20 years helping women

The art of shameless self-promotion.

It's a lesson that's stuck with Judith Moore.

The first-time business owner picked up that nugget of marketing advice during a workshop for entrepreneurial women hosted by the nonprofit Center for Women. The center's mission is to help women succeed every day, personally and professionally, and its monthly workshops for women starting or running businesses are one of its efforts to do that.

For Moore, the center has been an invaluable resource of support and information during her decade of membership.

"Networking with the help of the Center for Women has helped me build my business," said Moore, who owns the Charleston Cookie Company. "Without it, I would not have had the kind of opportunities to grow my business that I have had."

The Center for Women is celebrating a milestone anniversary this year -- its 20th. It bills itself as the only comprehensive women's development center in South Carolina and the only organization of its kind in Charleston. Unlike some women's centers, it doesn't target poor women or abused women or women in crisis. It's not attached to a university or college, and it doesn't receive state or federal grants.

It's an organization dedicated to supporting women and educating them about how they can raise the bar in their lives.

"The classic stereotype is (the center) must be for women as victims," said Jennet Alterman, the center's executive director. "But the women who come here are women who have decided to take a step to move forward."

Getting started

A trip to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by a Charleston resident sparked the idea for a center here. Susan Lunsford, a graduate student in a clinical counseling program, visited the school's women's center, and when she returned to Charleston, she told friend and classmate Susan Parsons, "This is what we've got to do."

The pair modeled the Charleston center after the one in North Carolina, and they spent a weekend there talking to people and learning about its programs.

They wanted a place in Charleston where women could gather, receive low-cost counseling and attend enrichment programs. They wanted it to be housed in an old house that was accessible by bus. They wanted it to serve women from different backgrounds, and they hoped that it would be cyclical in nature -- that those who benefited from its services might one day return to volunteer.

They reached out to former Sen. Fritz Hollings' wife, Peatsy, and asked what they needed to do to make the center a reality. She gave them suggestions for people to contact, and they assembled a board of female leaders and activists. They also relied on resources from established organizations.

The center opened in a building on Mary Street, and its offerings have adapted to meet the needs of local women. Lunsford has moved away, but Parsons has stayed involved, serving as a board member, historian and volunteer.

Parsons couldn't be happier with what the center has become, and she cried when it moved into the Charleston single house on Cannon Street in 2007.

"This is what we wanted all along," she said. "It has really become much more than we had first envisioned. Since Jennet has been there, it captured the essence of what we always wanted and expanded way beyond that. When she came on board, it became an extension of our original dream."

Looking forward

The center has about 1,000 members, and it continues to offer programs that aim to empower women and make them independent and sustainable, Alterman said. Its small staff is dedicated to going out into the community and asking women what they want and need, and they know they are succeeding, she said.

The center's primary focus is offering programs, and last year they offered more than 100 to reach more than 6,000 women. They estimate that 100,000 women in the Lowcountry have benefited from the center during the past 20 years.

In addition to the entrepreneurial women series, the center hosts brown bag lunches on topics such as newcomers to Charleston and working from home. They have counseling, writing workshops, and empowerment groups with sessions such as managing finances or dealing with a broken relationship.

The center has a close relationship with other Charleston groups that serve women, and they work to ensure they're not duplicating services.

"We're definitely growing, and I think we're more relevant now than we've ever been," Alterman said.

Its biggest challenge is letting women in the community know about what the center is and its offerings, and that's a constant process, Alterman said.

The center is about to enter a new strategic planning period, and the hallmark of the next decade will involve being proactive in providing leadership skills development for women, specifically around topics such as negotiation and conflict resolution. Alterman also wants to see the group extend its program to areas that aren't being served, such as Dorchester and Berkeley counties.

Moore said her hope for the center is simple.

"I wish someone would give them $1 million so they could expand what they do," she said.