LATEST NEWS | Foundation Awards $320,000 in Social Change Fund Grants
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2006
MINNEAPOLIS - The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, the nation’s first and Minnesota’s only community foundation dedicated solely to growing equality for women and girls, awarded 23 grants totaling $320,000 through its Social Change Fund. The grants fall within the Foundation’s 2007 fiscal year (April 1, 2006-March 31, 2007).
The Women’s Foundation’s commitment to diversity is reflected in its grantmaking. Sixty-one percent (14) of the total number of Social Change Fund grants went to nonprofits serving women in specific communities of color, including African American, African, American Indian, Asian, Latina, LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender), general immigrant, and general women of color. And in addition to the Twin Cities’ metropolitan area, grantees from seven greater Minnesota communities across four counties received funding (Chippewa, Clay, Koochiching, and St. Louis).
"Every year, we are forced to turn away roughly 80 percent of the requests we receive from nonprofits trying to grow equality through social change, and this year was no different: 95 Social Change Fund proposals requesting a total of $1.5 million,” said Lee Roper-Batker, Foundation president and chief executive officer.
"I think this underscores the important role community foundations like the Women’s Foundation play in filling these huge funding gaps. Thanks to our partnerships with donors, stakeholders and grantees, we are catalyzing the power of social change to move economic, political and social equality for women and girls forward, statewide.”
Through the Social Change Fund, the Women’s Foundation awards grants and provides technical assistance to statewide nonprofits working to achieve equality for women in five cornerstone areas: economic justice, safety and security, health and reproductive rights, human rights, and political representation.
The following list includes all 23 nonprofit grant recipients funded per cornerstone for a total of $320,000 in Social Change Fund grants for fiscal year 2007 (April 1, 2006-March 31, 2007).
CORNERSTONE 1: Creating Economic Justice for Women ($64,000 in grants)
Aishah Center for Women | $15,000 (Minneapolis), to empower immigrant and refugee women by developing models to achieve collective economic power through the integration of Western business practices.
Entrepreneur’s Assistance Network | $15,000 (Montevideo), to support local business enterprise success among women through grassroots-level delivery of guidance, information, referral and support services.
KOOTASCA Community Action | $20,000 (Grand Rapids, International Falls), to address the root causes of poverty among low- and moderate-income women residents in Itasca and Koochiching counties through community engagement.
Women’s Initiative for Self-Empowerment | $15,000 (St. Paul), to create economic justice for immigrant women in the Twin Cities that are foreign-trained healthcare professionals, many of whom end up working in low-wage jobs here in the United States.
CORNERSTONE 2: Advancing Women’s Safety and Security ($64,000 in grants)
Breaking Free, Inc. | $15,000 (St. Paul), to help bring African America women and girls out of prostitution and to reframe the issue of prostitution as an act of violence against women.
Casa de Esperanza | $15,000 (St. Paul), to engage and educate Latinas and Latinos to end domestic violence in their communities.
Pangea World Theater | $14,000 (Minneapolis), for its “Journey to Safety” theater program that uses the stage 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 | $10,000 (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.
Woodland Hills | $10,000 (Duluth), for development of a national model for a gender-based treatment program for girls who struggle with chemical dependency, grief counseling, mental health, and eating disorders.
CORNERSTONE 3: Guaranteeing Women’s Health and Reproductive Rights ($64,000 in grants)
Kwanzaa Community Church | $10,000 (North Minneapolis), for the creation of a wellness support group for women and girls that will focus on self-esteem building and leadership development as a means of prevention against a variety of diseases and conditions that disproportionately affect African American women, including HIV/AIDS, teen and repeated pregnancy, heart disease and diabetes.
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.
Neighborhood House | $9,000 (St. Paul), to identify and implement locally acceptable and effective strategies to advocate for policies that will reduce teen pregnancy among Latinas and increase reproductive health.
Pro-Choice Resources | $15,000 (Minneapolis), to increase the pool of medical and surgical abortion providers by expanding educational and training opportunities for medical students and residents, and to provide support to pro-choice activists, students, residents, and physicians.
Women’s Health Center of Duluth | $15,000 (Duluth), to influence legislation and public policy pertaining to reproductive rights, with special focus on rural communities in northern Minnesota.
CORNERSTONE 4: Promoting Women’s Human Rights ($64,000 in grants)
District 202 | $15,000 (Minneapolis), to build a formal collaboration of organizations and individuals able to provide training, education, advocacy and services in support of transgendered youth, particularly young transgendered women of color.
Hmong Women’s Action Team | $15,000 (St. Paul), to provide culturally appropriate leadership development training, curriculum and forums to help Hmong women build sustainable, systemic changes within the community.
Leadership Empowerment and Development Organization | $10,000 (Minneapolis), to build women’s leadership and the capacity of African women to head nonprofit organizations in the African community.
Mujeres Unidas of the Red River Valley | $12,000 (Moorhead), to end race, class and gender bias against Latina women and girls through the organization’s Circles program.
YWCA of Minneapolis | $12,000 (Minneapolis), for the Leadership Registry Project to provide women and people of color with opportunities to have a voice on the boards of nonprofit organizations within their communities.
CORNERSTONE 5: Expanding Women’s Political Representation ($64,000 in grants)
Somali Action Alliance | $20,000 (St. Paul), to build and broaden the organization’s capacity to engage women through leadership development and action about public education for Somali children.
Tri-College NEW Leadership Development Institute | $7,000 (Moorhead), to engage women of all ages in developing leadership skills in community organizing and running for office.
Wellstone Action Fund – Sheila Wellstone Institute | $17,000 (St. Paul), to strengthen the skills of American Indian and Alaskan Native women in Minnesota to increase their influence in policy creation, electoral campaigns, and social change.
Women’s Community Development Organization | $20,000 (Duluth), to engage homeless women living in the organization’s transitional housing program in social change activities related to building women’s political representation and capacity to advocate on the subject of affordable housing.
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