our initiatives

Parenting Conversation

The Women’s Fund is taking a proactive approach in understanding the barriers parents are facing when it comes to finding and receiving services in the community. What resources are available to support parents? What gaps can be identified?

During the summer of 2019, the Women’s Fund held the State of Parenting JAM session in partnership with UW-Oshkosh. Over 30 local professionals who work with parents and children shared their insights on what services and resources are currently available for parents and families in our community and what are the gaps. We were pleased to have a diverse group of individuals including those from the school district, law enforcement, the healthcare system, Winnebago County, local non-profits and more.

Stay tuned for more updates as the Women’s Fund will be conducting focus groups with parents and guardians in early 2020.

Isolation

The Campaign to End Isolation was the Women’s Fund first social movement campaign

“Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes before you try to judge their journey.” For some of us, isolation can be a confusing topic…especially if we’ve never experienced it ourselves. The Campaign to End Isolation has taken the Women’s Fund to a whole new level of understanding of what loneliness can do to a person and has reinforced our efforts to end it.

The first day of the campaign proved to be one of the most memorable. Stationed at the Starbucks on Murdock in Oshkosh, the isolation booth received an unbelievable outpour of support. Women held their hands up to booth, mouthing the words “you’re not alone,” while others wrote notes of encouragement, like “You Rock!” It was clear that the message to end isolation had begun to spread, even within the first few hours.

But our stories don’t end there! We’ve had men, women and children of all ages contribute to this campaign. We set up shop at Merrill Middle School for their registration day. In less than four hours, we had received over 120 pledges to end isolation! Parents and children alike were making promises to “stop bullying” and “be kind to the new kids.” With each new pledge we get closer to ending isolation. We’ve put forth over 1,000 community hours towards promoting our campaign. This includes presenting to groups such as the local Rotary clubs, being at events like the Mayor’s breakfast and Live at Lunch, and positioning the isolation booth in more than 20 different locations multiple times. The Campaign to End Isolation has also been featured twice in The Scene, on the cover of the Oshkosh Northwestern, and in the Oshkosh Life Magazine and Women Magazine.

After the Campaign, we moved on to the JAM. What is a JAM? Think of a JAM where musicians gather, each bringing his or her unique talents. Without planning or preconceived notions, they build off one another’s talents to create a musical harmony no one individual could accomplish alone.

Now, imagine you’re the magician. You’ll bring your thoughts and experience as your instrument. At this JAM, we worked together to form ideas on how to end isolation. Those ideas turned into concepts and from concepts into real social change.  We had tons of new ideas on how to end isolation in our community! Here are just a few of the ones that we decided to take back to the office and build upon:

1. Volunteer Center – connecting volunteers to volunteer opportunities in our community

2. Senior Connects – high school students teaching the older generation about technology

3. Parents of Addicts – educating parents on the signs of addiction in order to prevent drug abuse

4. Home maintenance – connecting elders with “handy-people” that can perform simple home maintenance tasks

Middle School Girls

During the 2016-2017 school year, the Women’s Fund provided a $50,000 grant to the Oshkosh Area School District for the Middle School Girls Initiative. The grant money was used to implement four different programs and services into the school district. These programs include: Girls Go Forward, DOTS, Youth Mental Health First Aid and ACEs.

Girls Go Forward is an evidence based curriculum that combines lessons that focus on emotional and physical well-bring for middle school girls with physical activity. The girls meet twice a week for two hours over a ten week period. Meetings are facilitated by Girls Go Forward coaches and talk about topics like confidence, positive body image, self-esteem and more. The program ends with an event that brings together the girls, the families and the community.

DOTS (Depending on Teachers and Staff) is an interactive process that gives school staff a visual picture of the relationships they have with the students in their school. This allows them to make sure that every student feels connected and can earn in an environment of safety and trust.

Youth Mental Health First Aid is designed to teach parents, family members, caregivers, teachers, school staff, peers, neighbors, health and human services workers and other caring citizens how to help an adolescent (age 12-18) who is experiencing a mental health or addiction challenge or is in crisis. The 8-hour course introduces common mental health challenges for youth, reviews typical adolescent development and teaches a 5-step action plan for how to help people I both crisis and non-crisis situations.

ACE’s is a 45 minute presentation on the Adverse Childhood Experiences study that educates staff on adverse childhood experiences, the impact of these experiences on learning and how to promote resiliency.

Women Owned Business

The Women’s Fund recently conducted research for the second time on the Status of Women in the Northeast region. The results continue to show that we need to focus our energy, attention and dollars on working to help women and their children achieve self-sufficieny. As we know, one of the key ways to do this is to support women in finding jobs that pay living wages in order to support their families.

In partnership with the Women’s Fund Board of Directors, the Grants Team, and Greater Oshkosh Economic Development Corporation, the Women’s Fund has launched a new initiative to support women owned businesses. Read about TRIO Academy, our first women owned business to receive a grant from the Women’s Fund.

Rise 2.0

The Women’s Fund, in collaboration with Christine Ann Domestic Abuse Services and Evergreen Retirement Community, is trying to break the cycle of poverty one family at a time. For two single mothers and their children, the RISE 2.0 program starts by providing stable housing to allow the mothers to focus their energy on education, jobs and their children.

This program also works to address common barriers single mothers face when trying to achieve self-sufficiency. Mothers attend weekly classes focusing on financial sustainability, parenting, healthy relationships and more.  The mothers are responsible for a monthly rental payment but for the most part, all other expenses are paid for through the program.

The ultimate goal of the RISE 2.0 program is to get these mothers and families to a place of self-sufficiency within three years. Through this pilot program, the Women’s Fund is hoping to gather specific data that will show just how much money and resources are needed to get a family out of poverty and back on their feet.

Stay tuned for updates as the mother progress through this program.

girls granting initiative

We believe it is important to listen and teach to a young generation of women. That’s why part of our mission is to empower and teach philanthropy. The Women’s Fund established the Girls Granting Initiative in 2011 to give high school girls the opportunity to influence the financial support of an organization or program they feel passionate about.

Girls from Oshkosh area high schools come together to identify one issue affecting their lives and the community. We then invite organizations aligned with that issue to apply for a grant. The girls learn about grantmaking and selection, as well as teambuilding, diversity, financial importance and philanthropy, social change, gender inequalities, stereotypes and leadership.

J.J. Keller Foundation has been instrumental in funding this program, providing $10,000 for use toward the organization of the girls’ choice. The Girls Granting Initiative assembles every two years, coinciding with the Power of the Purse Luncheon, where the girls present their grant to the organization of their choice.