Dunedin Angels Lift Women's Spirits
More than 85 Dunedin women wanting to improve their circumstances have applied to the city’s “angels” for a helping hand.
And the risk taken by the Dunedin YWCA Angel Fund in backing them in business and study ventures is paying off.
The fund’s co-ordinator, Leah McBey, has many success stories about loan recipients. For example, the case of a sole parent with five children who has used the fund to help her through university. The woman is now in her final year and when she graduates plans to return to teach.
The Dunedin YWCA Angel Fund was established under the umbrella of the local YWCA to provide loans of up to $1000 to those who are least likely to get a loan from the commercial business world - Maori and Pacific Islands women, those dependent on a benefit and minority groups. The average loan is about $770.
The fund, which is in its third year, was set up with a grant from the Community Employment Group and has so far given out more than $30,000 in loans. A research project, which studied the use of the Dunedin Angel Fund, was published in April.
The study showed there were many issues facing the women who turned to the fund for help, says Leah McBey. For example, 13 percent had no telephone and 31 percent did not own a vehicle. For many of those who did own a car, they had difficulty keeping the car on the road. Two of the women without a car were rural women who urgently needed transport to help them get to work and use childcare.
The purpose of the loans was evenly split between business, education and training.
Financial difficulties appear to be a disincentive for many women wanting to further their education, Leah says. Many women who approach the fund for help and discuss their financial situation are put off at the prospect of further debts.
The debt level for these women can be very high, she says.
Analysis of figures shows that on average, single parents approaching the fund for help with studies had two children, a student loan of $5950 and other debts of about $13,300. Their average income was $17,000.
“This means their debt level is over 100 percent of their annual net income,” she says.
The fund is meeting a real need in Dunedin, says CEG field adviser Julie Pearse.
“Local women have been wonderfully generous ‘angels’ and Leah McBey has put in many voluntary hours, making the fund the success it is.”
Julie hopes this research project will prompt similar activities in other parts of the country.
Footnote: The country’s first Angel Fund was started by two Wellington women, Francis Denz and Gwyneth Wright and CEG’s Barbara Lewis in the capital in 1993, and has been replicated in other centres around the country, including Dunedin.
June 1999 http://www.employmentmatters.net.nz/story.asp?id=622
