Directory of Women's Organizations in CT May Assist Constituencies During Coronavirus Crisis and Beyond

The Permanent Commission on the Status of Women in Connecticut (PCSW), a nonprofit organization, has released of the 2020 Directory of Women’s Organizations in Connecticut ahead of schedule, prompted by the increased interest in identifying organizations during the coronavirus pandemic.

The 86-page bilingual directory aims to be the premier resource in the state for identifying, researching, and connecting individuals and organizations to women’s organizations across the state. The publication is fully online, and searchable.

“With the outbreak of COVID-19, we have accelerated the release of the updated and expanded 2020 Directory,” explained Tina Courpas, Executive Director of PCSW. “There are many constituencies across the state that may need to use the Directory to identify women’s organizations providing vital services and support. We believe the Directory is an invaluable resource for Connecticut in any environment, but particularly at times of crisis such as this one.”

The Directory includes over 200 Connecticut-based organizations, including: women’s and family vital social services, domestic abuse support services, sexual assault support services, women’s professional organizations, and women’s faith-based organizations, among others.

The original PCSW was formed as a state agency in 1973 and for 43 years, developed landmark legislation, research, and initiatives in the areas of sexual harassment, domestic violence, family medical leave, pay equity and human trafficking to improve the lives of women and girls in Connecticut. In 2016, the legislature merged the Commission with several other state agencies.

The successor PCSW was re-constituted through two private non-profit corporations: the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women Education Fund, Inc. and the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women, Inc. – which together constitute the PCSW today.

Officials point out that throughout their collective 47-year history, the Commission was and PCSW today remains a bipartisan organization with a non-partisan mandate, reflecting the broad diversity of Connecticut’s women. 

The first edition of the Directory of Women’s Organizations was published in the late 1970’s. The 2020 edition is the first to be published under the new corporate structure. The PCSW plans to update the hard copy Directory on a biennial basis. The electronic version will be updated more frequently. New features in the 2020 Directory include a listing of Women’s Studies and Gender Studies programs at Connecticut’s four-year colleges.

Among the ways the Directory has been used through the years: assisting women in accessing vital services, connecting women in the professions, assisting college students in identifying women’s studies programs, assisting women in Connecticut’s communities find women’s civic organizations, and informing the work of policy leaders and grantmakers. In the introduction to the Directory, Courpas expresses the “hope that The Directory will lead to continued success in our individual and collective efforts to support and assure the economic security, health and safety of the women of Connecticut.”

“We encourage organizations whose mission is to better the lives of women and girls in Connecticut, to contact the PCSW and add their organizations to the Directory if they are not already there. We want it to be as robust, practical, inclusive, and useful a tool as it can be to the citizens of our state,” said Sheryl Battles, Board Member of the PCSW Education Fund, Inc. and Vice President and Head of Global Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement at Pitney Bowes.

The directory is available at www.pcswct.org.  For more information, individuals or representatives of organizations can contact Tina Courpas, Executive Director at tcourpas@pcswct.org.