Founded in 1987, A Commitment to Training and Employment for Women (ACTEW) is a network of agencies providing community-based employment and training services for women.

ACTEW envisions employment and training services and programs as the bridge to women's economic self-sufficiency.

ACTEW advances women’s economic security through the promotion of labour force development for women.

ACTEW works in 3 ways to realize its mandate:

1. Building the capacity of our members and improving services that support women;
2. Analyzing policies and programs that affect women's labour market participation and educating members and others about the impact of these policies; and
3. Strengthening and expanding the channels of knowledge exchange about women's training, employment and economic security.

ACTEW is a registered charity (registration #10668 3493 RR0001).

Public Education

Public education is an important means of supporting women's training. ACTEW's research and public education work is designed to enhance our understanding of the training and education terrain by providing information related to the employment and training needs of women, as well as employment training, employment counselling and educational programs for women.

At ACTEW workshops and meetings, community organizations can exchange information and discuss women's employment and training issues. Past workshops have included a gender-based analysis of the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, strategies for complying to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), exploring a sustainable livelihoods framework in program delivery and design, and a panel on employment services for persons with disabilities.

As part of our work to advance public education related to women's employment and training issues, ACTEW also sits on several collaborative organizations, community advisory boards and working groups, including:

• Member of the Service Canada Voluntary Sector Advisory Committee (VSAC)
• Member of the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Labour Market Development Agreement (LMDA) Advisory Group
• Member of the Women's Future Fund
• Member of the Canadian Coalition for Community-Based Employability Training (CCCBET)
• Women Reference Group for the Toronto Training Board

Since 1987, we have also been pleased to be part of many committees and community networks, including:

• Steering Committee for the Centre for Study of Education and Work, OISE/University of Toronto
• Employment and Training Advisory Group for The Possibilities Project (www.possibilitiesproject.com) and Community Information Toronto's 211Toronto.ca project
• National Women's Reference Group on Labour Market Issues
• National Women's Reference Group on Labour Market Development Policy
• E-Strategy Advisory Group, Ontario Association of Youth Employment Centres (OAYEC)
• Settlement.org Steering Committee, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI)
• The Ontario Women's Action on Training Coalition (OWATC)
• The Ontario Women's Reference Group
• Tracking Impacts Coalition
• Prior Learning Assessment (PLAR), Advisory Group of the Council of Regents
• Metro Toronto Clerical Workers Labour Adjustment Committee
  Guest Editorial Board Member for Canadian Woman Studies/les cahiers de la femme Journal, "Women and Education" issue
• Guest Editorial Board Member for Confronting the Cuts: A Sourcebook for Women in Ontario, Inanna Publications and Education Inc.
• Advisory Group for the Community Workers Program, George Brown College
  Toronto Taskforce on Workplace Harassment