Change begins At home.
Home is many things these days…
Home can create hurdles or be a healthy space - for many women, and children, Home is both. For some, the opportunities outpace the hurdles. For a majority more, the hurdles grow into barriers, that without outside support, can become insurmountable.
Our more recent efforts have placed a direct lens on the effects Home has on women and their families. Home, not necessarily in the physical sense (although some of our grants did focus on that portion) - when we use the word “Home” we mean it in more of a metaphorical sense. Home can be thought of, not just as an actual place, but as a feeling. It’s where you feel safe, welcomed, loved. It’s wherever your people are. Women, in that sense, are often “home”…not just to their families, but to their friends, coworkers, and even their communities.
The work the Women’s Fund takes on isn't highly publicized work, or quick work. It’s often the “unseen foundational” work that takes time. From research that leads to programs of need, driving advocacy that raises awareness, to connecting women & families to the opportunities that can impact real change in their lives…the work we are empowered by is long-haul work. We’re proud of this work because we know how meaningful it is.
Below is a thank you from a single mom who is currently in the Women’s Fund’s RISE 2.0 program (a pilot program aimed at breaking the cycle of generational poverty).
“I want to thank them for letting me just breathe and showing my kids what stability looks like. I was able to be a mom, a hard worker, and showing them we can make it with hard work and to never give up because we are not defined by what we’ve been through.
Because of the stability, I was able to breathe and focus on them and us as a family instead of trying to survive and being stressed out all the time.
There were times I was stressing but it wasn’t about being beat, my money being taken, it was regular family problems so please thank them for the opportunity of being able to be a hard-working mom and woman.”
- RISE 2.o mom
While much of this work began pre-COVID, we could’ve have known at the time how relevant and necessary this focus would become. From our investment in the RISE 2.0 program, to our past isolation campaign, our parenting partnership with Go Oshkosh Kids, and numerous other grants - a common theme across them all (beyond the focus on women’s & families) is that they largely correlate to “home”.
In the 20-21 grant cycle, we’ve given grants which support: the girls granting group, literacy programming for women, parenting skills workshops, the parenting partnership with Go Oshkosh Kids, women & moms with addictions, mental health support systems, and much more.
Donor support enables us to connect the right people, to the right opportunities - then nurture those connections into tangible change for good. And as we all know, change often begins....at Home.
Your contribution to the Women’s Fund helps us maintain strong, healthy foundation, and allows us to grow & strengthen our support of local women and families - creating even more change for good.
Making a difference, one woman, one home at a time. Every donation about helps, every dollar matters.
Please consider giving a gift to the Women’s Fund - it’s impact will have ripple effects into the future.