Orange County YWCA and Fish Window Cleaning Put Women Back to Work in the Hudson Valley

Orange County’s YWCA is in business — the business of training women to enter the workforce. Last summer, the YW purchased a franchise with Fish Window Cleaning, a residential and commercial cleaning service that has more than 100,000 customers nationwide. By offering employment to unskilled women through the franchise, the YW provides workforce training and development; helping women to qualify for higher-paying skilled jobs — which will provide greater financial security — is the long-term goal. Why a window cleaning franchise? “Women are bread winners in millions of families across the country. They need more training and access to jobs with higher compensation,” says YWCA Executive Director Christine Sadowski. “Higher-paying jobs are in skilled labor, not in the clerical, health care, and retail positions typically allocated to women.” She notes that Fish Window Cleaning “fit the bill for the type of work, and is a family-owned company that was willing to go into partnership with a nonprofit.”

Sadowski is passionate about helping the fairer sex get their fair share in the workplace. “The poorest of the poor are women head of households. It’s challenging to be a single parent and juggle the family and finances.”