PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County Community Foundation Fund for Women &Girls is evolving, according to the new chairwoman.

Julie Gertler is taking over as the fund’s chairwoman as founder Debbi Steele takes a step back after seven years of running the organization.

“The fund will be guided by a set of new operating principles and will aim to change lives so women and girls can be safe, secure, equal and empowered, ” Gertler said.

“We expect to change lives, increase the fund’s visibility, as well as its funding base. We are reaching out to younger women to participate, both as supporters and people who understand the needs.”

Said Steele, who remains on the steering committee: “I believe we are going to get better and do more for the community with our new governance format. We are going to be worth watching in the next few years.”

The group has worked with domestic abuse survivors, who have learned more about financial management and cooking healthy meals for themselves and their children, Gertler said.

It also has promoted the study of math and science by middle school girls, hosted dance programs to help adolescents become more accepting of their bodies and presented films, panels and lectures on issues facing women and girls, Gertler said.

Efforts have been supported by volunteers and by the proceeds of the annual Wearable Art Show.

The new steering committee includes women and one man with considerable experience in the group’s issues, Gertler said.

Gertler founded the Women’s Center at Council House in Los Angeles in 1980. She chaired the Women’s Issues Task Force of a national membership organization, and in 1986, she founded Consensus Inc., pioneering community engagement strategies for government agencies, businesses and nonprofit organizations, she said.

Steele arrived in Port Townsend in 2007 after 10 years in Alaska. She set up the Fund for Women &Girls and its major fund generator, the Wearable Art Show. The group now has more than a quarter of a million dollars in its endowment fund.

Steele is a former president of the National Organization for Women branch in Southern California. In the 1980s, Steele started a professional women’s breakfast club that is still growing strong. She received the 2012 American Association of University Women Women of Excellence Award and in 2015 was nominated as Port Townsend Citizen of the Year.

Also on the steering committee are Ruth Baldwin, who has been working toward the development of the PT Eco Village; Jan Whyte, a “founding mother” of the Fund for Women &Girls; Marla Althouse, the Wearable Art Show committee chairwoman; Judith Chambliss, chairwoman of the grant committee and a professional mediator; Jane Ludwig, education committee chairwoman and a registered nurse; and Rick Schad, marketing committee chairman and the first man on the group’s board.

To get involved, email name and interest to info@fundforwomenandgirls.com.