Women on the Way leads to hope and success

6/22/2023

The odds were stacked a mile high against Jill Armstrong when she enrolled at St. Petersburg College in 2014. In her early 50’s, she worried that she was simply too old to give higher education a try. Money was so tight that she rented a room in a mobile home as a student. And she was shadowed by doubt – a decades-long addiction to drugs and alcohol that always tripped her up just when she took a step forward.

But Armstrong did have something powerful on her side. Clean and sober for 11 months and determined to obtain a certification in addiction recovery, she turned to Women on the Way, a resource and support program that helps adult learners – both women and men – achieve their academic and career goals.

“I wound up not only getting my addiction certification, but also my Associate in Arts and Associate in Science degrees, and I earned a Bachelor’s in Health Services Administration with a focus on human services,” Armstrong said.

Hired immediately after graduation, Jill now works for a nonprofit called People Empowering & Restoring Communities, an organization designed to support vulnerable populations.

“Women on the Way made such a big difference for me. They helped me with clothing, life skills, learning how we could do better, just everything. I really don’t know if I’d been so successful without them.”

To give to Women on the Way, visit our give now page and select WOW in the designation box. To read more, see the Spring 2023 edition of Illumination, available on our website.