MISSION

The Golden Women’s Centre Society is a registered non-profit charity, dedicated to the safety and empowerment of women.  The GWRC provides a secure environment, support, information and resources and sense of community.  The Society also provides outreach services, education and advocacy for women and the issues that affect them.

VISION

The Golden Women’s Centre Society supports the empowerment and connection of women locally and globally by building women’s capacity, acting as a catalyst for change and leading the way to a non-violent, socially just, healthy, and diverse society

VALUES

The Golden Women's Centre Society is guided by the following eight core values. These ‘pillars’ create the foundation of our organization, reflecting our core priorities and also the attitude and perspective we bring to them.

WOMEN-CENTERED

We are women and we are for women. Our mandate is to enrich the lives of women in Golden.  To do this, we focus on issues that directly impact women. Although sometimes these issues may also affect men, our perspective and delivery of service will always be from a women’s perspective. We also provide a physical space for women where they can feel safe amongst other women and where they can access the services and support that women need and that women are asking for. We also work in the community with many different groups and individuals to serve one purpose: to help women achieve their potential in life. ​

SAFETY

Safety is our highest priority. The Safety of the Women who come to us for help especially, but not limited to the Shelter Program, is our top concern. The Safety of our Staff and Volunteers is of equal priority. We expect Women who use the centre for any reason (free internet, Good Karma, Library, workshops, etc) to behave in a way that makes all other users feel safe. We do not tolerate verbal or physical (obviously) abuse, nor do we tolerate any form of bullying (including Internet harassment, cyber bullying, etc). Our physical centre is a sanctuary/safe haven for women. We do not currently allow men past the front section of our building. If men do need to be in the centre (i.e. repair people, computer tech, etc.) we try to do so before or after hours or we alert the women in the centre first and if a woman is not comfortable with having the repair person in, we ask the repair person to come back. ​

EVOLVING

The GWRCS is a dynamic organization that keeps up with changes not only in our immediate sector (Women’s Issues and Violence Against Women), but also in the evolution in our community. We take cues and adapt to these changes to meet the needs of women and to stay current with popular culture. We are open to positive change and growth, we welcome ideas and feedback from anyone and everyone, and we strive to incorporate relevant feedback into our delivery of service. This empowers us to build a stronger centre and stronger women. ​

COLLABORATION

Although we have a unique image and exist independently in our mission and identity, we welcome collaborative relationships, both formal and informal with other organizations in the community. We believe that collaboration and inclusion are at the base of a feminist way of life, and accordingly, we seek out and appreciate many ideas and perspectives from internal and external sources in our community. We believe that working with men and women, not for profit service providers, for profit businesses, local and higher levels of government will enable us to deepen our roots in our community in a holistic manner and expand our circle of influence. Funders acknowledge the collaboration we do with other organizations and the kind of support that we have and that we contribute to our community. By sharing our own resources and expertise with the community, we are able to advocate important issues that impact the broader community (safety, violence, respect, self-esteem, to name a few). ​

​EMPOWERMENT

We strive to increase the sense of self-worth and self-confidence of every woman that is connected in any manner to the GWRCS. This is why we provide a strong backbone for the community. We believe that every woman has the right to have her voice heard and to make her own choices about how she lives her life. We strive to empower women to make these often difficult choices by offering them support, encouragement and resources. We believe that this is the most powerful thing we can do for another human being. Some words from a local community member paint a positive impression of what we are about; he said that the Women’s Centre seemed to be on a mission of “Empowering Golden one Woman at a time”. ​

EDUCATION

Education leads to empowerment. We provide women with access to a wide variety of information so they can make educated decisions. A large part of our work is also to educate the community about women’s issues: safety, violence, and respect. Through education, we are able to get ahead of these problems, even if it is one young person at a time. The potential of educating the community on all levels (individual community members, professionals, peer service providers and groups with whom we collaborate) is the cornerstone to changing attitudes and behaviors. If we do not educate, we are only doing half our job. ​

ADVOCACY

We support the views of women and allow them to be heard. We give women a voice and strive to represent their interests if they aren’t comfortable or cannot do so for themselves. We also represent the interests of women as a group on certain issues such as housing, childcare, inequities of pay and job opportunities (to name a very few) as we are the “authority” organization on women’s issues. We work to create positive change and keep women’s issues in the forefront of the public and the government’s minds by bringing forward issues as they affect women in a well thought out, well researched, intelligent way. We articulate our claims clearly and back them up with reason (facts). We are unafraid of standing up for and voicing what we think and know is right. ​

ACCOUNTABILITY

We deliver our service and conduct our business with clear, professional policies and procedures that take into respect client and staff confidentiality, safety, and well-being. We are confident that we are conducting business to the highest standard of these ethics. We ask clients to try new things as well as using systems that are well-established. We follow up with each client, and we maintain and protect all personal information. We strive to be leaders in setting a positive example as an employer and a service provider. We are fiscally prudent and community-minded. We hold ourselves accountable to our actions because we know that the way that we deliver our service and the way we treat our clients has implications beyond our walls.