The Portland Chapter is one of thirteen chapters in Region 9, the largest geographic region in NAWIC. The region covers Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Alberta, Canada. Over the years our chapter has chartered chapters in Eugene, Salem, and Vancouver and hosted various regional conferences for Annual Planning and Forum. The most recent being the Annual Forum in spring of 2001. Portland was also host to the 17th National convention in 1972.

The underlying core purpose of NAWIC is to enhance the success of women in the Construction Industry, but Chapter 54 has also felt the need to be a part of our future construction community. We have done this with participation in Block Kids for grade school age, Cad drafting for high school age, and scholarships on the collegiate level. The Portland Chapter has distributed well over $65,000 in scholarships alone. It also has an established scholarship endowment at Clackamas Community College. At various times we have also participated in Christmas for April and Habitat for Humanity.

On the National Level, NAWIC was established in 1955 in Fort Worth, Texas. The National Association of Women in Construction originally began as women in construction of Fort Worth. It was founded in 1953 by 16 women working in the construction industry. Knowing that women represented only a small fraction of the construction industry, the founders organized NAWIC to create a support network that was strongly supported by their bosses and male counterparts. It was so successful that it gained national status a mere two years later.

Currently NAWIC has a membership of approximately 6,000 with close to 200 chapters in almost every U.S. State and in Canada with International affiliation agreements with NAWIC-Australia, NAWIC-New Zealand, and most recently with South African Women in Construction (SAWiC). Since its national charter in 1955, NAWIC has advanced the causes of all women in construction whose careers range from the skilled trades to business ownership.