Filed under: Get Activist Armed with $500 worth of beans, two
women founded a non-profit group in Denver in 1989 to empower
impoverished women by teaching them workplace skills and
providing jobs to the chronically homeless and unemployed. Their
training opportunities have expanded dramatically over the
years, and their annual operating budget has grown from $6,100
to over $1.5 million. The Women’s Bean Project is a nonprofit
organization that teaches job readiness and life skills for
entry-level jobs through employment in a gourmet food production
business. Women come with the goal of transforming their lives
and moving toward self sufficiency. SPENCER MICHELS: Now in its
20th year, the program employs 40 women each year who have been
chronically unemployed and living in poverty. They make and
package products such as soup, brownie mix, jelly beans, and
salsas that are available in grocery stores in 40 states and
over the Internet. But it’s not the food that makes this program
a complete package, says execut