accessibility for those with the least access to resources, value and power;
• Are holistic, client-centered and strengths-based;
• Encourage creativity, community and openness to change.

Over the coming years we have set ourselves the following aims:

1. To become identified as a center in Missoula that resources women to fully develop their potential by actively participating in improving their lives.
2. To raise the profile of WORD in Missoula with a view to increasing our community's awareness of and support for our mission and programs.
3. To increase WORD's access to undesignated funds in order to balance and expand our budget and to develop long-term sustainability.
4. To maintain and develop WORD's working relationships with relevant organizational networks in order to increase recognition of and action on women's issues and concerns.
5. To develop WORD as a feminist organization by establishing an internal culture and finding a home that embodies and models our feminist values and ways of working.

Currently we operate five programs: Family BASICS, Family Resource Centers , Futures, Mentors in Violence Prevention, and the Montana Parent Information & Resource Center.

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