LIMA — For Lima native Cortesha Cowan, founder of the nonprofit group Mothers Helping Mothers Inc., her message of self-empowerment is so important to Lima, given recent events, that she is offering that message for free at a two-day conference to start at 7 p.m. Friday at Veterans Memorial Civic and Convention Center.
“We have the Lima Empowerment Center, and we’ve been there a year and a half and have done a lot of empowerment for the community,” she said. “So we decided to do an empowerment conference, and at first it was going to be at a cost, but we decided to make it a free conference, given the violence in the community with the youth. We want to do our part and give back and empower our community to come together and strengthen our youth.”
The Empower to Succeed Conference will feature talks from entrepreneurs, authors, professionals and other public speakers, including Cowan, Sharetta Smith, Claytonia Manley Logan and Rachelle Lawson, all addressing a variety of topics intended to set individuals on a pathway to success.
“I empower people to help them become self-employed and start their own businesses,” Cowan said. “Some people don’t understand how to link their own generation with their children, so we teach them how to have active communication with their children, and we’ll have a lady coming in to speak on that.”
Cowan also emphasized that empowerment is not just in words, but also in actions, as the empowerment center also helps women with diapers and toiletry items, when needed.
“People can throw the word ‘empowerment’ around a lot, but we’ve helped 7,500 girls between the ages of 14 and 25, and none of them have had repeat pregnancies,” she said. “None of them have had shortcomings after being empowered through our program because it’s designed to help elevate them to the next level through all of their hardships.”
A global gala will also be held Saturday, at a cost of $10 at the door. For information on the conference, contact Cowan at 614-370-5769 or at [email protected]. No preregistration is needed to attend the conference.
