Darcella Craven honored by YWCA Metro St. Louis Dec. 3
Special to The American
Every year, at its Leader Lunch event, YWCA Metro St. Louis presents awards to local working women who best exemplify excellence in their chosen professions and a commitment to the success of other women. Six to eight Leaders of Distinction are chosen each year.
This year Darcella Craven, executive directior of Veterans Business Resource Center, will be honored with the Nonprofit Management award for her dedication to veterans in starting and expanding businesses on Thursday, December 3 at the Millennium Hotel.
“To be recognized by the YWCA for doing what I love to do and to stand alongside the amazing women being honored is a real bonus,” Craven says.
Darcella is a U.S. Army veteran and believes in setting an example of excellence and determination for her clients. She says she is excited about helping veterans as they are making the decisions necessary when considering small business ownership or expansion.
“She is a woman of her word. She holds you accountable because she holds herself accountable,” Mike Ward, CEO of Project Management Solutions Group, LLC says of Darcella’s work with him over the years.
Craven says, “It is a privilege to work with clients as they move toward their dream of small business ownership. We are helping military service members with a very important step. They deserve our very best.”
Currently Craven is working towards her doctorate in management at Webster University. She was recently awarded the 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award from Sanford Brown College–Fenton and is the 2009 SBA Veterans Business Champion for Eastern Missouri and Region 7 (Mo, Ia, Ks, Ne). She is a mother of two daughters.
The Veterans Business Resource Center was started in 2004 by Patrick T. Heavey, a service-decorated Vietnam War Veteran and multiple entrepreneur. Its parent organization is The Veterans Advocacy Foundation, Inc. (VAF), an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) nonprofit Missouri Corporation. Founded in 1996, the VAF provides funding, guidance and personnel for the nation’s first dedicated Veterans Business Resource Center. For additional information, visit www.vetbiz.com.
Free training for the unemployed
When Edith Richardson of St. Louis County wakes, she brushes her teeth, updates her Facebook page and changes her Twitter status.
Edith is not an 18 year old college freshman – she’s a 54-year-old woman seeking employment. Edith is taking part in a relatively new phenomenon of using social media to find employment.
Facebook, originally created exclusively for college students, now reports that women over 50 years of age represent the site’s fastest growing demographic. Twitter, boasting close to 20,000 updates each minute, is growing larger by the day. These two social networking sites, along with LinkedIn and others have changed the way people initiate and maintain connections.
Edith and more than 200 unemployed businesspeople have enlisted New Horizons Computer Learning Center of St. Louis to learn how to leverage these connections to land jobs. New Horizons is an early adopter of this new technology. The company is offering these training classes as a free service for those in the local St. Louis/Metro East community who have been impacted by layoffs during this down economy.
New Horizons’ Web 2.0 class takes members through the functionality of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn – all with the objective of learning how to connect with potential employers.
Since attending the free social media class at New Horizons, Edith decided to take her job search to the next level by gaining certifications at New Horizons. As a result of the Workforce Investment Act, New Horizons have been providing training certifications in various technologies to include: Microsoft technical training, Cisco, Project Management, ITIL, Lean Six Sigma, and many more. These certifications and skills training help unemployed candidates prepare themselves for new employment opportunities. Anyone who has been recently unemployed and wants to take advantage of free training at New Horizons can call the company’s office at 314.429.3311 and ask for John Saunders or visit www.newhorizonsstl.ccom and click on the “Consumers” button for more information.
New Horizons is owned by Charmaine Chapman de Tocqueville members Timothy and Sheila Slater. For more information on any of the Leadership Societies or the United Way, contact Orv Kimbrough, United Way senior vice president, at orvin.kimbrough@stl.unitedway.org .
