This initiative addresses the gender aspects of economic, educational and health-related issues. Funded by the Shell Oil Company Foundation in the year 2000 for $175,000 over a three-year period, it calls for the inclusion of a gender dimension in all NCBW programs, both national and local. The first program around this initiative took place in Palm Beach, Florida, in July of 2000 and the second one in Los Angeles, California, in January 2001. A panel of experts addressed the gender dimensions related to the foregoing issues.