The Cardea Women’s Center is a collaborative effort among women throughout Silicon Valley towards developing a new hub for women’s activity.

We envision a vibrant multi-purpose center that will provide a much needed a gathering place for many of the local women's organizations and community groups.

Most importantly, the Cardea Women’s Center provides opportunities for women to connect, network, and learn from other women and more effectively address the challenges facing them.

Cardea is the Roman goddess of thresholds and doors, personifying the comings and goings of family daily life.  She is the hinge of the turning seasons who symbolizes the sweeping winds of change. Her power is to open what is shut; to shut what is open. 
 "Opener of every door in the future, Closer of every door in the past
and the world moved on its hinges at her command” Ovid.
Cardea symbolizes the center's vision to help break barriers and open opportunities that are crucial to women's growth and fulfillment.

To change the economic, social and personal landscape in Silicon Valley through the broadest range of support services that will make a positive difference in the lives of women and girls.

The Center’s mission is to establish a community-based, a multi-purpose, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic women’s development center in Silicon Valley including Santa Clara county, offering opportunities for personal and professional success to all women and girls.

The Center will strive to:

• Design a "One-Stop Shop" offering multiple services in one welcoming location;
• Provide the necessary tools and skills for women's economic success;
• Become a comprehensive clearinghouse for community resources and information;
• Connect needs and resources by initiating collaborations;
• Increase women's participation in their private and public endeavors;
• Provide opportunities for leadership development and community service;
• Connect with women at the national and global level;
• Provide an affordable, community facility to non-profits serving women and girls.

The effort to develop a women's center in Silicon Valley grew out of a desire for a common forum to address issues pertinent to women and girls. At the beginning of 2004, a handful of women who felt passionately about the concerns of women and girls and aware of the growing, but unmet needs of diverse groups of women in the area, the lack of a special place totally devoted to addressing women’s needs and for pursuing their various activities & projects, saw a vacuum that needed to be filled, which was a space exclusively focused on all aspects of women’s lives, where women thrived and realized their maximum potential.

A petition drive to assess this need galvanized more than 350 women in the community to lend their support. (sign this petition) With the support of the Women’s Action Network and in partnership with SCC Office of Women’s Policy, planning for a Women’s Center began in the summer of 2005.  Focus groups were convened, and the concepts for a women’s center emerged. The center’s mission was shaped by listening to women’s voices in the community with a principle objective of empowering all women and girls.

Today, The Cardea Women’s Center for Women exists as an online community of individuals and organizations - connecting and linking and using the Internet to advance the interests of women. Additionally, The Center will sponsor events and forums for women throughout Santa Clara County and across Silicon Valley. 

While work continues towards identifying a physical space in Santa Clara county for women and organizations, the Cardea Center for Women is currently an on-line “space” for women to receive information and resources, connect with other women and groups, learn more about important women’s issues, and exchange skills and resources with one another.

We will also conduct periodic gatherings of women throughout the County to allow women to come together to connect, receive information and training, and build community and support.

This is an initiative to realize our dream of having a physical building for women in Santa Clara County.  Its focus is the development and implementation of a 5-year strategic plan and capital campaign.

The Board of directors direct the activities of the Center and advance its strategic goals. They have been selected for for their long-standing work in supporting women’s voices and visions and bring their experiences and perspectives to help shape the Center's programs to inform, encourage and empower women & girls.

Our appreciation to Women’s Action Network and the County of Santa Clara, Office of Women’s Policy for their early support. As a volunteer-run collaborative, we depend on the many enthusiastic dedicated women in the community who support the Center’s mission. We thank them for their commitment and their involvement.

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