Women’s Business Group Opens Chapter

Working women, whether they serve lattes in coffee shops or run their own firms, can join the county’s newest chapter of the American Business Women’s Assn.

Founders of the Buena Park chapter, the ninth in the county, said they want to provide all working women with a ready network of business and personal sources.

In contrast to some professional organizations, the ABWA has few criteria.

“The only qualification is that you have a job,” said Marcia Salley, a health coordinator who founded the chapter with computer specialist Carol Peterson.

The national organization, which started in 1949, was recognized by Congress in 1983 and opened to men four years later, Peterson said.

Nationally, the group has 1,900 chapters and about 90,000 members, according to Salley. In Orange County, the organization has two chapters in Anaheim, and one each in Orange, Fullerton, Placentia, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach and, for South County residents, a South Coast chapter.

While the group does not offer a formal mentoring system, the founders said the network of women acts as a support system in many ways.

“It’s kind of like joining a family,” Salley said. “We had a woman who was transferred to another city. She was single and her chapter called the ABWA in that city and they met her at the airport and helped her find a place to live.”

The group, which Salley said is the fourth-largest women’s organization in the country, meets once a month and features a speaker. Residents from any city can join any chapter, she said.

For more information, call Carol Peterson at (714) 529-5299.