Ripley Memorial Foundation Awards $80,000 in Multi-Year Grants

The Ripley Memorial Foundation, a donor advised fund at the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, has awarded $80,000 to four organizations through multi-year grants.

The Ripley Memorial Foundation advisors have examined the focus of their funding to serve community needs in alignment with Dr. Martha Ripley’s legacy. In the past two years, as access to women’s healthcare was severely restricted at the federal level and in many states, Ripley grantees shared that general operating support creates opportunities for success during challenges such as staffing transitions, post-pandemic expenses, and the need to increase education on reproductive justice due to the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

This year, the Ripley Memorial Foundation is making larger grants, which will continue to be multi-year general operating support grants. Grants will be awarded up to $40,000 total over two years, up to $20,000 per year.

These larger multi-year grants will fund efforts to prevent teen pregnancy. Organizations will build on current work to promote access to women’s health education and services using cultural and community strengths so that young women and gender-expansive youth know about their bodies and can make healthy, informed choices as they grow.

The mission of the Ripley Memorial Foundation is to honor the legacy of Dr. Martha Ripley by funding programs that foster and enhance the health and well-being of women. The Ripley Memorial Foundation’s funding focus is on programming that promotes access to women’s health education and services built on cultural and community strengths.

Congrats to these grantees:

Centro Tyrone Guzman (CTG) | Minneapolis | $20,000 — To connect low-income Latine girls, women, and gender-expansive individuals to high-quality, culturally responsive sexual health education and support within an intergenerational context through the Raíces program, which served 92 Latine youth in grades 6-12 last year. CTG is the oldest Minneapolis-based multi-service Latine organization, committed to the well-being of Latine families through a holistic and intergenerational approach to education, health, and wellness, serving approximately 2,500 individuals annually, from infants to elders.

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (LSS) | St. Paul | $20,000 — To support the Seeing and Exploring Life’s Future (SELF)/ Sexual Transmitted Infections (STI) prevention program, for promotion support to connect with organizations. In addition, the grant supports promoting social stories, which provide clear, step-by-step instructions in genital hygiene and menstruation, such as how to use a menstrual products. LSS impacts 100,000 Minnesotans annually through over 2,400 employees and 9,000 volunteers, providing at least one service in each of Minnesota’s 87 counties.

Minnesota African Women’s Association (MAWA) | Brooklyn Center | $20,000 — To support the sexual health education programs to prevent teen pregnancy among pan-African girls by providing culturally responsive and effective reproductive health services. MAWA will reach pan-African teen youth, ages 14-18, from across the African continent, including many from newer isolated refugee communities located in the Twin Cities Metro. MAWA’s mission is to promote the health and well-being of African refugee and immigrant women and their families through research, education, advocacy, and culturally and gender-specific programming.

Our Justice | Minneapolis | $20,000 — To provide vital services such as abortion assistance funds, lodging support, free Plan B, or information about medical care, insurance coverage, and other reproductive care resources. Our Justice is a Minnesota-based reproductive justice organization and abortion fund with a mission to ensure that all people and communities have the power and resources to make sexual and reproductive health decisions with self-determination.

Learn more: www.wfmn.org/funds/ripley-memorial-fund