Carleen’s Story

After 25 years of making money for others, Carleen became a business owner. Founded in 2013 as a sole proprietorship, Imagine by Carleen has evolved to an S-Corp full-service therapeutic day spa. Carleen started her business with very little capital and a $5,000 interest free loan supported by the Women’s Foundation of Southwest Florida. She turned a small profit and earned a small income in the first year.

Imagine by Carleen is currently transitioning from a day spa to a wellness spa with additional service providers and increased business revenue. In December 2016 the spa will move from 1850 ft.² to a new 3300 square-foot business unit which Carleen’s corporation is purchasing with the help of an SBA Loan. This will enable the wellness spa to flourish with 9 treatment rooms and an educational/workshop space to further benefit clients. New therapists will be on hand for alternative wellness treatments like meditation and stress management, coaching for nutrition and more opportunities to book massages and facial treatments with multiple therapists working the same hours. Carleen plans to increase her service menu to include permanent makeup and certification in acne and skin cancer awareness.

The Women’s Foundation offers 0% interest loans up to $10,000 to boost the economic clout of female entrepreneurs in Southwest Florida.  Between 2002 and 2012, Florida had the fourth highest growth rate in women-owned businesses in the country. Despite growth in the number of businesses owned by women, the share of the private sector workforce employed by women-owned businesses and the revenues of women-owned businesses have remained relatively stagnant since 2002.

Protecting Malawi’s Girls from Early Marriage

More than half of Malawian girls marry before age 18. But Memory Banda defied convention and beat the odds. Unlike so many girls in her own community, , Memory stayed in school and refused to marry until she finished her education..

In 2011, Memory joined the Girls Empowerment Network (GENET), one of  Rise Up’s key partners in Malawi. Rise Up provided funding and support to GENET, who trained Memory and 200 more girls in leadership, advocacy and public speaking.

The girl leaders mobilized hundreds of other girls to raise their voices and convinced 60 chiefs to pass by-laws that raise the minimum marriage age to 21. These by-laws protect thousands of girls from child marriage.

Memory and the girls’ campaign led to Malawi’s 2015 passage of a national law outlawing child marriage. Rise Up continues to support GENET and the girl leaders to ensure effective implementation of the new law to protect millions of girls from early marriage.

Memory shared her powerful story in a TED Talk that now has over 1 million views.

Rise Up recently received $2.5 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to scale up this important work to end child marriage by creating ENGAGE — Enabling Girls to Advance Gender Equality. We are honored that First Lady Michelle Obama selected ENGAGE to be part of the White House Let Girls Learn initiative.

The results: 100% + 22 + 32K + 76%

Since 2013, the LifeWork Project of the Women’s Fund of Southeastern Massachusetts has supported 30 participants, predominantly single mother heads of household, to set goals and earn financial incentives of up to $1,000 annually.

Participants progress through the pillars of the Bridge to Self Sufficiency: family stability, well-being, education and training, financial management, employment and career management.

After three years of the pilot program, participants have:

• Family stability: 100% stable housing situations.
• Well being: All participants report a greater sense of confidence and ability to overcome barriers
• Education and training: 13 women have earned associate degree, five have earned academic certification, and four have successfully completed their first year at a four-year college—all of which are returning for their second year.
• Financial management: Participants have earned a combined total of over $32,000 in financial incentives and deposited more than $20,000 into savings accounts.
• Employment and career management: 76% of participants were working at the end of 2015, up from 52% in 2014, and up 35% from the beginning of the program.

Read more about the LifeWork program.

Mapping workforce change

The Women’s Foundation of California is collecting quantitative and qualitative data from innovative workforce organizations to create a roadmap of what policies and systems should be prioritized and how to influence strategic changes within them. They also support effective collaborations to influence systems improvement.

Their grantee partner Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project dialogues with healthcare and safety-net providers, police departments, legal centers and others to raise awareness about the importance of cultural and linguistic access for the local indigenous immigrant community.

This advocacy has improved community health and well-being for many of the farm working women served by these partners.

Read more about The Women’s Foundation of California or explore their interactive California Women’s Well-Being Index.

Minnesota’s Women’s Economic Security Act

Women’s Foundation of Minnesota integrated policy, research, and grantmaking strategies to educate policy makers about the systemic issues women face. These efforts led to lawmakers’ support for the successful passage of the Women’s Economic Security Act of 2014.

This is the first time in state history that policymakers — Republicans and Democrats, alike — prioritized women’s economic security as key to the overall economic security of the state and of all Minnesotans. The Act addressed the root causes that prevent women from gaining an economic foothold and securing a pathway to prosperity in the state.

The Act includes 14 separate laws covering job protections for pregnant and nursing women, an increase in the minimum-wage, increased state funding for the Department of Education and Economic Development, and $500,000 to establish a program to increase the number of women in high-wage, high-demand, non-traditional occupations.

Through this process, theWomen’s Foundation of Minnesota has become a recognized leader among legislators and advocates within and beyond the state.

Read more.

$19,364: This is the median income for a single mom in New Bedford, Massachusetts

Research commissioned by the Women’s Fund of Southeastern Massachusetts provided an essential blueprint for the status of women’s economic security in Southeastern Massachusetts. They found:

• one-third of New Bedford families are headed by a single female
• 11% of single moms who work full-time/year-round still live in poverty
• the median income for a single mom in New Bedford is $19,364

Determined to address this, the Women’s Fund’s launched the Task Force on Pathways for Women to a Living Wage—a cross-sector collaboration of over 40 individuals and organizations. The Task Force studied key barriers for women and best practices. They identified 27 recommendations for action in six categories, agreeing to focus on changes that would increase opportunities for low-income girls and women and, in particular, girls and women of color.

The six categories for action are:

1. Increase access to quality free or affordable early education and child care
2. Create equity in employment, benefit, and wages
3. Increase living-wage focused education and training access and completion
4. Improve health, safety, and well-being
5. Strengthen, improve, and protect safety net and economic mobility public programs
6. Increase civic leadership and political participation

Through funding researching and leading cross-sector collaborations, women’s funds play a vital role in improving the lives in their communities.

Read more.

Economic security is a car and a degree

Jamielee, a mother of two young children coordinated her life to fit into a small geographical footprint. She did not have her driver’s license and lacked the resources and confidence needed to obtain it. Without a license, a car, or reliable public transportation, Jamielee’s options to further her education at a four-year institution and, thus, obtain better employment opportunities that would allow her to support her family were limited.

Many women face significant barriers to accessing higher education and employment opportunities. The Women’s Fund of Southeastern Massachusetts’ LifeWork Project assists 30 low-income women—mostly single mother heads of household—to accomplish specific goals that help put them on a path that leads from education, to a job, to a living wage. LifeWork also helps them to accumulate a savings account of up to $4000, including a $2000 match to support them beyond the program.

Jamielee set two goal: to attend a State University and to get her driver’s licence, so that she could get to the university. From there, she created a step-by-step plan to achieve them that included mentorship and earned financial incentives.

In the fall of 2015, Jamielee passed her driver’s test and drove to her first class at Bridgewater State University. In 2016, she is heading back for her second year.

Discover more about the LifeWork program.

Monique’s story

Monique is a single mother of two small children. Even though she was working, she couldn’t provide the stable home she dreamed for her family. She struggled to pay her bills. She lived in her car for a time. For five heartbreaking months, her daughter Shaniyah had to live with her godparents while Monique managed to care for her baby B.J.

But then life changed. A friend texted her a link to an ad for Prescription for Success, a program funded by The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham, which gave Monique the training she needed to become a pharmacy technician at Walgreens.

“There were times which I doubted myself,” she remembers. “But everyone around me, especially my career counselor, Christine McLain, was so encouraging. They would not let me give up.” While she was in class or studying, her children were in an educational childcare center at Head Start just down the hall.

“The Women’s Fund got me back on track in my life,” Monique said. “I was able to get a steady job and a steady home. My children saw mommy go to school and it meant a lot for them. We were all going to school. They were excited about all of us getting to learn.”

Monique decided to continue her education and starts nursing school at Jefferson State Community College this fall.

Prescription for Success is part of Families Forward, a collaborative two-generation initiative funded by The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham. These programs provide single mothers with post-secondary education and skills training needed for in-demand jobs such as pharmacy technicians, vision assistants, or dental assistants while simultaneously providing quality early childhood education for their children. In the past two years, 214 women have enrolled in post-secondary programs; 310 of their children are in quality childcare. These post-secondary certificate programs have an 82% graduation rate.

To facilitate collaboration, The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham also created Collaboration Institute, a two-year curriculum to bring agencies that work with women and children together to remove obstacles to success and provide comprehensive services. By acting as a catalyst and giving organizations time and resources to build programs together, The Women’s Fund increases impact by filling the holes in existing services.

58% of people in Central Ohio associate women with family and men with career.

In The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio’s latest research—released in the report The Pervasive Power of Gender Norms—they establish that social norms negatively influence economic self-sufficiency for women, leadership opportunities for women, and life skills for girl’s development.

What impact does this have on the economic security of women and girls in Ohio?

• 39% of business are owned by women, but male-owned business account for 88% of revenue.
• 1 in 4 female-headed households are not economically secure.
• 51% off the population are women, yet only 6 elected officials statewide are women.

At the root of many of these issues are gender norms: implicit or explicit rules, expectations, or standards that limit and define how women and men should behave and be treated by society. For example, gender norms are behind the assumption held by 58% of Ohio respondents who declared a moderate to strong bias toward associations of women with family and men with career. Gender norms have material and drastic implications for the welfare of families and our opportunities for growth as a society.

The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio wants to change this with Gender By Us: a conversation toolkit that aims to disrupt these invisible forces by raising awareness about them through facilitated conversation.

Listening to each other and understanding shared experiences is vital to creating solutions to underlying limiting social norms. Join The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio and download the toolkit. Be part of the conversation.

460000 Chicago workers now have paid sick leave

In a 48 to 0 vote on June 22, 2016, the Chicago City Council passed a landmark ordinance guaranteeing workers the opportunity to take paid time off when they or their loved ones get sick. The law will benefit 460,000 workers—42 percent of the city’s private sector workforce—who currently lack paid sick leave. Over three-quarters of those who will benefit are in low-wage jobs earning under $20,000 per year and a great many of them are women.

The victory is thanks to the advocacy of The Earned Sick Time Chicago Coalition, a partnership of community, faith, women’s advocacy and labor organizations. Chicago Foundation for Women was an active member of the coalition and awarded grants to support several coalition members including The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Women Employed, and Arise Chicago.

The ordinance was based on the framework created by a working group that held discussions for more than a year. Working group members, including member K. Sujata, Chicago Foundation for Women’s President and CEO, were appointed by Mayor Emanuel to investigate the issues facing working families in Chicago and develop recommendations to strengthen protections for working Chicagoans.

250 more diverse women leaders in Western Massachusetts

The Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts developed their Leadership Institute for Political and Public Impact program in response to a shortage of women in civic leadership positions, in public office, and serving on boards.

The coursework equips women with the tools and confidence to become civic and political leaders by focusing on areas such as public speaking, community organizing, the legislative process and policy-making, personal finance, fundraising and campaigning, and board service.

Over 250 women with various socioeconomic backgrounds, ages, major ethnic groups, and non-native English speakers have gone through the program and now serve their communities in many ways:

• 22 ran for elected office
• 1 graduate is the first female police chief of her city and has since increased the number of women on her force by 15%
• 3 received governor appointments
• 3 attended Yale Women’s Campaign School
• 5 participated in Citizens Legislative Council
• 1 won race for a city mayor position and she appointed three Leadership Institute for Political and Public Impact alums to her cabinet
• 1 appointed as Female Minority Affirmative Action for the Massachusetts State Democratic Committee

“Scars show … what made you strong.”

“Scars show your character, your love for yourself, and what made you strong,” reflected Janae*, a 6^th grader, after completing a photography program focused on role models, strength, beauty, and self-esteem.

Adolescent girls living in poverty are at high risk of teen pregnancy, school dropout, and poor decision-making. A girl’s self-esteem plummets at age 12. Additionally, by 8^th grade, at least 2,000 girls are not meeting standards in major subjects. Quality out-of-school programming has shown to be a significant leverage point that can improve academic performance, create healthier lifestyles, and lower rates of juvenile crime. 

The WNY Women’s Foundation is the only funder in the WNY region partnering with organizations to provide out-of-school time programs specifically designed to enhance the experience of adolescent girls. Partnerships go far beyond financial investment. We link programs to activities, experiences, mentors for the girls, and resources that can move them forward.

Thanks to this specialized programing, Janae* and her peers gain confidence and self-esteem, see beauty in their imperfections, encourage one another, and approach their life in a positive way.

Advocating for Working Mothers

Julie* is a recent paralegal graduate who ran into the issue so many mothers face when entering the workforce: either to put her career on hold or her savings on the line to cover the exceptionally high cost of child care.

Without subsidies, many parents, especially single mothers, cannot afford to join the workforce. Child care costs in Erie County can be as high as $13,000 for just one child, and Erie County has had a waiting list for services since April. Currently, only 22% of eligible children in New York State are served by subsidies. Without subsidies, child care can cost minimum-wage workers 75% of wages. To make matters worse, mothers often refuse promotions or raises so their supports are not taken away.

The WNY Women’s Foundation advocates for mothers like Julie*.  In 2016, we helped secure an expanded child care subsidy program for Erie County families earning up to 275% of the federal poverty level. By advocating for legislative, budgetary, and policy change, we create ripple effects that help move families out of poverty to economic self-sufficiency.

With this new support in Erie County, Julie* will take pride in her work and be able to support her family!

Discover more.

Community colleges matter for low-income women

Community colleges are key entry points to education and training opportunities for low-income women. In an effort to successfully address the special needs of this population, one promising intervention to help low-income women meet their career goals is to engage them and their children at the same time—often known as a “two-generation” approach.

The Washington Area Women’s Foundation works with the Northern Virginia Community College to design an innovative two-generation program that engages low-income parents, their children, and their child care providers (often low-income women themselves). Women work to achieve post-secondary credentials while simultaneously engaging in college readiness interventions for and with their children.

Women like Amanda. Last year, Amanda visited Northern Virginia Community College’s (NVCC) Annandale campus with her five-year-old daughter. With welcoming signs and smiling faces, college staff greeted Amanda, her daughter and three busloads of four- and five-year-olds, their childcare providers, and other parents. The field trip was organized by NVCC’s Adult Career Pathways program in collaboration with Amanda’s daughter’s child care center.

The Adult Career Pathways program serves adult students with barriers to college access and success, including veterans, single mothers, low-wage workers, unemployed and underemployed individuals. The group learned about college majors, and visited various buildings and campus offices. Each stop allowed college staff to share a little bit about college and its purpose. During the visit, Amanda was introduced to the NVCC experience and left motivated to consider earning a college credential or degree to better her chances in the labor market.

In 2015, close to 200 women just like Amanda went through this program: enrolled and earned post-secondary credits.

Goodwill adopts gender lens

Investing in workforce development with using a gender lens means specifically addressing the obstacles low-income women face, including caregiving responsibilities, lack of transportation and a dearth of mentors or role models.

Goodwill of Greater Washington did not initially have a gender focus in their workforce development programs but, after an investment by the Washington Area Women’s Foundation, expanded its internal capacity to provide female-focused services and case management. Since adopting this gender-lens approach, Goodwill has seen remarkable results. Program participants are much more likely to remain enrolled, graduate from the program, and access and retain good-paying jobs.

These results prompted the organization to also adopt job retention and career advancement strategies for the low-income women who work in Goodwill’s retail stores, changing the way they considered career pathways in their own organization.

Goodwill serves women who often face a variety of barriers to securing employment, such as chronic unemployment, disabilities, low educational attainment, inadequate transportation, child care concerns, housing, and food insecurity. Goodwill’s expertise in tailoring programs to the unique needs of low-income women involves a comprehensive approach that teaches soft skills as well as industry-specific skills, builds work experiences, and connects participants with supportive services and mentors.

Goodwill’s success illustrates the importance of using a gender lens in approaching workforce development programs, ensuring women receive the specific wrap-around and supportive services that can help remove barriers to education and training and put them on a path to economic security.

Ana’s Story

Ana came to the United States from Rwanda seeking a better future for herself and her children. Despite having an accounting degree, she had not been able to hold down good, permanent employment, having to work instead two full-time, low-wage jobs to provide for her family. It was difficult for her to make ends meet.

Training Futures, a workforce development program at Northern Virginia Family Service, helps women who are unemployed or underemployed in low-wage occupations secure new or better-paying jobs. A cornerstone of the program is the wrap-around supportive services and case management it provides to program participants.

Through participating in the program, Ana received training and supportive services—including counseling, English language classes, and mentoring—that, ultimately, led to her securing a full-time position at Prince William County Government. Her new position includes benefits previously unavailable to her, such as health insurance and paid time off. She can now provide for her family while also save for her retirement and her children’s education.

Experience like Ana’s, the Training Futures program, and many of the Washington Area Women’s Foundation’s grantee partners has repeatedly shown that longer-term, on-going support that begins in education and job training and continues after job placement is critical to ensuring the ultimate success of program participants. Case managers must have a deep understanding of the complexities of participants’ lives in order to provide the specific type of support each participant needs including connecting them with external organizations that deliver services effectively.

G.E.D.

One way the Washington Area Women’s Foundation works to eliminate the persistent barriers to economic security for women is through investing in workforce development.

Specifically, the Academy of Hope, a grantee partner of The Washington Area Women’s Foundation, has embraced a Career Pathways model. They combine occupational training, GED preparation, advanced academic courses (bridge to college) and career/college counseling for low-income women. They are unique in that they serve District residents at all literacy levels.

It takes women, on average, two and a half years to prepare for the GED exam through this program. Academy of Hope have seen time after time the success stories of low-income women defying the odds to further their education.

Diana is one of them. She suffered abuse as a child and lived in a highly unstable family environment that impacted her academic performance. She was eventually placed in foster care, but was not able to obtain her high school degree. Without this credential, she was only able to secure low-wage jobs with unpredictable shifts and no benefits. She knew the first step to turning her life around was obtaining a high school credential, so she enrolled in Academy of Hope.

Diana persisted through every obstacle and received her GED. Now, she is working part-time as a peer mental health counselor. She’s not stopping there. Her goal is to continue her studies beyond the GED and work full-time in this field.

690,000 people like medically accurate sex ed

An unplanned pregnancy, particularly as a teenager, can make it much more difficult to achieve economic security:

• One third of teen mothers don’t finish high school and they are are more likely to live in poverty.
• Their daughters are more likely to become teen mothers, themselves, and their sons are more likely to be incarcerated.

Through FactNotFiction.com and FactNotFiction on Facebook, the Women’s Foundation of Mississippi is meeting teens where they are—on social media and on their smartphones—with medically-accurate, fact-based sex education to help reduce teen pregnancy (and STI) rates. And teens are listening.

With more than 690,000 likes on Facebook, FactNotFiction equips teens with real knowledge in a format that feels more like entertainment than education. The online community continues to grow as a go-to resource for teens.

After 30 years of trying, she finds college success

Over the span of 30 years, Melissa started and stopped college numerous times.

Derailed by major life events such as complications of pregnancy, death of her husband and being a single parent of two small children, and diagnosis and treatment of cancer, she was hesitant to try again. So Melissa stayed out of college. Instead she worked until she developed numerous health conditions and extreme obesity. Bedridden, she was told she was dying. She felt like she wanted to die.

In 2013, Melissa decided she did not want to be a negative influence on her granddaughter. She found new ways to manage her health issues, lost weight, and reignited her wish for getting a degree. She started back to college for her fifth time—this time participating in the EMPOWR (Empowering Mentors to Promote Women’s Retention) program.

EMPOWR is a program of the Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University and is a grantee of the Women’s Foundation of Mississippi. EMPOWR combines peer mentoring and interactive sessions to increase social integration and retention of nontraditional female students age 22–60.

With a 3.6 GPA, Melissa is determined to finish college and attributes her success to EMPOWR.

Discover more about EMPOWR.

Emergency fund helps women stay in college

One third of Mississippi’s female community college students are supporting dependent children. With these demands, it can take seven years to finish a two-year degree.

The Women’s Emergency Fund at Jones County Junior College provides quick funds to remove everyday obstacles such as transportation, childcare, and healthcare needs that can derail a woman from getting a degree.

The Women’s Emergency Fund, a grantee of the Women’s Foundation of Mississippi, helped more than 43 students during the project’s first two semesters. Grants ranging from $15 to $1,500 have helped women pay for needs such as test fees for nursing state licensing, car repairs, EpiPen and blood pressure medications, and establishing household utilities and pantry staples after leaving an abusive relationship. With this short-term, crisis-based assistance, these women were enabled to continue their education.

Find out more.

Domestic abuse impacts economic security

The Victorian Women’s Benevolent Trust funded leading nonprofit Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand to measure the impact domestic violence has on a woman’s long-term economic security. Survivors of domestic abuse often experience poor economic outcomes, including: reduced access to savings and assets, lack of financial confidence, lower levels of workforce and educational participation, and damage to credit records.

This impact is even worse for women where economic abuse was also part of the pattern of violence—an estimated 1.86 million Australian women have experienced economic abuse in their lifetime.

Indicators established for measuring economic impact:

1. Survivors’ workforce &/or education participation before, during & after violence; & current participation levels compared to population-wide data.
2. Survivors’ income levels before, during & after experiencing domestic & family violence; & current income levels compared to full-time equivalent earnings & relative to a poverty line.
3. Survivors’ experience of economic deprivation before, during & after experiencing domestic & family violence; & current experiences of economic deprivation relative to population averages.
4. Cost of Living Index for Survivors compared to broader population.
5. Survivors’ experience of housing stress before, during & after experiencing domestic & family violence; & current housing stress levels compared to population averages.
6. Number of survivors reliant on Income Support before, during & after experiencing domestic & family violence.
7. Adequacy of income support based on comparisons to poverty lines.
8. Survivors financial literacy & money confidence before, during & after experiencing domestic & family violence; & current levels of financial literacy compared to population averages.
9. Survivors financial inclusion before, during & after violence; & current financial inclusion levels compared to population averages.
10. Survivors’ economic resources before during & after experiencing violence, & current economic resources compared to population averages.
11. Survivors’ superannuation balances compared to other average amounts for same age bracket.

Shadura’s Story

Shadura grew up in a series of foster homes in Trenton, NJ. In a city where more than 30% of residents live in poverty and only 52% of its students graduate high school, she could have become another statistic. But in middle school, Shadura joined Trenton Female PEERS, a teen support group at Millhill Child and Family Development Center.

From age 13 to 18, PEERS provided Shadura with year-round opportunities for academic enrichment, mentoring, and leadership development. She and her “peers” met weekly to share struggles and triumphs. Together, they gave back to their community, developing interactive workshops on topics from gang awareness to bullying, which they presented to nearly 3000 Trenton students each year.

PEERS gives kids who have grown up in poverty the opportunity to learning the skills they need to survive and flourish both in their own communities and in the larger world.

The Princeton Area Community Foundation’s Fund for Women and Girls believes the path to economic security for women begins with nurturing girls. As part of its investment in health, education, and mentoring initiatives, they have supported the Millhill Female PEERS program since 2011.

Shadura has since received a full scholarship to Brown University and studied abroad in India. She graduated in 2016 and today is a self-assured young woman teaching in New Orleans. Shadura is proof of what can happen when we support girls to build their confidence and resilience.

Zip code 38126

In 2015, the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis announced their Vision 2020 Strategic Plan to reduce poverty by five percent over five years in zip code 38126, where 62% of adults and 76% of children live at or below the poverty line. Hear from the women they’ve already helped in 38126:

In April 2016, they announced a year one investment of over $1 million in 38126 to 22 grantee partners.

The five goals of Vision 2020 are to:

• Support families in zip code 38126 in securing resources to meet their basic needs
• Equip residents with marketable job skills to gain living wage employment
• Ensure that all children age 0-5 living in 38126 will be prepared to enter and learn in kindergarten
• Develop positive outcomes in youth that include competence, confidence, connection and character
• Help families gain the financial education skills to help them reduce poverty

Helping 133 mothers battle addiction

Waikiki Health’s PATH Clinic used a $5000 seed grant from Women’s Fund of Hawai`i to integrate clinical behavioral health services into their obstetrics/gynecology and primary care practice to provide more comprehensive care to pregnant and parenting women battling addiction.

Total social worker encounters with patients and unduplicated patients far exceeded projections, and many stories of positive impact exist, among them, Kristina’s*.

Homeless, three months pregnant, and with a 20-year history of drug abuse, Kristina came to PATH after being incarcerated for auto theft, arriving in shackles and a green prison jumpsuit. Months after working with PATH’s behavioral therapist and other PATH professionals, Kristina gave birth to a healthy baby girl. She recently completed her Business Communication Certificate and will pursue her Bachelor’s in Applied Behavioral Science this fall. Kristina plans to become a social worker so she can help others with substance abuse challenges.

By the numbers:

• Behavioral Therapist hours/week: 12
• Time Program has been in place: 1.5 years
• Patient Visits: 741
• Unduplicated Visits: 133

*Her real name, according to her wishes.

A bus pass out of homelessness

Leilani*, a 62 year-old disabled homeless woman, found herself living under a viaduct in Honolulu after a bad relationship got worse. She lived there under the freeway for years before receiving a bus pass through Project DATE. The program—E Holoholo Kupuna Wahine Bus Pass Program (Senior Women Getting Around)—was funded entirely through a grant from Women’s Fund of Hawai`i.

Leilani’s senior bus pass allowed her to leave the neighborhood and see a doctor. The doctor certified Leilani’s disability, which led to greater freedom. Specifically, as a disabled person, Leilani was entitled to a permanent bus pass, which allowed her to continue improving her situation.

She obtained her identification card and had interviews with a social worker (the homeless must find their way to social workers, not the other way around).  Her social worker helped Leilani with a Section 8 (housing) voucher and obtaining monthly disability payments ($330/month maximum).

This formerly homeless woman now lives in a much nicer part of Honolulu in an apartment obtained through Section 8. She still visits the viaduct on Wednesdays for a free bag of food. After two decades on the street, Leilani is grateful for the “incredible” housing and monthly income, thanks to that first bus pass and the ability to holoholo.

*Name changed to protect identity.

Furaha’s Story

Furaha comes from a large family living in Kilifi, Kenya. After finishing primary school, her father refused to pay for her secondary education. Often, limitations placed upon adolescent girls due to cultural norms and societal structures restrain them from fulfilling their potential, leaving them generally less educated, less healthy, and less free than their male counterparts.

Furaha turned to sports and started playing football (soccer) at Moving the Goalposts—a local implementing partner for the Women Win’s “Building Young Women’s Leadership Through Sport” program. Furaha loved it! Even though her community was initially not supportive of her playing football, she persisted—and she was good at it!

Moving the Goalposts provides sports and life skills sessions for Furaha and many other girls like her. They learn about their sexual and reproductive health and rights and build financial literacy. Furaha was also trained as a coach, referee, and a peer educator, which gives her opportunities to find employment beyond the program.

As a result, was offered a scholarship from Kilifi High School. This meant Furaha was able her to attend secondary school after all … and continue to play football.

Hear Furaha tell her own story in a video she created as part of Building Young Women’s Leadership Through Sport digital storytelling workshop:

45,828 girls know where to get money to start a business

Women Win reached over 65,000 adolescent girls and young women in seven countries through their three-year “Building Young Women’s Leadership Through Sport” program.

Launched in 2013 in collaboration with eight local partner organizations, Building Young Women’s Leadership Through Sport increases adolescent girls and young women’s leadership skills in formal and informal decision-making processes through sport- and life-skills sessions. They then practiced these skills in an international mentorship program and digital storytelling workshops.

Women Win focused on helping adolescent girls and young women improve their knowledge, attitudes and behaviors in relation to key rights issues including their sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender-based violence, and economic empowerment.

The program works:

• 9 out of 10 girls say they are a leader
• 9 out of 10 know that a woman has the right to say no to sex
• 70% know where to get money to start a business
• 97% of parents have an improved perception of their daughter as a leader
• 8 out of 10 now know how to prevent pregnancy, compared to only 3 out of 10 before

Discover more about Building Young Women’s Leadership Through Sport.

Young + Old = Affordable Urban-Grown Food

East New York Farms! is an urban agricultural project of United Community Centers, a neighborhood-based organization that has served East New York, Brooklyn for over 60 years. East New York Farms promotes community-led economic development by partnering local youth with elderly gardeners who work collaboratively to sell their harvest. Together, they increase access to affordable urban-grown food for local residents while stimulating the local economy and generate supplemental income through urban agriculture.

This intergenerational model builds food and economic justice, creates access to healthy food for local residents, generates supplemental income for older women gardeners and provides local youth the opportunity to engage in hands-on learning around environment.

The New York Women’s Foundation creates and equitable and just future for women and families by investing in bold community-led solutions. The East New York Farms! Program is one of over 70 grantee partner organizations that receives support from The Foundation for the critical work that they are doing in creating equitable and just futures for women, families and communities in New York City.

Check out the video to learn more!

Three building blocks for change

The Partnership for Women’s Prosperity (PWP) has helped 43,200 women move from poverty to prosperity.

Their “Theory of Change” is based on three building blocks to support women’s economic security:

• Education and workforce development: Increase women’s educational attainment level and training opportunities for high-demand fields and occupations including English literacy, occupational credentials, and basic education.
• Financial literacy: Provide support and education on issues related to assets and savings, budgeting, credit and budget management, IDA enrollment, homeownership, and tax preparation.
• Benefits and wrap-around services: Advocate for maintenance of wrap-around services and social safety net including, but not limited to, childcare, transportation, food, and housing assistance.

Read more about PWP.

PWP members:

• New York Women’s Foundation 
• Washington Area Women’s Foundation
• Women’s Foundation of California
• Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis
• Women’s Foundation of Minnesota
• Women’s Foundation of Mississippi

2160 Memphis women

2160 Memphis women have received job training and job placement assistance as part of Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis’s HOPE model, which provides comprehensive, personalized, and proactive case management and wrap-around services designed to meet the needs of families as identified by the family members themselves.

The model facilitates families’ access to GED/High School Equivalency preparation; counseling; addiction recovery meetings; anger management class; and Touch, Talk, Read, Play early education series allowing programs to address almost every aspect of a participant’s life that will contribute to overall economic stability.

Since 2004, the Women’s Foundation has invested $7.7 million into the Memphis HOPE model.

Maria’s Story

Maria*, recently divorced, began a new job as an assistant store manager in a local jewelry store late in 2014. She worried about how she would be able to pay for child care for her two daughters. The cost of full-time care for her girls would run $280 a week, impossible for her to manage on her weekly pay of $246 and monthly child support of $81.

Many families in America face the same challenge and do not have access to high-quality, affordable child care that would allow them to handle demanding work schedules. This challenge limits the potential of families, businesses and economy. Programs exist to mitigate this situation for working mothers, but the waitlists are daunting. For instance, women in Texas wait an average of six months for relief.

Dallas Women’s Foundation developed the Child Care Access Fund to bridge this gap. The Fund provides grants that allow women to work with the assurance of quality care for their children. With this assistance, Maria was able to keep her job and continue working without having to worry about whether she can afford quality child care. This summer Maria plans to enroll in a nursing program and pursue further training in the medical field with the U.S. Air Force.

*Names have been changed to protect identity.

29,867 women supported through education, job training, & employment

Since 2012, Partnership for Women’s Prosperity (PWP) has provided 29,867 women and girls with education, job training, and employment opportunities through a variety of economic security programs. So far, this means:

• 12,092 women received job training and placement
• 5,764 women obtained education, credentials, or degrees
• 11,450 women accessed benefits and work supports
• 8,836 women participated in financial literacy and asset building training
• 4,099 women completed leadership training

PWP brings together six leading women’s foundations and the Women’s Funding Network to support economically vulnerable women to gain financial and economic security:

• New York Women’s Foundation 
• Washington Area Women’s Foundation
• Women’s Foundation of California
• Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis
• Women’s Foundation of Minnesota
• Women’s Foundation of Mississippi

47% of Women’s Funding Network members invest in economic security

In 2015, 44 women’s foundations and gender equity funders within the Women’s Funding Network identified economic security as a priority funding area. In total, they invested $74.6 million toward moving women and girls from poverty to prosperity. Of this, women’s foundations invested over $11 million.

Women’s foundations are community investors, advancing women and girls’ security, leadership, and opportunities through strategic grantmaking and advocacy.

Each year, Women’s Funding Network takes a snapshot of the investments made by the nearly 100 women’s foundations and funders of gender equity within the network. You can explore the results in Mapping Investments in Women and Girls—an interactive funding map. Specifically designed for funders, nonprofits, and researchers, this map can be used to scan the women’s funding landscape, analyze funders’ giving patterns, and increase knowledge about trends in women’s philanthropy.

Economic security means gender equity in agriculture.

According to Women, Food and Agriculture Network (WFAN), women now own or co-own close to 50% of the farmland in the US. Too often, women do not learn about or apply for training that can help them secure important environmental and agricultural jobs, and start their own businesses. WFAN was founded in Iowa in 1997 to link and empower women to build food systems within communities that are healthy and sustainable, and promote environmental integrity. Since its founding, WFAN has grown to include more than 5,000 women and men across the U.S. who are committed to gender equity in agriculture and to creating local, healthy food systems.

The Iowa Women’s Foundation worked with the WFAN to support Women Caring for the Land, a training program for female ecological restoration entrepreneurs. Bridget Holcomb, executive director of WFAN notes,

“Sometimes conservation work means using chainsaws and fire, and landowners want to hire ecological restorationists to do that work. Looking around, we didn’t find a single woman who worked as an ecological restorationist. So we decided to train them ourselves.”

Training included in-the-field education, business plan development and individualized support to address issues such as equipment needs and building businesses over time. This continuing project fills a gap both for aspiring female entrepreneurs in the growing field of ecological restoration and for the rising number of women inheriting farmland in Iowa.