A Dive into CWEE’s History (with Great Photos!)

CWEE was inspired and modeled after National Women’s Employment and Education (NWEE), an early women’s empowerment and anti-poverty program in San Antonio founded by Lupe Anguiano. Lupe promoted a comprehensive skills training model that was highly unique for its time and incorporated supportive services and employer engagement. At the time, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, there was much grumbling nationwide about the current welfare system.

Those on the right condemned recipients of welfare as lazy and unmotivated to work and provide for their families. Those on the political left saw the current welfare system as a trap and advocated for a path that would allow people to escape dependency and achieve self-sufficiency. At the time, welfare policies were set in a way that if anyone earned a penny over the limit, they would lose all the benefits like food stamps, child care assistance, and health insurance. The result was that you were better off in the welfare system than working in a dead-end job.

Sen. Polly Baca (pictured above right with Lupe Anguiano) was a member of the NWEE Board of Directors. Polly introduced her friend Jackie Jaramillo, CWEE’s first CEO who was then working in the administration of Colorado Gov. Dick Lamm, to the mission and work that Lupe was doing in Texas. Inspired, Jackie (pictured below) was determined to bring the NWEE model to Colorado. She pitched her idea to Gov. Lamm, which was to make the state departments of labor and employment and human services to work together to create pathways to vocational training, education and jobs for women on welfare.

The governor loved the idea, but the departments of human services and labor and employment hated it. Gov. Lamm advised Jackie that the program didn’t belong in government. She decided to pursue a grassroots and private sector approach to reforming the welfare system that left the government out of it. There was a tremendous need for entry-level workers at that time, and employers were desperate to limit turnover. Lupe had created a curriculum and a model of employer engagement that was helping people identify their strengths and integrate themselves into the workforce. Jackie set about replicating the model in Denver.

Jackie resigned her position with the Governor’s Office and launched CWEE in 1982. The first person she hired was an instructor, Laurie Harvey. Laurie would go on to follow Jackie as CEO and serve in the position for more than 30 years. Welfare reform had become part of the feminist rallying cry of the time. In 1985, Gloria Steinem came to CWEE to speak at an event. Below Steinem is pictured in the front row, center, with Jackie and Laurie on either side.

Anita Martin, an early CWEE participant, was the first woman to be placed in nontraditional employment, which set CWEE on a path to help more women enter these fields. Why? Simple, the pay was way higher than entry-level roles traditionally held by women. Anita was hired at $25 hour in 1985. Once she earned her journeyman license, she worked as a pipefitter for $40+ per hour (that’s $110/hour today adjusting for inflation). Below her photo is an excerpt of Anita’s story from nearly 40 years ago.

The youngest of 13 children, Anita’s role model was her father. He worked at Gates Rubber Company and two other construction jobs to support his large family. Anita remembers tagging along with him especially if his work involved trucks, heavy equipment and outdoor duties. Anita’s life changed after she met a man who physically abused her and stole her hard-earned money.

When she became pregnant, Anita quit her job to take care of the baby. Her boyfriend left. But Anita was too proud to seek help from her family, and she had to accept welfare to survive. She and the baby lived in public housing “with no furniture but lots of cockroaches.”

After graduating from CWEE’s three-week program, CWEE helped her get an interview with Public Service Company of Colorado, and Anita was accepted into their apprentice program for journeymen pipefitters. Anita was the only woman in the four-year training program.

“Physical work pays better than a desk job, and you can always wash off the dirt,” she said.

Leaders from Public Service Company of Colorado, an early champion and employer partner for CWEE’s program, are pictured above with Lupe Anguiano (far left) and Jackie Jaramillo (second from right).

Behind the scenes, Jackie, Lupe, NWEE, CWEE and many other individuals and organizations were advocating for comprehensive welfare reform that offered more pathways to opportunity. Jackie worked tirelessly to elevate the issue of welfare reform in policy, as well as within feminist circles and within the advancing Chicano rights movement.

In 1989, Jackie left CWEE and Laurie Harvey took over as CEO. Four years later, President Bill Clinton signed a comprehensive welfare reform package into law. CWEE’s early staff team is pictured above in 1983, including Zenzal Carr (far left) and Laurie Harvey (third from right). Below are testimonials from participants featured in CWEE’s 1985 annual report.