Keeler Women's Center

Empowering Women in the Urban Core of Kansas City
Through Education, Advocacy, Personal,
and Spiritual Development

Through Education
The Keeler Women’s Center is ideally poised to offer education as its first means of empowerment. Seventy-five percent of the students are women. Their demographics cover a broad spectrum of religious preferences, ethnic backgrounds, economic levels and ages. Donnelly’s special mission is to provide education and community services with concern for the needs and abilities of each student, especially those who might not otherwise be served. The Women’s Center also strives to meet the needs of the community and offer support to the growing Hispanic population as well as other women of the area.

Through Advocacy
The Keeler Women’s Center works to empower women by motivating them to take advantage of available resources to improve their lives and the lives of their children. By partnering with individuals and organizations in the community who already provide a wide variety of services and resources, we connect women to help that is available to them and ensure that they have the assistance needed to access such help.

Through Personal Development:
With concern for the dignity of each individual, and with help from volunteers and partnering organizations, the Keeler Women’s Center offers  professional counseling and a variety of support groups.  In addition we partner with many organizations to offer a wide variety of workshops and seminars.  Check our website for a complete list of offerings.  We are striving to form a community of strong women who support one another in order to fulfill their basic needs as well as realize their dreams of a beter life for themselves and their children.

• health and nutrition,
• legal aid,
• personal and family counseling.

In addition, we partner with Donnelly College and other groups or organizations to offer workshops and mentoring in areas such as:

• goal setting,
• time management,
• financial planning and budgeting,
• survival skills,
• career development, etc.

We are striving to form a community of strong women who support one another in order to fulfill their basic needs as well as realize their dreams of a better life for themselves and their children.


Through Spiritual Development
Building on the Benedictine Sisters’ tradition of work and prayer, the Keeler Women’s Center offers the Donnelly community, and all those who wish to join us, daily mid-day prayer in the tradition of the Benedictine Liturgy of the Hours, while embracing the religious diversity that is Donnelly. Partnering with Sophia Center, another ministry of the Benedictine Sisters, we offer retreats, days of reflection, spiritual direction, and other opportunities for spiritual development. Bereavement counseling is offered regularly.

Programming:

• Retreats and prayer opportunities
• Spiritual Direction
• Counseling
• Support groups for addictions and domestic violence
• Workshops and seminars ona wide variety of topics
• Regular parenting classes
• Some tutoring
• Workshops for women looking for work
• Personal/family counseling on-site
• Conversational English

Referrals, Advice and Advocacy

• Abuse/domestic violence
• Addictions
• Child care
• Emergency assistance: Food, Utilities, Rent, Clothing, Other as needed
• Health care
• Housing
• Job development
• Legal
• Major purchases – house, car

Building Community

• A quiet, welcoming place
• A place for women to support and be supported
• Resource library

Other Opportunities

• A place to help other women as a volunteer
• Opportunities for your group to offer workshops and seminars of interest to women
• Opportunities to make a financial investment in a Center which supports women in the urban core

The Keeler Women’s Center is a ministry of the Benedictine Sisters of Atchison, Kansas. Donations to Mount St. Scholastica, Inc. for the Keeler Women’s Center are always much appreciated. The majority of the funding for the Keeler Women's Center comes from the Benedictine Sisters' Ministry Fund which is supported by the Night of Dreams. Click here for more information on how you can help support the work of the Center.

We are able to offer all programs and services because of partnerships with other non-profit groups or because of the generosity of professionals who volunteer their services at The Keeler Women’s Center. We are usually able to provide free childcare for women who attend our programs or use our services.

We are often asked how we differ from other agencies. Women who come to the Keeler Center are of every faith, every age, every ethnicity. We have no geographic or other criteria for eligibility. St. Benedict instructs us to welcome each as we would welcome Christ. Because our mission is to empower women in the urban core through education, advocacy, personal and spiritual development, our programs and approaches are holistic. Often a woman comes because she is unemployed. As she attends the EXCEL program or the Job-Seeking Skills classes, she realizes she is under a lot of stress and schedules a massage. She realizes that she is depressed or having co-dependency issues in a relationship and signs up for counseling. She may wonder where God is in all of this and sign up for spiritual direction. She begins to see that she would like to do a better job of parenting and registers for parenting classes. Through it all, we remember her daily in prayer. She begins to feel supported and valued as a person. We often see her come to the Center just to sit and listen to the music and waterfall or to pray or visit. Our women tell us we are different. We invite you to come and visit. You’ll see for yourself.

Sr. Carol Ann Petersen, Director
Keeler Women's Center
2220 Central
Kansas City, Kansas 66102
913.906.8990
email: kwc@mountosb.org