Women on the Job

Women on the Job (WOJ) was founded in 1981 as a private, not-for-profit advocacy organization dedicated to achieving women's equality in the workplace on Long Island. WOJ was a project of Resources for Program Development, Inc. (RPD), which had been established with funding from the North Shore Unitarian Universalist Society VEATCH Program. The WOJ program was initiated in October 1981 by co-founders Lillian McCormick and Charlotte Shapiro. Its mission was to foster equal employment opportunities for women and combat workplace discrimination against women in Long Island communities. The group worked to promote awareness of gender issues at work and in schools, to lobby for and monitor enforcement of relevant laws, to support the principle of equal pay for work of equal value, and to offer training in sexual harassment prevention. Activities included community organizing, coalition building, advocacy, counseling, research, information and referral services and the publication of resource materials. The WOJ Task Force was formed in 1982 as an outgrowth of WOJ, and provided a monthly forum for diverse women to unite, network and respond to employment challenges and problems affecting working women in the Long Island community. WOJ closed its offices in 2006. The collection includes correspondence, files on community organizations and their relations with WOJ, files relating to WOJ programs and projects, brochures, guides, studies, surveys, contact lists, mailings, press releases, publications and reference material on pay equity, sexual harassment, women as public employees, employment discrimination in general, and related legislation.

Lillian McCormick, a resident of Port Washington since 1953, embodies the best of civic activism. Her life began in Florida where her grandmother established one of the state's first orphanages. McCormick feels that her grandmother served as a role model - to see a wrong and try to correct it." McCormick recalls her childhood sensitivity to the plight of white people's domestic help who lived "on the other side of the tracks" and were called
"colored" or "blacks." She could never understand why they were treated differently. Her favorite friends were the colored housekeepers’ children who came with their mothers' to clean “the white folks homes”. Those were the only times that she could play with them because she was not allowed to go on the other side of the tracks. These childhood memories had a powerful effect upon her. Fighting for civil rights and stamping out Jim Crow racism became her battle.
In the 1940s, McCormick attended a small college for white girls in Missouri. There she conducted the first sit-in where she brought African American girls into the college tea room for sodas. The staff refused to serve them, so McCormick bought the sodas and they all sat down together. McCormick was certainly not popular but determined saying "It's their right to be served".
McCormick earned her Master's in Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh with a concentration in Community Organization in 1951. Upon graduation, she became a Board member of the Pittsburgh YWCA, moved on to Washington, DC and became Program Director at an all-white settlement house. Her first job was to develop an inter-racial program to serve the neighborhood and so she did.
In 1953, McCormick moved to Port Washington, NY with her family. She became Director or the United Neighborhood Activity Center in Great Neck. Here she addressed the educational, social and recreational needs of North Shore domestic workers who had been brought up from the South to work in white people's homes.
Again, she heard stories of how some were mistreated; i.e. sleeping in basements without proper ventilation. Her Board was not ready or in a position to address these problems. McCormick moved on!
McCormick's first volunteer job in Port was with the Community Chest to help raise
dollars for local nonprofit agencies. She represented the Chest in an effort that resulted in receiving a building known as Publishers Clearing House from Harold Mertz. The building was gifted to the Port Washington Community Chest to house multiple nonprofit organizations and was named the Mertz Community Center. The first tenants were the Education Assistance Corporation (EAC), Community Chest, North Shore Child Guidance and the local Community Action Council. The building still serves the community today.
In the sixties, President Lyndon B. Johnson developed the Anti-Poverty Program to help the poor in our country. Port Washington was designated as a poverty area to be served. McCormick became the social worker employed by the local school district to identify 30 children who would meet the federal guidelines for the Head Start Program in Port Washington. McCormick remembers talking to one of the top school administrators about the need to have classrooms available for the program. His response was "I guess they will be taking babies out of their cribs next". The Head Start program continues today.
In the 1970s, McCormick became aware of the plight of homeless children being placed in institutions in New York State. She heard judges and social service officials complain they had no options for placements. There were no group homes for run-aways found in railroad stations or wandering the streets at night. McCormick said: "I know of a home in Port Washington for sale" but zoning became a problem with neighbors complaining "not in my backyard". Legally, zoning in residential areas didn't permit two or more unrelated by blood to live in a one family residence. McCormick sought the advice of David Kadane at Hofstra law School. "How are we going to do this?" McCormick asked. Kadane replied "Just change the law". McCormick retained the services of Leonard Weintraub, an attorney, who filed a law suit against the town known as Group House of Port Washington.
The case was won in the NYS Court of Appeals and is being used around the nation to benefit a wide variety of other at-risk populations. The result of this decision in 1973 led to the establishment of the Group House of Port Washington, a home for 7-8 children who could not live at home. Group House was financed exclusively through stipends paid by the State for each child on a per diem basis and private fundraising was frowned upon. Thus, McCormick could see that the Group House couldn't survive
and that another organization had to be found in to assure proper care.
Under her guidance, Group House merged with Nassau House (now a part of Family & Children's Association) that had been operating the county's only orphanage since 1883. She donated the house and $17,300 to Nassau House with the stipulation that the dollars would be set aside for scholarships for children who wanted to go to college and had no resources. McCormick is especially proud of this effort which continues today and has awarded $1.4 million dollars since its inception to young adults wanting to pursue college or educational training programs.
In 1979, McCormick went to the Veatch Program at the North Shore Unitarian Church and asked David DeRienzis, assistant director, for a feasibility grant to establish a local shelter for abused women. Through DeRienzis' advocacy, a feasibility grant was approved by the Veatch Committee that led to the development of a Manhasset-based shelter in 1981. As Associate Director of the Coalition for Abused Women, McCormick opened and supervised Long Island's first shelter. McCormick and community leaders took on the giant task of mustering millions of dollars. The feasibility study funded by The Veatch Program concluded that the project was possible but not probable. It was a challenge and it took ten years to put it together. McCormick never gave up on her dream! What began as six cots in the back of a church and a network of families willing to take victims of domestic violence and their children fleeing to safety into their homes is now the 17-bed facility run by The Safe Center LI, Inc.
Then, always wanting new challenges to address issues of concern to her, McCormick decided to take on the plight of women in the workforce: Problems such as sexual harassment, unequal pay, lack of women in the trades, on corporate boards and in top government positions. She and her associate, Charlotte Shapiro, founded Women on the Job (WOJ), an education and advocacy organization. As part of their work iellS8"l', they met with Nassau County Executive Fran Purcell to ask him to establish a sexual harassment policy for County employees. Purcell laughed and said: "We don't need one. Also, that would give the appearance that there is sexual harassment". McCormick informed him that New York City Mayor Koch had just established such a policy in New York City. Due to McCormick's advocacy, Purcell agreed to establish such a policy and later posted it in every county office, as McCormick recommended.
She acknowledges that progress has been made during the 25 years as Executive Director of Women on the Job. She pays tribute to her task force, a coalition representing community organizations, unions, government, and religious groups standing up for women's workplace equality. McCormick emphasizes that there is much more to be done. She adds "at least now in social gatherings, I don't hear men joking about sexual harassment not being a problem because women like to be sexual harassed".
In 1985, the Board of Education in Port Washington decided to close the Main Street Elementary School and put the building up for sale to the highest bidder. She realized that the property would probably be sold for high-risers. She also knew that many older, local Port people were leaving the town because of the rising costs of living.
McCormick understood that Port needed affordable senior housing for these folks who wanted to remain in town. Another group of Port residents wanted a community center.
McCormick, again using her community organization skills, played a key role in organizing the Port community to work together to convince the Board to sell the building and the property to "Landmark on Main Street,", the newly formed nonprofit organization. The town voted yes to the referendum , which McCormick referred to as a "major coup". After the referendum was passed, McCormick and community leaders took on the giant task of mustering the millions of dollars of financial support needed to purchase and renovate the building and purchase the land. Once again, the feasibility study funded by the Veatch Program concluded that the project was possible but not probable. However, after another 10 years of challenges, the dream became a reality.
The Landmark Project is now referred to as a model providing affordable senior housing, child care, parent resources, a theater, a teen center, and a park. When McCormick was asked today how the current Landmark stacks up against the original vision of the small group that came together in her living room almost 30 years ago, she responded: "It far exceeds our original expectation. It shows what a group of committed people working together can achieve. If enough people believe in it, you can move a mountain"
Lillian McCormick was indeed fortunate not to be the family's breadwinner during those times allowing her to dedicate herself to the community work that she loved to do. She provides an inspirational story to others who want to improve the quality of life in Long Island's communities. Her passion, determination, intellect, and training have served her community well. Future leaders can learn from her.