Date: Fri 29-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A-9

Quick Words:

Women's-Center-Danbury-Corso

Full Text:

Women's Center 20 Years Young

(with photo)

By Shannon Hicks

DANBURY - Passersby were greeted with a strange sight on West Street in

Danbury recently, when a pair of suffragists were spotted outside the Women's

Center of Danbury, picketing for the right to vote.

The two women were in fact part of the staff of the Women's Center who had

been outfitted in period costumes in celebration of the Center's 20th

anniversary, and the national observation of the 75th anniversary of women

receiving the right to vote. The Center hosted an open house recently, one of

three events organized by Center staff to celebrate its defining milestone,

with counselors and office managers attired as everyone from flappers and

1940s housewives to nurses and other female-based roles. The Center also

hosted a reunion picnic and will be holding a gala anniversary celebration at

the Amber Room in Danbury this weekend to cap the festivities.

Now an established part of the community, the Women's Center of Danbury has

provided continuous service to the communities of Bethel, Bridgewater,

Danbury, New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown, Redding, Ridgefield, Roxbury and

Sherman since 1975. The Center offers free and confidential services on sexual

assault and domestic violence issues, with 24-hour hotlines, counseling and

emergency shelters available, to court and child care help.

There is a helpline for information and referral to support groups. Community

education - safety camps for children, awareness and prevention programs for

schools, training for school, medical and police personnel - is also high on

the Center's agenda, along with numerous volunteer opportunities for women to

help others.

The Center now has three properties: its administrative offices at 4 West

Street, its volunteer center at 256 Main Street, and its shelter for women and

children in need.

Twenty years ago, eight local women, the "founding mothers" of the Center,

decided it was time to open a place for women to go to, to "do their thing,

whatever their thing may be," said Alice Chapman, one of the guests of honor

at the recent open house.

Along with Mrs Chapman, the Center was coordinated by Bonnie Law, Betti Corso,

Anita Hirinandani, Elouise Kelso, Lianne Migiano and Barbara Powers. Armed

with a $50 donation from the local chapter of the National Organization of

Women, along with donations from individuals, the women rented a small room in

the building at 259 Main Street, Danbury. And the Women's Center in Danbury

was born.

The idea behind the Center was that many of the "founding mothers," originally

involved with NOW, agreed with members of the Equal Rights Commission that

women needed their own place. However - and this has always been stressed by

the founding mothers as well as their successors - the Center was not

originally, nor at any time during its history has it been, service oriented.

It is not an off-shoot of NOW nor the ERC.

"We were always very careful to say that we were not affiliated with NOW," Mrs

Chapman added. "It got to the point where I almost felt `NOW' was a dirty

word," she said with a laugh.

In 20 years, there have been issues the Center has had to tip-toe around -

whether or not the building and its programs promote lesbianism (no) - as well

as the ongoing issues most non-profit organizations constantly face: the need

for money, rent increases, office space.

Danbury's is one of the few women's centers in the nation that has survived

this length of time, from having to scrounge for furniture to boasting an

annual budget of $500,000. In the last fiscal year, the Center experienced an

increase of clients seeking assistance from its domestic violence services

program by nearly 30 percent. More than 15,000 men, women and children were

served by the Center.

Betti Corso and Alice Chapman, both of whom have served as president in the

past (Alice's daughter, Pam, is currently the Center's president; Alice is

currently serving as treasurer), are already looking to the Center's future.

Today they are looking at programs for the elderly in the community. With all

of the cuts of budgets, the two ladies think it's time for the Center to focus

on developing some elderly programs.

"We can't go back to the same things we had 20 years ago," Mrs Corso says.

"Because we just aren't in the same world any longer."