Nonprofit Executive from Novato Among Marin Women's Hall of Fame Inductees

One of the newest members of the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame — as of an induction banquet set for Saturday, March 19 — can be credited with helping educate the unemployed and setting them up with everything they’d need to become a success in the world of small business.

Nine-year Novato resident Julie Castro Abrams is the CEO of the , an Oakland-based nonprofit that has an office in Novato. She was notified in January that she would join the 2011 class of the Hall of Fame, which was established in 1987 and has honored well over 100 women who have made a huge difference in Marin life.

The other inductees this year are Linda Davis of the Center for Volunteer & Nonprofit Leadership, Barbara Lee of Image for Success, Denise Lucy of Dominican University, Maureen Sedonaen of the Youth Leadership Institute and community service leader Dolly Nave.

“My first reaction was that I don’t deserve it and that it’s just not me,” Castro Abrams said. “I’m just stumped. It’s very sweet. I’ve gotten a couple of awards before, but this is very cool.”

With a laugh, she adds, “Maybe its that it is in perpetuity so people will know I got it when I’m dead.”

The idea behind the Women’s Initiative is to provide low-income women with the training, funding and support to start their own business. When it works, it helps taxpayers by getting people off unemployment and create businesses that provide tax revenue. Under Castro Abrams' leadership, the Women’s Initiative has grown to become one of the nation’s largest microenterprise training and funding organizations.

“It’s only for low-income women who don’t have this kind of opportunity anywhere else,” Castro Abrams said.

The Novato office is in the Woodside Office Center at 7250 Redwood Blvd. and was opened in spring 2008. Under the guidance of six staff members, more than 500 women will work on entrepreneurial skills there this year, Castro Abrams.

“It’s a version of a chamber of commerce where they get all sorts of coaching and participate in seminars,” she said. “We’ve always described it as sort of like getting a mini MBA.”

Castro Abrams said one exciting new program will educate women who are interested in the food service industry. Experts in that field, including some restaurant owners, are working with the Women’s Initiative on a series of training sessions.

The success stories, many of which are documented on the nonprofit’s website, including women in their 60s whose husband had either died or hadn’t found work in many years. Castro Abrams said there is one married woman in that category who ended up losing her home and became destitute but today has a thriving business that includes her husband as an employee.

“It’s a beautiful thing to know that you’re affecting people’s lives directly,” she said.

Abrams and her husband, Raul, live in the San Marin area and have two teens, a son and a daughter.

The Marin Women’s Hall of Fame event starts at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Embassy Suites in San Rafael. For more information, click here.