February 5, 2003

Women’s Fund of Rhode Island announces its first-ever grants

Gives $75,000 to six innovative projects that focus on
family child care workers, empowering women and girls

At an average $2.76 per hour, the people who take care of the children of working parents in their homes – family child care providers – are poorly paid for their valuable service. While enabling others to contribute to the Rhode Island economy, the providers themselves, virtually all women and largely minority, are part of a system which, according to a recent study by the Day Care Justice Co-op, “keeps a group of women and their families in poverty.”

Inaugurating its much-awaited grantmaking program, the year-old Women’s Fund of Rhode Island (WFRI) has announced $75,000 in support to six projects, three of which tackle some of the key issues in family child care: wages, home ownership, and advocacy. The other three projects address empowerment and leadership development for women.

WFRI is a field of interest fund at The Rhode Island Foundation, which seeded the effort with a $2.5 million challenge grant.

“We were excited – but not surprised – by the number and caliber of proposals the Women’s Fund received to level the playing field for Rhode Island’s women and girls,” explained Simone P. Joyaux, ACFRE, WFRI’s founder and first chairwoman. “Dozens of organizations around the state offered creative and far-reaching ideas. We chose those which we think will most benefit from our support this year, but as the endowment grows through contributions, we look forward to supporting more of the wonderful projects people are proposing.”

Of the child care awards, she notes, “These three projects tackle the issues around family day care from a variety of angles and provide a unique opportunity for the Women’s Fund to support systemic changes for day care providers and the families they serve. By strategically targeting our relatively modest dollars, the Women’s Fund can have a real impact.”

The largest grant, $21,000, was awarded to the Day Care Justice Co-op for “The Cost of Care Campaign,” designed to secure legislative authorization to collectively bargain with the Department of Human Services for family child care providers who serve the state’s low-income children. In the Co-op’s study cited above, 91% of income generated by providers was through the DHS program.

Also receiving grants from the Women’s Fund on projects focusing on family child care are the Housing Network of Rhode Island and the Poverty Institute at Rhode Island College. The Housing Network will use its $15,000 award to provide educational assistance to enable low and moderate income family day care providers to move from renting to home ownership. Through its ABC’s (Asset-Building Capital) project, the Network intends to “target existing resources to specific groups of women who have the opportunity to create assets that will provide them and their family’s financial and personal security.”

With the goal of educating policy makers about the needs of day care providers, the Poverty Institute will use its $9,980 grant to prepare a report documenting the value of the state’s investment in the subsidized child care program and its impact on Rhode Island’s economy. “Policy makers must be convinced that investing in child care is good for Rhode Island’s economy, good for the economic stability of low- and moderate-income families (many headed by women), and good for children’s well being,” explain developers of the project.

Empowering women through leadership, education
Three additional projects which won support from the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island focus on empowering women through changes in public policy, through education, and in the political arena.

Providence-based Sojourner House was awarded $14,000 to hire and train policy advocates to represent WomenCARES clients, more than 700 Rhode Island women and girls who have been in abusive relationships and are at-risk for HIV/AIDS. Policy advocates “will play a vital role in creating new opportunities for the voices of women and girls to be heard by policymakers, loud and clear…(and) those directly affected by the policies we seek to change will learn to take a leadership initiative via this project.”

Education is the key to an empowerment project designed by English for Action that received a $10,000 grant from the Women’s Fund. Through the project, Latina immigrant women will participate in English as a Second Language classes that explore themes of women’s health, history, and economic, political and cultural roles, as well as in leadership development workshops and women-centered organizing and advocacy projects. Project planners note, “This is a unique educational empowerment program for Latina immigrant women that will help them to transform their lives and shape the future of their communities.”

The YWCA of Northern Rhode Island, Woonsocket, will also receive support for its “Women’s Political Action Program.” A $5,000 grant will support a two-day workshop where women can learn strategies and tactics to run for political office or to manage a political campaign. Based on a model developed by the national YWCA, the program “will train women to take their places n the political trenches, as well as the halls of power,” according to local program planners.