Grants Awarded: 2007

In 2007, the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island completed its sixth annual round of making grants to level the playing field for Rhode Island women and girls. The Women’s Fund received grant proposals from a variety of promising organizations totaling $177,421, well over the $75,000 available to award. It was a challenge for the Grants Review Team to narrow this field, but after careful deliberation they determined the following seven programs best able to create real change for the women and girls of Rhode Island.

George Wiley Center: A $7,500 second-year grant to continue the project Empowering Women to Advocate for Socio-Economic Justice, which trains fifteen low-income women negatively impacted by energy company and government bureaucracy policy along with fifteen women who will become advocates for socio-economic justice. These thirty women will in turn help and encourage forty other women to become advocates and trainers.(www.georgewileycenter.org)

National Coalition of 100 Black Women- RI Chapter: A $15,000 grant to strengthen the Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) program through which successful black women provide mentorship, leadership training, and academic support to African-American high school and middle school girls and young women. (www.ncbwri.org)

Planned Parenthood of RI: A $13,425 grant continued over from 2006 to implement the Get Out The Vote Rhode Island Campaign (GOTV-RI). This project aims to increase the number of women registering to vote and the number of women voters between 2006 and 2008 elections. Since the initiation of the project, volunteers have secured 700 pledges to vote and distributed 2100 registration forms, 600 of which were youth-focused. (www.ppri.org)

Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM): A $15,000 grant to launch PrYSM’s Women’s Support Group. The Women’s Support Group will work with young women from Providence’s South East Asian community to build leadership skills, challenge understandings of gender roles, and prepare the young women to be advocates for change inside and outside the SEA community. (www.prysm.vs)

RI Coalition Against Domestic Violence: A $12,500 grant to support the program Sisters Overcoming Abusive Relationships (SOAR): Child Custody and Visitation Solutions. This program trains survivors of relationship abuse to advocate for policy change and general awareness that protect abuse victims made vulnerable by current protocol in custody and visitation suits. (www.ricadv.org)

RI Latino Civic Fund: A $10,000 second-year grant to develop and sustain the Latina Leadership Institute (LLI). The institute provides an eight week leadership development and training program to teach Latinas about community organizing, leadership skills, public policy, political engagement, and advocacy as well as race, class and gender issues. (www.rilcivicfund.org)

Young Voices: A $15,000 grant to support their infrastructure and the project Our Voice Matters, which will create a special subgroup and a Speakers’ Series for girls participating in the 100-hour Leadership Transformation Academy. The program trains in debate, public speaking and familiarizes them with public policy issues and how public policy decisions are made.