Grantee Partner

We're celebrating $1.1 million in grantmaking this year!

Posted on by Jennifer Lockwood-Shabat

As school lets out for the summer, there are many proud moments to celebrate, whether it’s a graduation milestone, a decent report card or the beginning of something new.

Here at The Women’s Foundation, we’re celebrating meeting an ambitious goal: maintaining our grantmaking as we close out the fiscal year!  With our most recent approval of grants, we hit our goal of granting $1.1 million to nonprofits working to improve the lives of women and girls in our region.

Our Stepping Stones grants support critical work in the areas of financial education, job training and early care and education, all of which provide the essential tools and support needed to assist low-income women and their families during these tough economic times.

Organizations like Community Tax Aid, Doorways for Women and Families, and Manna, Inc. will continue their work with low-income, women-headed families by providing them with the financial education and tax prep assistance needed to start them on a path of economic success.

SOME and Year Up are providing the job training that is essential to putting women on a career pathway.

Food stamps are an important work support and play a critical role in moving a women and her family out of poverty.  DC Hunger Solutions will continue its advocacy work to ensure that eligible women and their children are receiving food stamps.

Another key work support is access to quality child care. Montgomery College Foundation, Prince George’s Child Resource Center and WETA will work to improve the quality of early care and education.

Now more than ever, nonprofit organizations face a myriad of challenges and navigating complex systems can be overwhelming. The Human Services Coalition of Prince George’s County will work to improve public policies so they enhance, rather than hinder, the effectiveness of the work nonprofits do on behalf of low-income, women-headed families in Prince George’s County.

Through our Open Door Capacity Fund, we’re funding capacity building work that aims to shore up the long-term sustainability of organizations. This work is essential to ensuring that these organizations have the necessary resources to address key organizational and operational improvements, while maintaining the much-needed services they provide to our region’s at-risk women and girls.

Please take a moment to review our most recent grants and take pride knowing that together we’re making a difference in the lives of women and girls in our community.

Jennifer Lockwood-Shabat is the Vice President, Programs at The Women’s Foundation.

Congratulations to the Catalogue for Philanthropy Greater Washington's 2009-2010 Class!

Posted on by Lisa Kays

Every year, the Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington chooses our region’s best, brightest and most promising nonprofits to feature. 

The list is a prestigious one given that organizations are vetted by a diverse, knowledgeable group of stakeholders throughout the community who know our region, its issues and the organizations and work that is making a difference–much like the volunteer committees and giving circles that participate in The Women’s Foundation’s grantmaking processes.

Not only is The Women’s Foundation proud to have a number of staff members who volunteer on the review committee, but each year, we are always thrilled to see our own Grantee Partners make the list!

Last year, there was a lot of overlap, and this year is no different.  Today, when the Catalogue of Philanthropy: Greater Washington Class of 2009-2010 was announced, we were proud to note the following Grantee Partners listed:

Centro Familia, which engages immigrant families in early care and education
Urban Alliance Foundation, which facilitates year-long professional internship opportunities for at-risk youth
ASHA for Women, which empowers South Asian women to live free of abuse
Through the Kitchen Door International, which provides life and employment skills training that changes trainees’ lives
Women Empowered Against Violence (WEAVE), which provides legal, economic, counseling and educational services for domestic violence victims
Pregnancy Aid Center, which provides prenatal and health care for women and newborns in need
Doorways for Women and Families, which provides shelter and services for homeless families and domestic violence survivors
Silver Spring Interfaith Housing Coalition, a transitional and supportive housing program serving homeless and low-income people
Tahirih Justice Center, which protects immigrant women and girls who are fleeing gender-based violence
Computer C.O.R.E., which provides job-readiness training in computer and life skills for low-income adults
Jubilee Jobs, which provides compassionate, skilled job placement and ongoing support
STRIVE DC, an employment program transforming the lives of disadvantaged people in Washington, D.C.

The Women’s Foundation is proud to partner with these organizations doing outstanding work on behalf of our region’s women and girls, and congratulates them and all of the 2009-2010 Catalogue Class, which represents the effective, innovative work The Women’s Foundation is proud to support throughout the Washington metropolitan area.

Lisa Kays is The Women’s Foundation’s Director of Communications.

Financial literacy for girls is more important than ever.

Posted on by Monica Byrd

As we wind down another school year and prepare for the summer, I’m reminded of the importance of mentoring and providing guidance to girls in all areas of life, especially financial literacy.  I feel encouraged to research and find information that is vital to the resources and images our girls and teen daughters receive and how they really feel about themselves and their financial future.

The recession is hard.  It is hard on parents and it is even harder on kids.  It’s a critical time and our girls need to be pointed in the right direction.

Parents may be struggling and may feel out of control, but at least they have some knowledge of their financial situation, some understanding of why all of this is happening. The kids are often left in the dark, with no explanation, confused and wondering why their family can’t afford the things that they want, the things that they need.

We have a responsibility to our children, to help them understand what is happening, to help them be more financially astute than our generation was, to get them on a better path.

Fortunately, there is a resource to help do this.  Girls, Inc of the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area., a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation, has created “Money Talks”, a financial literacy workshop that supplies girls with fun and engaging financial tools.

There will be a free "Money Talks" workshop in Washington, D.C. on June 27th from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. for girls age 10-15 and their parent/guardian.  The workshop is open to the public, with priority given to residents in Wards 1,5 and 7.  Registration is required.  To register or for more information, please contact Maryan at 202-806-1174 or maryan@girlsincdc.org by June 19th.

Please share this widely with your daughter, your sister, or any female youth in your family so that she can understand her true worth and be on her way to financial stability!

Monica Byrd has been a volunteer with Girls’, Inc. for the past two years.  In her professional life, she is a fashion and style professional.

DCWA: Free job training programs throughout D.C. help build skills and self-sufficiency.

Posted on by Sarah Epstein

As unemployment in Washington, D.C. reaches nearly 10 percent, and once booming industries shut down, more and more people struggle to find new opportunities to earn a living wage. 

Many of these individuals lack the skills, education, or training necessary to attain jobs that will allow them to become self-sufficient. 

In response to these growing problems, the D.C. Women’s Agenda joined together with the D.C. Employment Justice Center–both of which are Grantee Partners of The Women’s Foundation–to sponsor an event featuring representatives from seven free job training programs.

More than 60 people attended.

Arhelia Finnie, the Trainee Services and Recruitment Coordinator from the DC Central Kitchen, described the Culinary Job Training program offered at her organization.  Students who attend this program participate in a 12-week training program and learn the culinary skills to work in hotels, restaurants, and other food facilities.  Trainees participate in hands-on kitchen training, visits from guest chefs, and classroom learning. Following the training, participants have internships in restaurants in order to experience the day-to-day tasks and challenges of working in the culinary field. If you would like more information about this program, email Ms. Finnie at afinnie@dccentralkitchen.org.  

Howard Brown, the Interim Director for Workforce Development at the University of D.C. spoke about their training program, where students receive the education and tools to become employed in four different careers: healthcare, administrative, hospitality, and medical. The UDC program offers different training programs for each career path described above. If you would like more information, email Mr. Brown at hmb1000@flash.net.  

Samira Cook, the Assistant Director of the Training and Education Division of the District of Columbia Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD), represented the D.C. Government. Unlike the programs training in specific fields, Ms. Cook’s program assists D.C. residents to become entrepreneurs. The program provides training in creating a business plan, money management and business development. If you would like more information about this program, please e-mail Ms. Samira at samira.cook@dc.gov.  

Debony Heart, the Director of Programs for Byte Back, discussed the rapid growth of technology in the workplace and the need for technical and computer skills for jobs on the market today. Byte Back, provides low-income individuals with classes in typing, and computer literacy.  If you would like more information about this program, please e-mail Ms. Heart at dheart@byteback.org.  

Jacquelyn A. Moore is the Case Manager for The Washington Area Women in the Trades program, (a program sponsored by Wider Opportunities for Women, The YWCA and The AFL-CIO). The program helps women attain the necessary skills to enter non-traditional, often male- dominated jobs, to achieve financial security and self sufficiency. Following completion of the program, participants are placed in welding, steel working, and construction jobs. For more information, please contact Ms. jmoore@ywcana.org.  

Ellie Phillips, the Founder and Executive Producer of Beyond Talent, described the training program they offer. The program seeks to empower non-traditional high school graduates (individuals with a GED or other high school equivalent) to overcome barriers to higher education and employment to enable success. In addition to a mentoring program, Beyond Talent provides financial and other support to those seeking additional college education or vocational training. If you would like more information about this program, Ms. Phillips at phillips@beyondtalent.org.  

Emily Price, the Program Director of So Others May Eat’s (SOME) Center for Employment Training (a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation) explained that participants in the program focus on developing skills in one of three occupations: business and customer relations associate, service technician, or medical administrative assistant. The curriculum is developed based on the needs of employer in the fields enumerated above. Their job placement rate has been as high as 95 percent. If you would like more information about this program, please email Ms. Price at eprice@some.org.  

Attendees then had the opportunity to participate in a question and answer session with the program representatives and many stayed to speak to them individually.  Participants collected brochures and information supplied by the representatives.

Unemployment is high, and the hope is that these programs will help residents take the first steps towards earning a self sufficient wage and achieving a greater quality of life.

Sarah Epstein is an intern at the DC Women’s Agenda, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation that is a coalition of advocacy organizations, service providers, and individuals working to promote the advancement of equality, safety and well-being for women and girls in the District. It is chaired by Wider Opportunities for Women.

DCAF honors the memory of Dr. Tiller, a trusted partner and ally in supporting women.

Posted on by Elisabeth Sowecke

The DC Abortion Fund (DCAF) is devastated and appalled to know that our most skilled and intensely dedicated late-term abortion provider, a beloved partner to DCAF, Dr. George Tiller, was fatally shot in the lobby of his church in Wichita, Kansas on Sunday morning, May 31, 2009.

In the past eight months, DCAF pledged financial assistance to four uniquely challenged women—from Maryland, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia, as well as in Omaha, NE, to obtain a third-trimester termination from Dr. Tiller at Women’s Health Care Services in Wichita.

Two of the women were taking medications considered harmful to fetal development.  One attempted to self-abort countless times before reaching out—terrified because she came from New Guinea, where abortion is illegal.  One spent 10 weeks trying to raise money to afford her abortion before finding DCAF.
One patient was a fifteen-year-old sexual assault survivor who didn’t know she was pregnant until the beginning of the third trimester.  One of the women had diabetes and a fetal anomaly.

While heartbroken for the women we assisted, we found solace in knowing Dr. Tiller was willing to provide comprehensive care when there was no other option.

DCAF is eternally indebted to the legacy of boundless courage and compassionate health care offered whole-heartedly by this man who gently and faithfully urged us to trust and support women.  He truly exemplified reproductive justice for all by working tirelessly to accommodate struggling families all over the country.

In accordance with our respect for Dr. Tiller’s profound service to women, DCAF is grateful for our partner clinics and heroic providers–true warriors on the front lines, ensuring access to quality abortion care in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

In memory of our angelic and wise doctor and beyond the shadows of opposition, we remain determined in our mission to provide our neighbors with dignified health care regardless of what’s in their wallet.

Elisabeth Sowecke is the lead case manager at the DC Abortion Fund, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.

Wash Post: Rainmakers Grantee Partner does room makeovers for girls in Alexandria!

Posted on by Lisa Kays

Things like this make me just love my job.

A few weeks ago, staff from The Hatcher Group, who help out with The Women’s Foundation’s public relations, came in to do hourly one-on-one sessions with select Grantee Partners that we thought would benefit from some training and technical assistance in media relations. 

This is all part of The Women’s Foundation’s approach to "beyond the check" grantmaking, wherein we not only provide grants to help our partners conduct their work, but also support them in doing that work more effectively and efficiently.

We started this particular capacity building effort last year at The Hatcher Group’s suggestion and it was a great success, with a number of the meetings leading to significant media coverage, such as that for Fair Fund around their work combatting human trafficking.

This year, they’ve worked their magic again, and yesterday, new Rainmakers Grantee Partner, The Art League–and their "Space of Her Own" program–were featured in a Washington Post story.

According to the story, Space of her Own was created in 2003 when the Alexandria Court Service Unit and the Art League started it "with the goal of helping low-income girls who were identified by their school as at-risk, including many who had a relative incarcerated. The hope was that adding to the girls’ support systems would help keep them out of the juvenile justice system. This year, 12 fifth-graders on the east end of Alexandria participated in the program, and the group aims to expand to the west side of the city next year."

The program culminates every year in an "Extreme Home Makeover-esque" event in which the girls’ mentors help makeover their bedrooms. 

But the changes from the program go well beyond the aesthetic.  As the article continues, "Ta’Janae, 12, who was working on her room next door with mentor Samantha Sirzyk, described attending a tea party and going ice skating for the first time. She spoke in a whisper but is much less shy after going through the program, said her sister Diamond, 13. "She broke out of her shell," she said."

Leading me to remember Phyllis’ post when the Rainmakers first decided to invest in The Art League, that it’s important to invest in the arts, even when resources are tight. 

As Phyllis said, "The programs our giving circles have chosen to support use the arts as a means to help our community’s young women to build self-esteem, academic skills, and an expanded sense of their place in their community and the world.  Opportunities like these are all-too-often lost in communities and families where resources are limited and must be directed to more basic needs like food, shelter and clothing.  So, at a time when attention is focused on where to cut back so many programs and opportunities, I’m proud to see our giving circle members taking the lead in recognizing the need for youth in our area to imagine and create a future based on all of their unique talents and potential."

Indeed.

Now, go check out that story to learn more about Space of Her Own and to see the makeover pics!

Lisa Kays is The Women’s Foundation’s Director of Communications. 

What to make of all this child care talk and why should we all care?

Posted on by HyeSook Chung

Over the last couple of weeks, there has been a lot of dialogue both on the regional and national level about what early care and education is. What should it be?  What should it focus on?

With the recent emphasis on a Birth To Five agenda by President Barak Obama and a focus on child care by First Lady Michelle Obama, is it any wonder so much attention is placed on the very young? 

It’s about time!

But I do worry that all the confusion and debate will fail us.  I worry we will miss the opportunity to finally have a national agenda that promotes the health of the very young and underserved.

Last week, The Washington Post had a piece by Charles Finn, entitled, "Slow the Preschool Bandwagon," which made me think about the recent universal preschool activities in VA, MD and D.C.  Mr. Finn cautions about advocating for universal pre-school.

I am in total agreement that more emphasis needs to be put on infants and toddlers, as well as existing programs that have consistently been proven to be effective, like Head Start and Early Head Start.

But there are a few points I struggled with. I worry about the push for social service programs to become more educational focused. Is advocating for Head Start preschoolers to learn their numbers and letters going to ensure they are going to succeed in school?

I do want to figure out how to ensure children in impoverished communities learn what they need to be prepared to succeed, but I worry  that the social service component (i.e. health, family support services, prenatal care, etc. ) will be compromised.

I would hope that it would not be the only focus.

And a few weeks ago, I was listening to the Kojo Nnamdi Show about the child care challenges in the region.  By the end of the show I was so frustrated. BB Otero, Founder and Executive Director of CentroNia (a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation), tried to explain the complicated debate that is taking place around early care and education and the need to be very clear about how we define this debate.

Is it child care for infants and toddlers? Is it universal preschool for three or four year olds? What does quality mean for infants and toddlers?  What does quality mean for preschool classrooms?

It is not an easy task!  

Callers missed this message completely.  Calls were about their own personal struggles about finding a nanny or an au pair. One caller even advocated for all mothers to stay home to ensure their infants and toddlers get the quality care they need.

How does a conversation about access to affordable, quality child care for all almost turn into a show about nannies?

Whether you are poor or rich, we all need access to quality care.  We all need opportunities to ensure children are afforded the opportunities they need, whether it is child care or preschool.

I could not find quality care for my children in Arlington. I was absolutely shocked that after spending thousands of dollars in application fees, and waiting for months, I never found a slot for my five-year old in either a child care or preschool program.

It simply brought more meaning to the work I was doing.  I had the information and the resources and still struggled to find the care I hoped for for my daughter and son.

And the children in impoverished communities needed far more support than I did.

I absolutely want more support for working middle class families, but the current debate is not about me. The debate we are engaged in is for the children who need it most! 

There are plenty of children whose parents do not have the means or the knowledge that early education is critically important to their children’s long-term growth and development.  By the time a child is three, he/she has grown dramatically by producing billions of cells and hundreds of trillions of connections, or synapses, between these cells.  We know enough from the research that a young child’s brain takes years to complete, but providers and parents can ensure children get off to a right start to establish patterns for life-long learning.

Why should we all care about the current debate for higher quality early care and education, including child care?

  • An increasing numbers of children, including infants and toddlers, spend hours each day in various arrangements because their parents work or attend school;
  • Research has shown that in the majority of infant care arrangements in the U.S., children are not talked to and played with enough, and they do not have the opportunity to form the kind of comfortable, secure relationships with a caregiver who will promote their healthy emotional development;
  • Parents should be given information about how to choose quality care for their children;
  • Special attention should be given to the development and enforcement of standards that promote high-quality care, including adequate professional development for caregivers, low child-to-teacher ratios, and small group sizes; and,
  • Finally, child care reimbursement rates for families moving from welfare to work must be high enough to fund well-trained staff who can deliver developmentally appropriate care and education.

HyeSook Chung is Program Officer for Early Care and Education at The Women’s Foundation.

CARECEN: The gift of communications from The Women's Foundation.

Posted on by Hilary Burger

Thanks to the support and collaboration of Washington Area Women’s Foundation, the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) has moved quickly ahead in the area of communications capacity over the past year.

CARECEN provides direct housing counseling and legal services, as well as citizenship education and community economic development to 8,000 area Latino residents per year, while also reaching thousands more through outreach efforts.

An Open Door Capacity Fund grant in 2008-2009 provided a key source of support needed to allow CARECEN to focus on communications as a priority.  In May 2008, CARECEN met with Lisa Kays, The Women’s Foundation’s Director of Communications, to talk about emerging strategies for enhancing communications in nonprofit organizations, and CARECEN also participated in the highly informative July 2008 workshop on “Communications and New Media” put on by The Women’s Foundation. 

Over the past year, Mi-Young Kim, an extraordinarily dedicated volunteer skilled at Web site design, worked closely with Ana Negoescu, Director of the Citizenship Program, to redesign our Web site.

CARECEN also embraced e-communications, and starting in February 2009 launched a monthly e-newsletter for a community of 1,000+ friends and supporters, including more than 100 volunteers who contribute annually to the organization.

With artwork by Salvadoran-American artist Hugo Bonilla, the new Website is designed to reflect the community CARECEN serves, consistent with the organization’s mission and cultural heritage.  Still a work in progress, it aims to help people understand the historical roots of CARECEN as a community-based organization dedicated to serving the Latino immigrant community.  It also encourages interested constituents to participate in educational activities and advocacy efforts.  In addition to providing the opportunity to recognize and honor our community partners, sponsors and supporters, the site focuses on helping members, volunteers, and friends stay updated on CARECEN as well as key issues such as immigration reform.

In the area of fundraising, in addition to the Website, CARECEN is also adopting Web2.0 generation tools such as Facebook and Change.org as a way of engaging new supporters and facilitating awareness of CARECEN, not to mention the ability to recognize and thank donors.

These low-cost communications and outreach strategies, and the ability to assemble lists of supporters with simple tools such as Constant Contact, help in building visibility of the work of community-based organizations like CARECEN. 

Still, our challenges continue, particularly in the realm of bilingual communications, given that Spanish is the first language for the majority of our constituents. 

Also, we cannot forget that many Latino area residents, particularly adults, lack easy access to the Internet, a fundamental tool in accessing employment and services, and in resolving basic financial issues.

Latina women, a vital force in our community, are active participants in CARECEN programs and activities.  Women are frequently leaders in local tenant associations, and are often the first in their families to pursue citizenship.

The support of The Women’s Foundation helps to provide more opportunities for empowering women, strengthening families, and building communities in our region.

Hilary Burger is Director of Development at the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.

Sex trafficking continues to strike in our communities, as do solutions by local organizations.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

Last week, New York Times columnist Nicolas Kristoff published a column on sex trafficking of young, American girls, stating, "The business model of pimping is remarkably similar whether in Atlanta or Calcutta: take vulnerable, disposable girls whom nobody cares about, use a mix of “friendship,” humiliation, beatings, narcotics and threats to break the girls and induce 100 percent compliance, and then rent out their body parts."

Eerily similar to a piece we posted here a while back discussing the work of our Grantee Partners fighting trafficking here in Washington, D.C., often on K Street, where The Women’s Foundation’s office is.

Oddly, the same day Kristof’s article was published, a timely reminder of how closely this issue continues to strike in my community hit my inbox, when Taylor Wilhelm, senior development officer with Polaris Project–a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation with work focused on combatting human trafficking–wrote to let us know of the powerful impact of their work. 

"Recently, a trafficker was brought to justice in a case that began with a call to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) hotline, operated by Polaris Project," she wrote.  "On a Friday afternoon, a youth educator called the hotline when her local youth center experienced the unexplained disappearances of several children. We were able to work with the caller to identify a human trafficking network, to refer the case immediately to federal authorities, and to locate the lost children in a nearby State two weeks later. They were discovered to be part of a multi-state human trafficking ring."  (See the press release.) 

Tayler closed by saying, "We greatly appreciate the many ways you all support us to make successes like this more common!"

The Women’s Foundation is proud to partner with organizations like The Polaris Project, Fair Fund and Covenant House (mentioned in the Kristof piece), to combat sex trafficking and to be part of the solution. 

As Kristof writes, "Solutions are complicated and involve broader efforts to overcome urban poverty, including improving schools and attempting to shore up the family structure. But a first step is to stop treating these teenagers as criminals and focusing instead on arresting the pimps and the customers — and the corrupt cops."

Each of these organizations understands this and is effectively working to educate their communities about the realities of trafficking, to advocate for policies and safe houses to protect victims and to collaborate with school and law enforcement officials to prevent trafficking at the outset.

The Women’s Foundation is proud to support their efforts.

Lisa Kays is The Women’s Foundation’s Director of Communications.

Fair Fund: Leadership Award meant far more than $15,000!

Posted on by Lisa Kays

The following is an excerpt from the speech Caroline Tower-Morris gave as a representative of Fair Fund, to congratulate the newest Leadership Awardees and welcome them to The Women’s Foundation’s community.

In 2007, Fair Fund was a Leadership Award recipient, and winner of the on-line vote.  I am proud to be here this evening representing FAIR Fund, as well as honored to be able to pass the torch to the new class of award recipients, including Polaris Project, winner of the 2009 on-line vote.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Washington Area Women’s Foundation on behalf of FAIR Fund for everything, and we look forward to a continuing fruitful partnership.

Over the past year, I discovered how truly fortunate FAIR Fund was to have received the 2007 Leadership Award and to have won the online vote. The Leadership Award and online vote meant more to us than $15,000, which, of course, was also extremely helpful.

On a deeper level, the Leadership Award helped to position FAIR Fund’s presence in the women’s and girl’s advocacy and service community.  Prior to the award, FAIR Fund had been working inside D.C. schools and youth centers to reach out to and assist teens, in particular girls, who were at high risk toward sexual violence and even commercial sexual exploitation, but this award helped us to deepen our level of commitment and service.

When my Executive Director, Andrea Powell, told me that up to 70 percent of teens in classes reported knowing another teen involved in some form of commercial sex, I was truly shocked and realized that the need to provide comprehensive community support and outreach was greater than possibly imagined.

With the support and community connectionsThe Women’s Foundation offered to FAIR Fund last year, we were able to reach out to a broader D.C. community.

For example, we were offered a chance to work with The Hatcher Group on our media strategy, resulting in multiple press coverage opportunities, including the Washington Post and Salon.com.

The Women’s Foundation believed in FAIR Fund as we sought to educate the community and build support for young women and men trapped by pimps and traffickers, who often trick their victims by pretending to be a boyfriend or friend, then demand that they have sex with others to keep that relationship, and often even just to keep their own lives.

These young women and men deserve to be heard, and The Women’s Foundation helped strengthen FAIR Fund’s voice.

Starting last year at this very Leadership Awards ceremony, FAIR Fund began to form new partnerships with other Leadership Award recipients in order to deepen our community connections to other women’s programs. We formed special relationships with agencies that are now our partners is assisting exploited and neglected girls. Together, we are addressing the myriad of challenges that small nonprofits face as colleagues.  We are also there to help facilitate outreach in new communities in D.C. and provide assistance to identified exploited girls.

This past fall, the support from The Women’s Foundation continued to strengthen FAIR Fund’s role in the D.C. women’s and girl’s advocacy community when we partnered at our first annual Youth Ally Awards and Pathways event to raise D.C. community awareness of the plight of commercially sexually exploited teens.  During that evening in November, The Women’s Foundation supported FAIR Fund as we shared findings from a two-year federally funded study of 60 teens in D.C. and Boston who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation. Many of our colleagues from The Women’s Foundations were there, as were many of our own partners in the community, including Polaris Project–a Leadership Awardee this year and winner of the online vote!

The resources the award offered to FAIR Fund over the course of the year have helped give a small organization such as ours a leg up in many areas. In this uncertain economic climate, giving to others does not, or cannot, always take precedence, and The Women’s Foundation through their award and numerous priceless resources, has insured that the plight of many women and girls in Washington, DC does not go unnoticed.

FAIR Fund plans to continue the work for which The Women’s Foundation has honored us, and we are inspired to strive for even higher goals.

FAIR Fund is proud to stand alongside The Women’s Foundation today as we recognize the 2009 Leadership Awardees and the winner of the public online vote, Polaris Project.

FAIR Fund and the Polaris Project are strong partners in building a D.C. that is safer for young women and girls. 

Recently, FAIR Fund and Polaris Project staff worked together to rescue a young woman who was a victim of human trafficking.  As our two agencies worked tirelessly through the night, it reinforced the idea that no one agency can do everything.  However, this one night and the following days of assisting this young woman proved that together we were able to help her escape her abuser and begin to access services and shelter, and finally to re-build her life.

Caroline Tower-Morris is co-founder and chair of the board of directors of Fair Fund, a 2007 Leadership Awardee of The Women’s Foundation.  This post is an excerpt of the speech she gave on April 7, 2009, at the ceremony to honor the 2009 Leadership Awardees and to welcome them to The Women’s Foundation’s community.