Background

Launched in early 2006 to provide funding to diverse agencies in the region, the Community Women’s Fund is uniquely community-driven with annual funding priorities developed from a signature Women’s Issues Summit attended by dozens of community leaders and activists working directly with women, girls and families.

The Community Women’s Fund Review Committee, comprised of members of WOMENS WAY’s Board of Directors and community representatives conducts an intensive analysis of the proposals and makes funding recommendations for the Board.

Since its Spring 2006 inception, the Fund has awarded 52 grants, totaling over $543,000.

Spring 2008 Community Women’s Fund Grantees

The following organizations received grants from our Community Women’s Fund during the Spring 2008 cycle. Though many agencies received funding to support a particular project, several received general operating support to continue to fulfill their overall missions.

African American Female Entrepreneurs Alliance - $7,500
610-348-1363
The African American Female Entrepreneurs Alliance (AAFEA) seeks to strengthen, expand and increase the visibility and profitability of African-American female-owned businesses through education, mentoring and networking. AAFEA increases the awareness of political and government officials on the issues that affect the business climate as it relates to African-American female entrepreneurs. The organization strives to change or eliminate systems that discriminate against businesses because of race or sex.

Alice Paul Institute - $10,000
http://www.alicepaul.org/
The Alice Paul Institute (API) works to educate the public about the life and work of Alice Stokes Paul (1885-1977), New Jersey’s most famous suffragist, author of the Equal Rights Amendment, founder of the National Women’s Party and a lifelong activist for women’s equality. API received a grant to support three programs: Looking at Careers: Where Do I Go From Here? panel for female high school students from Camden County, Lead-A-Way women’s leadership workshop series for 7th and 8th grade girls and Girlblazers summer leadership camp for 5th grade girls.

Breastfeeding Resource Center - $1,316
http://www.breastfeedingresourcecenter.org/
The Breastfeeding Resource Center (BRC) is committed to providing the best in breastfeeding care to mothers and babies of all incomes. Services provided include weight checks, lactation consultation, breastfeeding consultation and developing back-to-work plans. BRC will use this grant to support their pump program allowing lower income families the use of a hospital-grade electric breast pump for one month. In some situations, a mother needs temporary use of one of these machines as they overcome certain breastfeeding obstacles.

CHOICE - $7,500
http://www.choice-phila.org/
CHOICE is a community-based organization dedicated to increasing awareness of and access to sexual health services, especially among underserved populations who traditionally experience barriers to care. CHOICE is the most often used resource for sexual health information in the region, serving more than 52,000 people each year, the overwhelming majority of whom are teens and low-income women. This grant will be used to create Girls Want to Know, a female-focused mini CD-ROM disk containing information about sexual and reproductive health, equality, violence reduction and lesbian friendly health and social service providers.

Domestic Abuse Project of Delaware County - $10,000
http://www.dapdc.org/
The Domestic Abuse Project of Delaware County (DAP) seeks to prevent domestic violence and is committed to providing services that meet the needs of victims. Free, confidential services include: 24-hour hotline, options counseling, advocacy, assistance in gaining protection from abuse orders, legal representation, court accompaniment, emergency shelter, transitional housing, support groups and community education. DAP supports an empowerment process, which enables victims to move toward self-sufficiency. To this end, DAP received this grant to support an economic empowerment program to educate survivors of domestic violence on financial literacy and help them achieve financial independence and stability.

Family Support Line - $15,000
http://www.familysupportline.org/
Family Support Line (FSL) provides professional services in a supportive and caring manner to heal and prevent child sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse is an often denied problem that occurs in all neighborhoods and has far reaching effects on children and families. FSL develops and provides numerous specialized treatment groups for children, adolescents and non-offending parents. Their Sexual Abuse Prevention Education Program provides a comprehensive approach to the prevention and early detection of child sexual abuse while their professional training programs build the resources of our community. This grant will provide therapeutic group treatment for girls ages 7-18 who have experienced sexual abuse.

Glassboro Child Development Centers - $15,000
http://www.gcdckids.org/
The mission of the Glassboro Child Development Centers (GCDC) is to provide programs and enrichment for children and youth that offer opportunities that empower and assist parents with the social, emotional, physical and cognitive development of their children. GCDC serves more than 500 children from 6 weeks to 13 years annually. Some of the programs the center provides are: daycare for infants through school-age children, summer enrichment programs, SMASH (Start Moving And Stay Healthy) and after school programs for youth in elementary through high school.

HepTREC (Delaware Valley Hepatitis Treatment, Research, and Education Center) - $9,588
http://www.heptrec.org/
HepTREC was established in 2002 to reduce the impact of viral hepatitis in the Delaware Valley. HepTREC fosters open communication and cooperation among academic medical institutions, community health care providers, public health workers and the public. Their vision includes making accurate and up-to-date information on hepatitis readily available to the general public. HepTREC received a grant to educate and empower women with histories of substance abuse so they can engage healthcare providers and receive appropriate care.

Kennett Area Communities That Care - $15,000
http://www.kennettctc.org/
Kennett Area CTC is a comprehensive, research-based, community mobilization and planning model that mobilizes key community members and leaders to identify risk factors affecting local youth, and to develop plans and programs to target those risks. Kennett Area CTC received a grant to support GirlTalk, a student-developed and student-lead weekly bilingual forum focusing on topics of critical importance to Latina high school girls that includes self-defense training.

Mountain Meadow - $10,000
http://www.mountainmeadow.org/
Mountain Meadow is a progressive and diverse community dedicated to providing a supportive and safe space for all children of LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) and other non-traditional families and their allies. This grant will underwrite a portion of the cost for girls from low-income lesbian headed households in the Delaware Valley to attend Mountain Meadow’s 2-week summer sleepover camp program.

New Directions for Women - $19,000
http://www.ndfwinc.org/
New Directions provides residential, counseling and case management services to women from the Philadelphia County Prison System. Their mission is to create an environment and community where women begin to believe they can become independent and responsible with the capacity and confidence to care for themselves and their children in pursuing law-abiding lifestyles.

PA Home of the Sparrow - $15,000
http://www.homeofthesparrow.org/
PA Home of the Sparrow’s mission is to provide housing and supportive services to homeless women who want to improve their lives and become self-sufficient. Services include: transitional housing, case management, life skills education, financial literacy education and financial support of continuing education. Home of the Sparrow will use this grant to support their case management and life skills education program for residents.

Supportive Older Women’s Network - $10,000
http://www.sown.org/
Supportive Older Women's Network (SOWN) helps women over 60, from diverse backgrounds, cope with the issues of aging by establishing and maintaining peer-led support groups, including telephone-based groups for homebound women. SOWN was awarded a grant as a partial match to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant for a joint program with the Honickman Learning Center to provide services to grandmothers raising children who receive services at the Center.

Why Not Prosper - $15,000
http://www.whynotprosper.org/
A faith-based, inclusive organization, Why Not Prosper is committed to ensuring that women in the criminal justice system have pre-release and post-release services, including transitional housing and comprehensive case management, to prepare them for successful re-entry into family and community. Their mission is to help women discover their own strength, which will empower them to become responsible, economically self-sufficient and contributing members of the community.

Women’s Community Revitalization Project - $15,000
http://www.wcrpphila.com/
The Women’s Community Revitalization Project (WCRP) is committed to social and economic justice for low-income women and their families. WCRP develops housing and neighborhood facilities; provides supportive services; advocates for policy change and honors leadership, dignity and equity in our communities. When you start with women, you are at the core of communities and families. There is power in women working together to make change. WCRP has created a model that works for community development, putting that power to work for low-income women and their families.

Women’s Law Project - $15,000
http://www.womenslawproject.org/
The Women’s Law Project (WLP) is a public interest law center that has fought for legal and economic equality for women and their families since 1974. WLP has challenged sex discrimination in employment, education, athletics and insurance; advanced the rights of lesbian and gay parents; advocated on behalf of impoverished women; worked for fair and accessible procedures in child custody, child support and protection from abuse actions and championed the rights of sexual assault survivors.

Women’s Medical Fund - $20,000
http://www.womensmedicalfund.org/
The Women's Medical Fund (WMF) provides direct financial assistance and other support to low-income women and girls in Southeastern Pennsylvania who wish to terminate an unwanted pregnancy but cannot afford a safe legal abortion. WMF also raises public awareness of the devastating impact of denying access to safe legal abortions.

Fall 2007 Community Women’s Fund Grantees

The following organizations received grants from our Community Women’s Fund during the Fall 2007 cycle. Though many agencies received funding to support a particular project, several received general operating support to continue to fulfill their overall missions.

Attie and Goldwater Productions - $5,000
http://www.attiegoldwater.com
Documentary filmmakers Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater received a grant in support of Goundo’s Daughter, now in production. GOUNDO’S DAUGHTER is the story of a young Malian mother’s quest to keep her young daughter healthy and whole. To stay in the U.S., Goundo must persuade an immigration judge that her two-year old daughter Djenebou, born in the U.S., will almost certainly be subjected to female genital mutilation if Goundo is deported. This film is due for completion in late 2008.

ChesPenn Health Services - $15,000
http://www.chespenn.com
ChesPenn Health services is a private, non-profit federally qualified health center located in Pennsylvania that has been caring for the city of Chester and the surrounding Delaware County since 1973. In 2007, ChesPenn opened a much needed health center in Coatesville for which they are receiving this grant. Prior to its opening, Coatesville did not have a pediatrician in their community. Now, citizens of Coatesville can receive culturally and linguistically appreciate health care. All services are provided regardless of one’s ability to pay.

East Side Neighborhood Connection - $7,500
http://home.comcast.net/~eastside301/
The East Side Neighborhood Connection (ESNC) was founded by a group of concerned parents who wanted to provide additional educational opportunities for children living on Chester's East Side. ESNC will use this grant to run anger management and domestic violence prevention workshops for teen girls and adult women in their service area.

Endow-A-Home - $5,000
Since 1989, Endow-A-Home has provided affordable homes and support services to formerly homeless women and their children. Through an intensive and long term case management approach, head-of-household homeless women are linked to recovery programs, government benefits, legal assistance, employment, educational resources and other services to help them achieve self-sufficiency. In an effort to end the intergenerational cycle of poverty and homelessness, children and teens are provided with activities and support systems to help them resist risky behaviors and stay in school.

Helping Energize and Rebuild Ourselves (HERO) - $5,272
HERO is a grassroots, neighborhood-based organization serving the Nicetown and Tioga communities of North Philadelphia. HERO provides the community, primarily single mothers and their children, with a variety of programs. This grant will be used to provide health and nutrition workshops and physical fitness activities for women in the area.

Interim House - $15,000
http://www.phmc.org/addictions/Interimhouse1v2.asp
Interim House provides a continuum of comprehensive services to women addicted to drugs and alcohol that includes three levels of care: residential treatment, intensive outpatient treatment and outpatient counseling. It has served as a model for innovative treatment of substance abusing women utilizing a holistic approach to treating drug and alcohol addiction that is trauma-sensitive, focusing on the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual issues surrounding addiction.

Liberty Center for Survivors of Torture - $10,000
http://www.lcfsinpa.org/survivors_torture
Liberty Centerhas offered services for restoring hope and providing healing to over 400 torture survivors, from over 45 countries, residing in Pennsylvania, Delaware and southern New Jersey. The Center facilitates access to an array of medical, mental health, legal and social services; provides assistance in job training placement, volunteer and paid employment; and offers survivors opportunities to regain their sense of self-worth and renew their ability to enjoy life. Liberty Center will use this grant to hire a part-time employee to work exclusively with female survivors of torture and their children.

Northwest Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network - $10,000
http://www.philashelter.org
NPIHN provides essential services to help homeless and at risk families attain stability. NPIHN's shelter program operates in the Germantown, Mount Airy, Chestnut Hill, Roxborough and East Falls sections of Philadelphia. Guest congregations take responsibility for two weeks to two months providing private space, food and companionship for up to 5 families. Families receive counseling and referrals, case management, life skills education and recreation. A day center provides access to computers, telephones and other resources for participants seeking employment. This grant will be used for NPIHN’s new Housing Initiative program that includes offering transitional and permanent housing opportunities within NW Philadelphia

Nurse-Family Partnership - $16,000
http://www.nursefamilypartnership.org
Nurse-Family Partnership is an evidence-based nurse home visitation program that improves the health, well-being and self-sufficiency of low-income, first-time parents and their children. Very low-income women in their first or second trimester who reside in Philadelphia may enroll in the program. Topics covered include drug and smoking cessation, accessing mental and dental health services, nutritional counseling, understanding reproductive health, the importance of breastfeeding, identifying personal goals and increasing self-esteem, among other important issues.

Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania - $15,000
http://www.ppsp.org
Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania (PPSP) is composed of a diverse team of pro-choice women and men who, on a daily basis, provide high-quality sexual health care, offer expert sexuality education and promote effective advocacy to protect our right to reproductive choice. PPSP will use this grant to run a sexuality and life skills education program for incarcerated women at Riverside Correctional Facility.

St. Mary’s Family Respite Center - $15,000
http://www.stmarysrespite.org
St. Mary's mission is to provide relief to HIV-affected families with children, through high-quality, developmentally appropriate child care to infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers. With a small trained staff, the Center can accommodate up to 50 children - ages five weeks to five years - in an enriching curriculum designed to facilitate their cognitive, physical, emotional and social development. Great emphasis is placed on preparing the child for full-time day care, Head Start or kindergarten programs. All services are provided free of charge.

Women’s Therapy Center - $10,000
http://www.womenstherapycenter.org
The Women’s Therapy Center is a private, non-profit psychotherapy center providing therapeutic services to adult women. The Center’s goal is to empower women to live their best, healthiest and most powerful lives. Clients receive services from a feminist perspective, ensuring that women find the therapist and services that best meet their needs. Clinical services include: individual, group and couples psychotherapy, workshops and trainings, educational seminars and professional trainings, clinical supervision and practicum placement sites. A sliding fee scale is available for lower income clients.