MADISON, Wis., October 2, 2024 – Investing in women and girls has the power to not only unlock their potential, but to uplift their families and strengthen our communities. Since 1993, A Fund for Women has worked to be a catalyst to unlock the potential of women and girls in our community by investing in the organizations providing them support and training.
Education and training are crucial to addressing one of the top five barriers to women’s economic empowerment: lack of family sustaining jobs. But women often face obstacles that can interfere with their ability to gain education or employment. Lack of stable, affordable childcare, transportation and housing can create insurmountable barriers to success for women and girls.
With support from AFFW, programs like those provided by the YWCA Madison, the UW Odyssey Project and the Road Home Dane County, can address the immediate need to lower these barriers, allowing the people they serve to focus on their education or career goals.
In the longer term, AFFW is supporting the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association’s advocacy efforts to increase statewide funding for affordable childcare and early education and reverse the effects of decades of limited public investment.
Mentoring can be just as crucial to success for women, which is why programs such as the Foundation for Dane County Parks’ Women in Natural Resource Management and OutReach’s Transform program to mentor and support transgender women seeking employment, are a crucial element of creating pathways to secure jobs.
Insecurity hinders women’s economic empowerment, no matter what form it takes. The support Domestic Abuse Intervention Services (DAIS) provides to ensuring women are safe from violence is critical. Centro Hispano’s Cultivating Wealth program ensures they have the financial skills they need to navigate life. The Literacy Network’s Community English program provides immigrants with critical English language skills. And immigrant-led Roots for Change Cooperative’s Spanish-language training curriculum will increase the number of community-based doulas who can provide culturally relevant support during pregnancy and childbirth.
Together, these organizations and the programs they provide help create a more secure environment for the women in our communities.
AFFW’s 2024 grant recipients are:
Centro Hispano: $20,000 for Cultivating Wealth. Expanding on its successful Latinas in Savings program, Centro’s Cultivating Wealth program will teach financial skills to girls and young women from middle school through college. Promoting financial literacy with younger participants not only provides them with the skills they need, but also benefits family members and others in the community as they share their knowledge.
Domestic Abuse Intervention Services (DAIS): $5,000 for general operations to help cover the government funding gap for services. As the population of Dane County has grown, so has the need for culturally appropriate services to support survivors of domestic abuse. At the same time, government funding has become more unpredictable. This grant will allow DAIS to maintain its critical services for the community.
Foundation for Dane County Parks: $25,000 for Women in Natural Resource Management. Continuing its work to provide career pathways for women in conservation, the Women in Natural Resource Management program will provide training for more than 100 women in areas such as land restoration and tree management. Building on strong partnerships with organizations such as Operation Fresh Start, Centro Hispano, the Boys & Girls Clubs and the city’s community centers, this program aims to specifically reach women experiencing un/underemployment.
Friends of the UW Odyssey Project: $15,000 to provide wraparound support for Odyssey families. As the UW Odyssey project works to address inequities in Dane County by empowering low-income students through education, they provide more than tutoring. Because these students live near the poverty line, the program offers them support with housing, transportation, food and childcare to prevent these obstacles from becoming insurmountable barriers to staying in school.
Literacy Network: $10,000 for Community English. Serving a community primarily composed of English language learners, the Literacy Network’s Community English program supports ESL learners whose goals include supporting their children’s education and opening doors to new economic and social opportunities. This grant will help provide services to at least 175women as they advance their language skills.
OutReach: $15,000 for Transform – Transgender Women’s Employment Program. This grant continues AFFW’s support of the Transform program, allowing OutReach to continue building this supportive resource for transgender women looking for employment in Madison and Dane County. The program offers mentorship, career readiness training and financial management skills, providing holistic support for a population that faces regular discrimination in the workforce.
Road Home Dane County: $8,000 for the Women’s Employment and Education Fund. The Fund supports people who identify as women in the Road Home’s housing programs who as they work to obtain or maintain employment. By defraying the costs of childcare, car repairs or gas, bus passes, or education and training fees, this program strives to eliminate barriers that might otherwise derail participants’ progress toward stable housing and employment.
Roots4Change Cooperative: $15,000 to create a Spanish-language curriculum for a community-based doula training. The immigrant-led Roots4Change Cooperative is working to fill a gap in training related to care for immigrant women immediately before, during and after childbirth. The training these women are developing will combine practical and theoretical learning with an understanding of the needs and traditions of Latina immigrants.
YWCA Madison: $15,000 for the Third Street housing program. The YWCA’s Third Street program provides affordable housing and support for single mothers in their last trimester of pregnancy or who have children under the age of five. This grant will support the Direct Assistance program, which supports the program’s participants as they move toward economic stability for themselves and their families.
Wisconsin Early Childhood Association: $10,000 to support the organization’s advocacy efforts to improve childcare funding in Wisconsin. Early childhood education and care is the foundation for thriving children and families but has seen only limited public investment for decades. WECA is leading a statewide advocacy effort to increase public funding to improve and transform Wisconsin’s early childhood education system.
About A Fund for Women: A Fund for Women was founded in 1993 when 100 original donors each gave $1,000 to start an endowment fund. Today the fund, managed by Madison Community Foundation, is valued at nearly $4 million and awards approximately$150,000 in grants annually. AFFW has awarded nearly 190 grants totaling more than $2 million to area organizations working to empower women.
Join some of AFFW’s founding donors as they share the fund’s history and why they were moved to get involved in the video Celebrating 30 Years of A Fund for Women.
About Madison Community Foundation: Since 1988, together with donors, Madison Community Foundation has given more than $300 million to nonprofit organizations in our community and beyond. Established as a community trust in 1942, MCF has grown to nearly1,300 charitable funds. For more information about the impact donors are making through MCF, visit www.madisongives.org.
