FUNDS AT CHICAGO FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN CATALYST FUND: RESOURCES FOR WOMEN OF COLOR IN REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE For the fifth year in a row, CFW received a $150,000 matching grant from the Catalyst Fund at Groundswell to support reproductive justice advocacy organizations led by women of color. The reproductive justice movement addresses a full spectrum of issues that disproportionately affect communities of color, particularly in low-income neighborhoods, including the right to access reproductive health information and care; bear and parent children; access a safe and legal abortion; live free from violence; and live and work in a healthy environment. GRANTS LIST CATALYST FUND FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE CHICAGO ABORTION FUND $35,000 RAPE VICTIM ADVOCATES $20,000 The My Voice, My Choice Leadership Group engages and mobilizes the women CAF serves. By facilitating leadership development for low-income women, CAF involves women of color in grassroots organizing that improves community systems. CHICAGO LEGAL ADVOCACY FOR INCARCERATED MOTHERS $25,000 Rape Victim Advocates provides non-judgmental crisis intervention counseling, individual and group counseling, medical and legal advocacy, and public education and institutional advocacy on sexual violence. ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF THE ACLU, INC. $25,000, MULTI-YEAR GRANT DORIS & HOWARD CONANT FUND FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS The Doris & Howard Conant Fund supports organizations and programs committed to women’s rights, with a focus on advocacy efforts. The Conant Fund also provides an opportunity to award multi-year grants, demonstrating both the Foundation’s and the donor’s commitment to long-term, systemic change. DONOR ADVISED FUNDS Donor advised funds can be established when a person or family donates $5,000 or more to the fund. Chicago Foundation for Women assists the donor in awarding grants from that fund to support organizations helping women and girls. THE ELEANOR NETWORK AT CHICAGO FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN* The Eleanor Network at the Chicago Foundation for Women supports an array of economic security strategies, bringing together the former Eleanor Foundation’s targeted approach and the Chicago Foundation for Women’s broader support of direct service and advocacy. THE GENERAL FUND General Fund grants focus on Chicago Foundation for Women’s three key issue areas: economic security, freedom from violence, and access to health services and information for women and girls. THE IRENE BAYRACH ANTI-VIOLENCE LEGACY FUND Thanks to a donation from the estate of Irene Bayrach, the fund supports services and advocacy projects that address family violence in all its forms: domestic violence between partners in an intimate relationship, girls’ exposure to violence at home, child abuse and elder women abuse. LEADERSHIP COUNCIL FUNDS Through our five Leadership Councils, Chicago Foundation for Women fosters a network of diverse leaders who raise funds for their communities. Each council’s fund awarded grants this past year to organizations which work in the communities they represent. THE POLK BROS. FOUNDATION FUND FOR EMERGING ORGANIZATIONS The Polk Bros. Foundation Fund for Emerging Organizations fosters early growth in promising nonprofits with annual operating budgets below $75,000. THE SOPHIA FUND FOR ADVOCACY From 1983 to 1991, The Sophia Fund was an independent foundation. It made more than 400 grants totaling $1.8 million to organizations addressing reproductive rights, violence against women and economic justice. In 1992, Sophia’s founder turned over part of the fund’s work to Chicago Foundation for Women to continue its support of advocacy and social policy efforts to allow women and girls to live to their full potential. The Reproductive Justice Initiative and Visible Voices leadership group empowers formerly incarcerated women to advocate for policy change on reproductive health care for women in prison; strengthening the Illinois ban on shackling inmates during labor; and reducing the termination of incarcerated mothers’ parental rights. ILLINOIS CAUCUS FOR ADOLESCENT HEALTH $25,000 The Reproductive Rights Project defends and advances the rights of all women to decide freely, without government interference, whether and when to have a child. ELEANOR NETWORK AT CHICAGO FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN ACTION NOW INSTITUTE $50,000 ICAH is a youth-led group that advocates for sound policies and practices that promote a positive, medically accurate and comprehensive approach to adolescent sexual health and parenting. EVERTHRIVE ILLINOIS $35,000 Action Now Insitute is working to reduce teacher tunover and increase the number of highly effective teachers of color in Grow Your Own (GYO) Teachers and Pre-GYO programs. Candidates are mainly single mothers who work full-time and attend school part-time. THE CARA PROGRAM $50,000 The Englewood Women’s Empowerment Project seeks to create accessible health care resources and services for women and girls in Englewood, as well as engage them in statewide reproductive justice advocacy. METROPOLITAN CHICAGO BREAST CANCER TASK FORCE $30,000 The Eleanor Career Advancement Program (ECAP) is a program designed to meet the needs of low-income, low-skilled women who are heads of households focusing intensely on four growing industries: healthcare, administrative, manufacturing and customer service to connect women to the opportunities necessary to advance their careers and increase earnings. CENTERS FOR NEW HORIZONS $40,000 Driven by racial health disparities, the Task Force engages in research, administrative policy change and legislative advocacy so that low-income African American women have equal access to quality breast cancer care. YOUNG WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT PROJECT $15,000 The Women Employed Project helps local teaching assistants become certified early childhood teachers. This pilot program provides a cohort of teaching assistants a year-long support group, one-on-one coaching and training essential to suceccding in state certification tests. CHICAGO WOMEN IN TRADES $57,500, MULTI-YEAR GRANT YWEP responds to the strengths, needs and concerns of young women in the sex trade by building their self-care skills and engaging them as leaders in advocacy campaigns that directly address the institutions that affect their lives. DORIS & HOWARD CONANT FUND FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS CHICAGO ALLIANCE AGAINST SEXUAL EXPLOITATION $20,000 Chicago Women in Trades provides a pre-apprenticeship training program and an ongoing welding program to improve women’s qualifications for specific apprenticeship program opportunities or alternative employment. DEBORAH’S PLACE $20,000 End Demand Illinois is a grassroots campaign advocating that the most effective way to reduce violence against women and eliminate the sexual exploitation of prostituted and trafficked people is to address its root cause: the demand for the sex trade. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LEGAL CLINIC $15,000 Teresa’s Interim Housing uses a continuum of housing options and comprehensive support services to prevent women’s return to homelessness. EMERGENCY FUND $50,000 The Pro Bono Project is a unique collaboration designed to meet the legal needs of unrepresented victims of domestic violence. It seeks to engage the private bar, recruiting attorneys from law firms and corporations to staff shifts at the courthouse and represent victims in their petition for Orders of Protection. HEALTHCONNECT ONE $20,000, MULTI-YEAR GRANT The Emergency Fund provides flexible financial assistance distributed in monthly allotments (between $1,000 and $3,000) to participants in the Eleanor Network programs. Some examples of financial assistance includes rent, utility payments, security deposits, CTA passes, uniforms, and state IDs. HEARTLAND HUMAN CARE SERVICES $62,500 HealthConnect One’s multi-year advocacy strategy is designed to promote the sustainability of the Illinois workforce of perinatal community health workers by advancing the establishment of Medicaid reimbursement for these women. MUJERES LATINAS EN ACCIÓN $25,000 Heartland Human Care Services, Inc.’s IDEA Initiative provides a comprehensive asset building program to working female heads of household through individual consultation as well as group education focusing on building credit and savings, employment and career advancement, and support services. These approaches and services will be combined to assist working women with meeting their self-identified goals and obtaining economic self-sufficiency. HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN $50,000 *A portion of the funds that support housing and wraparound services for low-income working women in Chicago are provided by the Ava Farwell Trust. Mujeres’ Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Programs provides assessment, individual and group counseling, children’s therapy, legal advocacy, a 24hour bilingual hotline, case management, community education, transportation and respite child care as well as referrals to temporary housing and economic supports. In addition, Mujeres engages in local and statewide advocacy initiatives to promote victims’ rights and ensure equal treatment under the law. The Center for Working Women assists women to meet their basic needs (housing, food, childcare, transportation and healthcare) while also helping them to overcome obstacles to sustained economic self-sufficiency including obtaining living wage careers with advancement potential, improve credit worthiness, and educational attainment. 24 25