Women’s Foundation Announces New Community Response Fund Grants

The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota announced an investment of $60,000 in general operating grants to six organizations through the Community Response Fund. This year, grantmaking through this fund prioritizes holistic well-being and reproductive justice in response to the continuous violation of reproductive rights and the increased demand faced by Minnesota health care providers.

Through the Community Response Fund, the Women’s Foundation invests in programs that ensure safe and healthy lives through grants to organizations and programs that respond quickly to emerging community needs that impact women, girls, and gender-expansive communities. Funding in this grant round supports reproductive justice, healing justice, and emergent community needs.

Applications to the Community Response Fund are open and reviewed quarterly by the Participatory Grantmaking committee for the duration that funding is available.
For organizations and programs interested in applying, read the Intent to Apply RFP and view the informational webinar. Applications received before December 19 will be considered for the current grantmaking quarter. For more information about this program, contact Erika Idrovo-Cuesta at erika@wfmn.org or 612-236-1814.

Grantee-Partners:

Breaking Free (St. Paul) | $10,000 – To support advocates and the relocation of the Permanent Supportive Housing program. Breaking Free empower survivors of sex trafficking and prostitution to build new lives through safe housing, direct services, effective healing programs, survivor advocacy, worldwide policy change, and hope.

Bridge for Youth (Minneapolis) | $10,000 – To support safety and stability services to meet the increased demands of female and gender-expansive youth in crisis through intervention, emergency shelter, supportive housing, counseling, case management, and aftercare. The Bridge centers youth voice, justice, and equity in all they do and empowers youth experiencing homelessness through safe shelter, basic needs, and healthy relationships.

Divine Konnections, Inc. (Duluth) | $10,000 – To support the well-being of young BIPOC mothers experiencing homelessness by providing safe housing, a safe place to heal, with the
primary goal of assisting BIPOC families in becoming healed and stable. Divine Konnections provides housing and wraparound services to homeless young mothers at Annie’s House of R & R in Duluth, as well as training and education to youth groups, parents, organizations, and churches.

Just the Pill (St. Paul) | $10,000 – To support access to reproductive services with mobile clinics along the borders of states with abortion bans to reduce travel burdens and make abortion more accessible. Just The Pill provides efficient and equitable access to reproductive health care by combining telemedicine and mobile clinics.

Resources, Justice & Management (RJM) (Columbia Heights) | $10,000 – To support the Rapid Rehousing program, which provides temporary, rapid, responsive rehousing services for women at risk of or facing homelessness in Minnesota. During the program, participants work with partner organizations to access permanent housing and stabilization efforts while also working on other human and health service needs to prevent future emergencies. RJM’s mission is to provide resources, shelter, and support services to women from underrepresented communities regain or remain in healthy stabilized life situations.

ThinkSelf, Inc. (St. Paul) | $10,000 – To expand outreach efforts and other services such as housing, legal assistance, and financial resources support for the Minnesota deaf, deaf blind, deaf disabled, late deafened and hard of hearing adults seeking full access to options for learning, safety, justice, employment skills, and community. ThinkSelf is run by, for, and with individuals with disabilities and advocates for the whole-person approach to providing necessary accommodations with a holistic, creative, and person-centered focus on disability services.