WHAT'S HAPPENING THIS MONTH AT WUCN

                                                                                                       The history of the Women Under Construction Network (WUCNetwork) begins                                                                                                             with our Founder’s newspaper column, At Home with Shellie. In 2006, Shellie                                                                                                                 Layne wrote the column to help families with home buying and home repairs.                                                                                                               The column’s success propelled expansion into a nonprofit: At Home                                                                                                                             Foundation, Inc. which later was renamed Women Under Construction Network.                                                                                                           Shellie's passion for empowering low-income single mothers and their children,                                                                                                           disenfranchised low-income elderly females, and underserved women in general                                                                                                         was born out of her personal life challenges as a single mom, a woman, and a                                                                                                               non-profit and corporate professional. Since the organization’s launch in 2014                                                                                                               and incorporation in 2015, the WUCNetwork has served thousands of women of                                                                                                           all ages facing challenges of maintaining their homes and or rebuilding their                                                                                                                 lives. Past initiatives include support for victims of domestic violence,                                                                                                                             homelessness and home repair assistance to elderly who wish to remain at home,                                                                                                         but because of poor conditions and limited income remaining in their homes is                                                                                                           an economic and health challenge.

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Via a constellation of intervention, instruction, motivation, and social events, WUCN supports, trains, empowers and challenges women to acquire and maintain their chief financial asset: their home. Our programs provide basic home repair services, appliances, furnishings, groceries, and utility payments to qualified recipients. WUCN cultivates basic proficiency in non-traditional skills in traditionally male-dominated home repair disciplines, i.e., carpentry, electrical, and plumbing, etc. We align life skills with tools so that our work reduces anxiety about responsibility for home repair and preservation. Additionally, we work with contractors who help emphasize and adhere to ethics, laws, codes, and proper home repair protocol. 

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The Women Under Construction Network “Power Tool Socials” our signature series began in 2014. Each event advances a home repair theme, pairs an educational objective with a motivational focus and provides giveaways (hammers, drills, plungers, and other home-related items). The Power Tool Socials have served thousands of women from all walks of life. Proceeds from these events along with grants and private contributions help support WUCN’s charitable work.

 

Additional WUCNetwork services include:

 

• Financial Stability Training and Motivational Seminars with a Building Theme

• Repair Angels – Home Repair & Companionship for the Elderly

• IBUILD-University (IBUILD-U) -Building Female Leaders Initiative

• The WILAH Project (What I Learned At Home) Educating and Motivating Residents of Public Housing

• Saturday Morning Building Sessions and Toolbox Tuesday's - Zoom and Conference Call group series with high profile leaders and experts discussing topics that relate specifically to women (BUILDING health, wealth & finance, relationships, legal matters and home repair)

• Media Campaigns that focus on Issues Affecting Women and Home Life

• As a future initiative, WUCN will provide transitional housing for women and their children in several areas of Birmingham and outlining counties. Our organization infuses hope and instruction, increasing mental health and financial stability.

  

The Women Under Construction Network parallels life effectively through actual tools and home repair. This method of “real home repair” is demonstrated through television, internet, webcasts, radio, print media, campaigns, and motivational events. Additionally, WUCNetwork establishes partnerships with other non-profits and for-profit corporations to deliver a foundational, timeless message of home and life repair. Our mission of Repairing Homes, Building Women, Changing Lives is appropriate in every woman’s world, no matter their ethnicity, culture, age, or socioeconomic status. Ultimately, the WUCN message at its core will motivate, educate, empower women AND glorify God.