Women for Women Grants

Spring 2010 - Economic Self-Sufficency Funding Focus

Four grants totaling $235,000 have been awarded to the following organizations:

On Track Financial Education and Counseling - $100,000 awarded over two years for the development of the Women's Financial Em powerment Center to equip women with knowledge and skills to take charge of their finances and increase financial literacy.

Task Force on Family Violence: REACH, Inc. - $100,000 awarded over two years to expand and enhance to expand and enhance the existing Women's Resource Center's successful part-time program to provide assessment, counseling, educational training and job placement to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Cherokee, Clay and Graham counties.

YWCA - $20,000 awarded for a new advocacy program to develop a community strategy to educate and train women for living wage jobs in the emerging green economy. The YWCA will develop a working group of stakeholders in Buncombe County , a directory of green jobs and career pathways for low-income women.

Children and Family Resource Center of Henderson County - $15,000 awarded to advocate for an increase in the number of subsidized childcare spaces and the affordability of childcare. The Center also aims to raise the quality of early childhood education in Henderson County by promoting an increase in educational standards for childcare providers and reducing turnover rates.

Six grants totaling $264,000 have been awarded to the following organizations:

Blue Ridge Literacy Council - $15,000 to provide English communication and literacy skills to help women in Henderson County gain employment, better their income, and reach a higher level of independence..
The Center for Participatory Change (CPC) - $35,000 to provide intensive services to four emerging Latina worker-owned small businesses across WNC: Opportunity Threads (organic cotton sewing) in Burke County, Home Cleaning Professionals in Buncombe County, Salsaria Dona So (salsa/chili sauce production) in Transylvania County and Tortilla el Progresso in Yancey County.
MANNA FoodBank - $50,000 to expand the Teach One, Reach One (TORO) food stamp outreach program into Graham, Haywood and Mitchell counties.
Mountain BizWorks - $50,000 to continue the Women's Business Center to provide business planning programs, coaching and support services to assist economically disadvantaged women to start small businesses as part of a local match to a Small Business Administration grant of $150,000.
Pisgah Legal Services - $50,000 to sustain core, critical legal services in Madison, Buncombe, Henderson, Rutherford, Polk, and Transylvania counties at a time when women are more vulnerable than ever to economic crises.
YWCA of Asheville - $64,000 over two years to continue its Drop-In Child Care service for low-income women participating in the YWCA's New Choices Program.

Three grants totaling $280,321 have been awarded to the following organizations:

Children First - $95,000 to advocate for social changes - including a living wage and equitable child care subsidy - that will improve the lives of low-income women.
Planned Parenthood - $96,781 for an education program that teaches older, at-risk teen girls how to educate their peers about topics that include: hygiene, abstinence, teen pregnancy, self-esteem and preventing sexually transmitted infections.
WNC AIDS Project - $88,540 to use peer-to-peer education methods among African American women who are living in poverty so that they may inform and educate each other about the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Five grants totaling $270,000 have been awarded to the following organizations:

Henderson County Public Schools/Coalition for Family Literacy - $66,667 over two years for education services benefiting teen mothers, encouraging them to graduate from high school and learn job skills. The grant will also be used to teach English to Latina mothers.
Homeward Bound of Asheville - $40,000 over two years to transition homeless women from the "Room in the Inn" temporary shelter program into permanent, supportive housing.
OnTrack Financial Education and Counseling (formerly Consumer Credit Counseling Service of WNC) - $35,000 to provide financial counseling to child care workers in Buncombe County, teaching them how to better manage their money, increase take-home pay and decrease dependence on predatory lenders.
REACH of Macon County - $54,810 over two years to help women escaping domestic violence or recovering from sexual assault move from crisis intervention to increased self-sufficiency and economic independence.
Transylvania Christian Ministries - $73,523 over two years to create a transitional housing program for homeless women and their children.

Women for Women announced their inaugural grants in June 2006. A total of $213,000 was awarded to the following organizations:

REACH of Jackson County - $41,604 to launch a new program to help women escaping domestic violence and sexual assault by providing personal life skills and job skills training.
Pisgah Legal Services - $71,396 over two years to create a unique partnership with Mission Hospitals and MAHEC that will provide legal advocacy for women in a medical setting and help strengthen the safety net for women in crisis.
Western Carolinians for Criminal Justice - $100,000 over two years to begin an intensive treatment program for women in Buncombe County who are involved in the criminal justice system and the Department of Social Services.