Milanie Hatfield is the community education director for the Women’s Center of Jacksonville. She has been with the center almost since its inception eight years ago.
WHAT SERVICES DOES THE CENTER PROVIDE?
The center offers women information on professional and personal services and referrals for community agencies. They also offer group and individual counseling with flexible fees, personal growth and support groups, advocacy for rape victims, community outreach and community educational programs such as Bosom Buddies.
HOW DID SHE LAND THE JOB?
“This was a position that evolved. In the beginning it was just the executive director, Shirley Webb, and myself. As new people came in with specific jobs, the whole department developed.”
WHAT FUNCTIONS DOES SHE HANDLE?
Anything that doesn’t clearly fit into the other departments is Hatfield’s responsibility.
“We do publications such as the newsletter and the Women’s History Month annual calendar. We operate the center’s library. We do all of the personal growth classes on assertiveness training, playing guitar, leadership, growing herbs, yoga. We also do a lot of educational programming in the community, particularly in low-income and senior sites.”
WHAT’S MOST CHALLENGING?
“Wanting to do so much, but being limited by funding. The other challenge is getting the word out that we’re here. We would like women to feel this is their community resource.”
DO THEY OFFER MEDICAL INFORMATION?
“Last year we began a program called Community Health Advisors where members of a community are trained to be the first line of knowledge to educate their neighbors about health issues. That is a trend that has been bubbling up all over the country — using activists to reach deeper into their communities.”
WHAT IS THEIR NEWEST PROGRAM?
“Expanded Horizons is an adult learning and literacy program. We believe we can really create something that will work for women. Research shows that for women to be successful, you have to provide transportation and child care and know how they learn.”
WHY IS THERE ART ALL OVER THE CENTER’S WALLS?
“Art & Soul is a new program. It was a dream that took about six years to figure out how to do. Our next show, Portraits of the Self, opens Feb. 5. April’s show about survivors will be an open call. The center has a very brave population of women who are surviving breast cancer, sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse or living with AIDS. I believe that women are amazingly strong so it’s exciting for them to have a venue to tell their story.”
UPCOMING EVENTS?
March 8 is International Women’s Day, celebrating ethnic food and cultures. Every April, the center hosts a pay equity luncheon to underscore the gender gap in wages.
HOW DID SHE GET INVOLVED?
“From the time I was really little, I was aware of injustice. I was really active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. This is part of an evolution of that work.”
WHAT OTHER WORK HAS SHE DONE?
“I was an at-home mom for a long time and I’ve always done a ton of volunteer work.”
HOW MANY CHILDREN DOES SHE HAVE?
She and her husband of 30 years, Bill, are both Mandarin residents and share five children. He is a senior analyst at Blue Cross & Blue Shield. Her favorite interests are movies and travel.
ANY COLLEGE?
Hatfield has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Alaska.
WHERE WAS SHE BORN?
Pennsylvania.
TO WHAT GROUPS DOES SHE BELONG?
Hatfield is part of the First Coast Girls’ Initiative, Women in Black and Arana, an organization focused on building women’s leadership skills.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST ISSUE(S) FOR JACKSONVILLE WOMEN?
“Violence and low income.”
— by Monica Tsai