After three years of renovation, the Women’s Center of Greater Lansing is larger and better equipped to provide its clients with an array of career and counseling services.
The larger of the center’s two buildings, located at 1712 E. Michigan Ave. in Lansing, opened Wednesday after a grand opening ribbon-cutting ceremony. The smaller building, located at 1710 E. Michigan Ave. in Lansing, opened in June 2005. Renovation of the larger building, which will provide an additional 2,000 square feet of the center, began in January 2005.
Since it opened in 2005, the center has been utilized by about 50 to 100 women each week, and a total of about 1,500 women have received services, said co-director Cindie Alwood.
She, along with co-founders Manuela Kress and Zena Biocca, opened the center as a place to benefit women.
Though Biocca, an eight-year survivor of Stage IV breast cancer, passed away in 2006, the women have carried on their initial goal.
“Our mission is to help women realize their potential, (by) learning a new skill, going back to school, getting a new job, healing after a sexual assault or through the ending of a relationship,” said co-director Kress.
Iman Abdullah, an MSU rehabilitation counseling graduate student and intern at the center, said having the two operating buildings will allow for more space and more privacy for counseling clients.
“It’s phenomenal, there’s going to be a lot more space,” Abdullah said. “(The renovation) is going to definitely improve the environment of the whole center.”
Before the expansion, Abdullah said there was little room to work with.
“Last week I had that problem (and) I had to counsel someone in our conference room and people were coming in and out,” she said.
Alwood said the greatest improvement is the additional space for a computer lab and the opportunity to provide computer training to women.
“Many of the women who come in here really need computer training, (and) other than at public libraries there isn’t really a lot that’s free,” she said. “It makes them much more competitive in the job market.”
Before the expansion, the center had four computers — now there is a computer lab equipped with 10 more, Alwood said.
Other improvements include the addition of a conference room that accommodates 20 to 25 people and a fully functioning kitchen, where classes will be offered on healthy cooking and cooking on a budget, Kress said.
The renovations were made possible largely by a Power of We Consortium grant, a local program that specifically funds capacity building projects and programs for small nonprofit organizations, Alwood said.
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