WHL Alumni Network

When the first class of WHL graduates completed the year-long program in 1995, they informed staff that an Alumni Network must be created, and they took the lead in its creation. These new leaders recognized a year was too short, that leadership development requires a life-long commitment and that ongoing sharing of resources among women who had completed the program was invaluable.

The Mission of the WHL Alumni Network:
The Women's Health Leadership Alumni Network perpetuates community-based leadership by engaging, supporting and strengthening the voices of alumni in the promotion of the health of women and their families in California.

Over the years, the WHL Alumni Network has served as a clearinghouse of information and referrals, with staff welcoming and seeking answers to the myriad challenges raised by Alumni working in grassroots organizations across the State.

The staff have helped to organize regional meetings of Alumni where networking and skills sharing has occurred and formal collaborations have been created. WHL staff created an Alumni Directory and listserv so resource sharing can occur more consistently. The Alumni Network convened Alumni in the Summer of 1999 to further develop WHL's Strategic Directions. In Fall 2000, over 200 WHL Alumni attended the first WHL Alumni Convening, organized by WHL staff with a planning committee made up of fifteen Alumni. The WHL Council is a representative body of the WHL Alumni Network and there are three WHL Alumni Network projects: Women's Choices, Leadership and Health Through Technology and WHL ACTION (Alumni Organized To Improve Our Nonprofits.)

WHL Council and Committees of the Council
The WHL Council is a work-oriented body made up of 15 WHL Alumni who represent the diversity of the Alumni Network geographically, ethnically, and experientially. The Council works to utilize their expertise to see that the five Strategic Directions proceed. Council members commit to serving as a spokesperson for WHL, participating fully in resource development to further the work of the Strategic Directions, identify ways to mobilize and assist the Alumni community, and work on one of the three committees of the Council: Fundraising, Communication, and Tools and Training.

Strategic Directions
In 1997 - 1998, WHL staff conducted focus groups with WHL Alumni and friends of WHL as part of a Strategic Planning process. Out of this process, five Strategic Directions for WHL's future were identified.

• Sustaining and enhancing the year-long leadership program.
• Impacting public policy.
• Girls/young women leadership development.
• Replicating WHL in local communities.
• Expanding WHL nationally and internationally.