2011 Woman of the Year: Inez Whitlow

 

“We need to get these young people in the right state of mind so that they can take care of their kids – not continue to throw them in jail without any help,” said Inez Whitlow, the executive director of Chicks in Crisis, in an interview she did with the Citizen last June.

In 2011, Whitlow’s organization has helped nearly 450 troubled young people and their families in the Elk Grove area who are experiencing the hardships of teen pregnancy and being a single mom.

Through purchasing items and receiving donations from the community, Whitlow has provided the challenged youth with everything from clothes, baby food and diapers, the use of computers, and weekly cooking lessons to counseling, and classes on parenting and sexually transmitted diseases.

The work Whitlow has done for the youth in community coupled with the visions she has for continuing to help the youth in the Elk Grove area has made her the Citizen’s 2011 Woman of the Year.

“These girls that come in here don’t have a woman in their life that will teach them right from wrong,” she said of the pregnant teenage girls who walk into Chicks in Crisis.

“People keep pointing the finger at them asking why they are having babies, well if you don’t have somebody that teaches you how not to do that then they’re going to keep doing it.”

Last year, the 3,300-square foot spot on the second floor of the Grocery Outlet in Elk Grove became the new home for Whitlow’s organization; one that she started in her garage in 1997.

Without a formal business name or any helpers at the time, she offered a variety of necessities for young people who couldn’t provide for their children.

Homeless teen girls would be allowed to sleep in her garage until they found a place to stay, and she would also teach these troubled teens how to cook; a craft she learned from her mother from early on.

Whitlow knows firsthand about the troubles one encounters as a teenager with kids as she was a teen mother who was a welfare-to-work graduate working three jobs to get through school. 

Each day she, along with her two employees and team of volunteer counselors,  helps young people who are going through similar situations that she has gone through.

“I think to myself, ‘How can I teach them to be better mothers?  How can I teach them how to cook? How can I teach them how to keep their kids out of the foster care system?’” Whitlow said. “That’s what motivates me to keep doing what I do.”

In addition to the aforementioned services, Whitlow also provides adoption services at the organization, including counseling and assisting with matching and placing babies with the proper families by working with a small number of potential adoptive parents.

There seems to be no end to giving in the eyes of this mother of four children. 

Although the list of what Whitlow has done for the youth of the Elk Grove community in 2011 is long, one chat with her will instantly indicate that she is someone out of the ordinary; someone who yearns to go above and beyond, with no desire to spend much time on bragging about what she’s done.

She’s more interested in speaking about her children, her clients that come in each day, and the love she has for them.

She talks about her 6 foot, 8 inch tall, 12-year-old adoptive son’s passion to become a basketball player. She mentions her “June Cleaver-like” mom, who she happily recruited to be the cooking teacher at Chicks in Crisis.

Whitlow’s radiant smile and animated personality gives no hint of the hard times she has gone through in the past; she’s concentrated on the future.

“I’m looking forward to doing more parenting classes, more education on STDs, just more of what we’ve been doing but taking it to the next level,” she said.“My goal is to basically get more girls into my services and let them know that they will not be judged.”

She added, “It’s a fulfilling job to know that I can make a difference in a family’s life.”