While Aileen Gorman was student teaching, Billy Joel—the Billy Joel—dropped out of her class claiming he would never amount to anything. Yet as we all know, the man is a household name—attracting millions of loyal fans. Aileen never thought she would end up leaving a legacy either. And yet, she did.

Her journey began on Long Island, NY, where she grew up. From there, she attended Saint John's University in Queens and graduated with degrees in Chinese and Foreign Culture. Not knowing quite what to do, she began to student teach and later, moved out of Hicksville, NY, where she was teaching to join AmeriCorps VISTA—a national service program designed specifically to fight poverty. Aileen and her college roommate packed their bags and ended up living in a shack in Alabama as they fought for the rights of Alabama's citizens. "I learned more there than I ever did in school," she said. "I learned what it took to stay alive."

It was President Kennedy's idea to launch a national program to fight poverty, but it wasn't until President Lyndon B. Johnson's term did the dream come to fruition. President Johnson launched the "War on Poverty" and welcomed the first group of 20 VISTA volunteers saying, "Your pay will be low; the conditions of your labor often will be difficult. But you will have the satisfaction of leading a great national effort and you will have the ultimate reward which comes to those who serve their fellow man." Aileen Gorman was one of those volunteers.

In the 1970s, during the intense years of segregation, Aileen and her roommate traveled south to the state of Alabama with the national relief program. They were the only two women to relocate there—accompanied by two young men. "The men went into the white community because it was male dominated in the poor areas back then, and the women went into the black community because it was female oriented," she said.

Initially, the two young women joined a Baptist church as a means to integrate themselves into the community. "I would say it took us about six months before we had any real sense of direction," she said. They helped the locals with daily chores and upkeep such as picking up the children after school and helping the neighbors plant their gardens. They were not there for long before the families they were assisting began to get cut off from their monetary assistance. Soon, Aileen and her roommate were not helping with chores, but were sitting amongst families discussing how they were to survive.

"To completely understand this, you need to have a picture of how many of these families lived," Aileen said. "[They lived in] shacks with no running water or electricity on the side of a hill. [The houses were] in danger of sliding down if the rains were bad. Those were the worst houses. The shack we rented for 20 dollars a month had electricity and eventually an indoor toilet."

Aileen and her roommate immersed themselves with the families and with lawyers to determine if the monetary cuts were legal. "We were told these women could push to be reinstated," she said. "It was very difficult to convince the women that they could fight the cuts. After all, the cuts came from the 'man' and they were afraid of fighting any white authority."

After months of encouragement and constant meetings, those same women who were once paralyzed by fear chose to march against the local welfare office and demand that their cuts be reinstated. "They needed to do it themselves," Aileen said. In the end, after intense prepping by Aileen and her roommate, most of the women won back their rights. "We were able to show these women that they had rights and they could stand up to authority as long as they went about it the right way."

Years later, she says it was this experience that taught her how to help people empower themselves, which has in turn lead her into a career of networking and community that she may otherwise have never experienced.
Today, she is the Executive Director of the Commonwealth Institute for the Boston chapter. With over 30 years of business experience working as a senior executive with Bradlees and Stop & Shop supermarket chains, she now has the opportunity to foster female entrepreneurs, CEOs, and senior corporate executives in their efforts to create successful enterprises. With her prior experience, Aileen said she could really relate to the group's mission of helping women through a forum format. "We work with women who are the decision makers in their businesses," she said.

The challenge for the Commonwealth, as with any non-profit organization, is funding. However, their most successful product is their Commonwealth Forums for CEOs. The groups meet once a month and consist of 8-10 CEOs or directors that are running businesses of similar sizes. The meeting lasts for half a day with professional facilitation in a confidential environment. "We have a very big network and it's easy for us to bring skilled resources," she says of the forum.

Though they are a networking group, the Commonwealth Institute focuses primarily on creating community. "[The term] 'networking' seems a little too superficial," she said. "It's not 'hi, here's my card'...it's helping people substantially build their companies."

It is not often that one can say they love their job. Aileen does. The reward, she says, comes from hearing individual success stories. "Hearing the testimony of members and what a particular program has meant to them, or how they viewed themselves as CEO before and how they view themselves now—that's what makes the job worthwhile," she said.

And the network continues to expand. Just recently, the Commonwealth opened a Forum in Portsmouth, NH. Though they only have six members as of right now, the members already seem to be getting a lot out of it, Aileen said. With chapters in both Massachusetts and South Florida (and now New Hampshire), the Commonwealth is one of the premiere organizations in the country dedicated to advancing the careers of women business owners and senior executives. Who knows, by targeting the female decision-makers within corporations, perhaps it is fair to say that the Commonwealth Institute has the potential to change the face of business. And with her passion for helping women and her desire to create change peacefully as she did over 30 years ago, Aileen Gorman is the woman who could make it happen.

For more information, 617-342-7172, Fax: 617-342-7080 or reach Aileen directly at 617-888-6101, agorman@commonwealthinstitute.org or
visit the website at: www.commonwealthinstitute.org.

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