New Directions Career Center is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower women in transition to achieve and maintain economic self-sufficiency. In 1980, a group of professional women formed a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting "displaced homemakers" who were re-entering the labor market as a result of being widowed or divorced. Named The Displaced Homemaker Program, it received initial federal funding funneled through the City of Columbus. Four years later, it was renamed the Center for New Directions.
In 2005, the Center changed its name to New Directions Career Center (NDCC) in an effort to better communicate its role in the community. In 2009, the Center moved its administrative offices and classroom space to 199 E. Rich Street.
The Center achieves its mission by providing holistic career counseling and career development services that help women obtain the skills, information, and resources needed to confidently live their own personal definitions of success through meaningful employment. During its 36-year history, more than 65,000 lives have been touched.
NDCC helps women define their own personal visions of career success and overcome barriers to their employment goals. The Center’s team of Licensed Professional Counselors help them find a vocational identity through a curriculum incorporating self-assessment, self-compassion and confidence building, career-exploration, education preparation, and advanced self-marketing skills.