Resources to make a change toward STEAM and storytelling.

Younger women are bombarded with life-altering decisions from age 18-24 all at once that will impact their financial stability for many years. Although many are waiting much longer to get married or have children, or are approaching post-secondary education differently, there is still societal pressure to lay a groundwork that will impact the rest of your life during this period of time.

It’s no surprise that the decisions you made at 21 may not serve you well at 41. 

After time in the workforce, your needs and wants become clearer. You get exposed to jobs you didn’t know about. You realize you don’t want kids, or you want more kids. You decide to narrow or broaden your focus. You find that you’re really good at something new. Life experiences with people and places are instructive, and the best thing we can do is apply those lessons to better ourselves.

The Second Act Foundation gives you the funds to pursue education, use as capital, build connections, get established or certified, or another actionable thing that will help you enter the second act of your work life successfully.

Why money?

• Financial independence keeps women safe. Many survivors of domestic violence return to an abusive relationship because they lack resources of their own or have large amounts of debt which often belongs to their partner. Financial abuse is a common tactic of control. It’s reported that over 50% of homeless women are domestic violence survivors.
• The gender pay gap persists, with American women making 82 cents on average for every dollar a man earns. Women are more likely to leave a job due to pay and career development than anything else.
• The Covid-19 pandemic has led to historic attrition in the workforce as women are unable to balance the additional load of domestic labor (compounded with the requirement to always be “on”) which has fallen squarely on them.