LATEST NEWS  |  Foundation Awards $313,000 in Social Change Fund Grants

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS - The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota awarded 21 grants totaling $313,000 through its Social Change Fund. The grant period is January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008.

“Our commitment to diversity is reflected in our grantmaking,” said Lee Roper-Batker, president and CEO of the Women’s Foundation. “Forty-three percent (9) of the total grants went to nonprofits serving women in communities of color, including African American, African, American Indian, Asian, Latina, general immigrant, and general women of color.”

This year, thirty-four percent of the total funding went to nonprofits working to combat domestic and sexual violence against women and girls in Minnesota. “Violence is so much a part of women’s lives that it’s hard to imagine its absence. In fact, one out of three women will be physically or sexually assaulted in her lifetime,” said Roper-Batker. “Our statewide donors, volunteers and grantee partners are dedicated to changing these odds.”

Through the Social Change Fund, the Women’s Foundation awards grants and provides technical assistance to nonprofits across the state working to achieve equality for women in five Cornerstone Areas of Social Change: safety and security, economic justice, health and reproductive rights, human rights, and political representation.

The following list, organized by Cornerstone area, includes all 21 Social Change Fund grant recipients.

CORNERSTONE: Safety and Security ($106,000 in funding | 6 grantees)

Asian Media Access | $19,000 (Minneapolis), to support the Ramen Ya project to create a world of safety, equality, and self-respect for Asian American and Pacific Islander girls, with a special emphasis on Hmong runaway and homeless girls (12-18) that have experienced sexual violence.

Casa De Esperanza | $19,000 (St. Paul), to develop, implement, test and document a new Latina Advocacy Framework for mainstream organizations to use to provide resources and support for battered Latina women.

Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center | $15,000 (Minneapolis), for general operating support; the nonprofit advocates for culturally appropriate social services for Native American women and families.

Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition | $19,000 (St. Paul), to create a database of interviews and documentation about American Indian and Alaskan Native women and youth being trafficked and prostituted in Minnesota; provide community education and outreach to organizations that serve Native women and youth; and identify and define the relationship between state, federal and tribal governments related to survivors’ legal issues.

Pangea World Theater | $19,000 (Minneapolis), to support the Journey to Safety theater production to artistically and emotionally explore the obstacles battered immigrant women and women of color encounter when seeking help from government agencies and their communities.

WATCH | $15,000 (Minneapolis), to provide leadership in monitoring the criminal justice system’s response to violence against women and children, including expansion of their role in promoting court monitoring, nationwide.

CORNERSTONE: Economic Justice ($63,000 in funding | 4 grantees)

Aishah Center for Women | $20,000 (Minneapolis), to empower immigrant and refugee women by developing models to achieve collective economic power through the integration of Western and culturally specific business practices.

Minnesota Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy & Parenting | $10,000 (Minneapolis), to support the Promoting Success Among Teen Parents Initiative to reframe public understanding about teen families, train state advocates, and advance work to promote success among teen parents.

Mujeres Unidas of the Red River Valley | $18,000 (Moorhead), to challenge the educational systems to increase the economic success of Latinas in the Red River Valley.

WomenVenture | $15,000 (St. Paul), to support the Sector Project for Women program to improve women’s access to and opportunities for success through higher-paying, nontraditional jobs.

CORNERSTONE: Health and Reproductive Rights ($62,000 in funding | 5 grantees)

East Hillside Patch | $15,000 (Duluth), to support the Health Equity Project to engage and train low-income women in social justice organizing as a way to educate and engage the community in transforming the local healthcare system.

Kwanzaa Community Church | $14,000 (Minneapolis), to provide community-organizing training through the Wellness Support Group Project to empower women and teen girls to analyze and exert their collective power around issues of disparities in health care for the poor and the disproportionate affect of HIV/AIDS on African American women and girls of North Minneapolis.

Midwest Health Center for Women | $15,000 (Minneapolis), for public policy advocacy to drive legislative initiatives to protect and promote women’s health and reproductive freedoms at all levels of state government.

Planned Parenthood of Minnesota - South Dakota | $5,000 (St. Paul), to support the Patient Engagement Network program to educate and mobilize patients about current state legislation, and encourage women to become more involved in policies that affect their healthcare and reproductive rights.

Women’s Health Center of Duluth | $13,000 (Duluth), to influence legislation and public policy pertaining to reproductive rights, with special focus on rural communities in northern Minnesota.

CORNERSTONE: Human Rights ($25,000 in funding | 2 grantees)

Christians for Biblical Equality | $10,000 (Minneapolis), to support outreach and educational efforts to conservative evangelicals about the Bible’s support of equality and justice for women, and that traditional use of the Bible to subordinate women to male authority are misguided.

Waite House | $15,000 (Minneapolis), to support Mujeres en Liderazgo, an internship-leadership development program that builds upon the strengths and assets of women participants at Waite House through surveys, leadership and professional development workshops, and community presentation opportunities.

CORNERSTONE: Political Representation ($57,000 in funding | 4 grantees)

Northeast Minnesota’s Rural Women’s Leadership Project | $20,000 (Eveleth), to provide resources and support to women in northeastern Minnesota to achieve political leadership, and leadership mentors to area girls. Special outreach to Native American women and girls.

Tri-College NEW Leadership Development Institute | $7,000 (Moorhead), to support annual five-day residency conference to engage women in developing leadership skills in community organizing and running for elected office.

University of Minnesota’s Center on Women and Public Policy | $15,000 (Minneapolis), to reduce or eliminate the gender gap through analysis of existing political leadership training and recruitment programs, and to identify the most effective paths to elective office for women.

Wellstone Action Fund – Sheila Wellstone Institute | $15,000 (St. Paul), to create and implement a voter engagement plan for survivors of Minnesota's 27 battered women's shelter programs and build the political power within the battered women's movement through training workshops at Camp Sheila Wellstone.

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