At The Women’s Fund, we believe in trust-based philanthropy. And that means unrestricted investments in the leadership and vision of women, especially women of color. We’re thrilled to announce the next round of investments from the Enduring Progress Initiative (EPI), our program designed to tackle the funding gaps that women of color uniquely face. Each of the following organizations will receive $50,000 to support their leadership and capacity building.

The Women’s Center for Economic Opportunity, led by Keena Smith

The Women’s Center for Economic Opportunity equips, elevates, and empowers African American women and other women of color. They provide access to knowledge and resources for women of color to create generational wealth and a legacy of economic impact while staying well. Through their programming, they are advancing economic equity, inclusion, and justice for women of color. Learn more at www.womensceo.org.

Femergy, led by Maylin Sambois and Christina Vera

For the past ten years, Femergy® has provided girls and women with skills to overcome gender barriers in public and private spheres. They recently opened The Femergy® Restorative Center in downtown Columbus to expand their work in providing holistic programming in the areas of education, leadership, health, and wellness. The new facility is also available for community use! To learn more or schedule a tour, please visit www.femergy.org.

Why EPI is more than just a grant

When we invite partners to pitch for EPI funding, we want them to have their best shot at success.

That’s why we partnered with Drew Alexander Consulting to provide this round of EPI applicants with training, resources, and dedicated coaching to make their pitch the best it can be. We helped them build and strengthen their skills to support their success in our process and, importantly, their success when pitching to other funders as they continue to grow.

The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio is investing $249,000 in the following 19 partner organizations focused on women and girls in Central Ohio. 68% of these partners specifically focus on women and girls of color; 32% are programs that have not been funded by The Women’s Fund before; and 58% support women and girls in counties other than Franklin. We’re thrilled to stand with them in 2023 to create social change and build a more equitable world.

⭐ = made possible in part by the Monica Terez Girl Power Fund
👕 = made possible in part by HOMAGE Works

Accompanying Returning Citizens with Hope (ARCH)
Be the Change
Be the Change is a leadership program developed with ARCH and Horizon Prison Initiative to provide incarcerated women with leadership skills and education on civic issues. Through the program, women learn how to use their voices effectively to address policy issues that are important to their successful reintegration.

Central Community House ⭐👕
TRANSIT ARTS Black Girls Glow+
TRANSIT ARTS, a program of Central Community House, will expand the Black Girls Glow program to include Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) girls. The program helps girls build self-esteem and leadership skills and develop a promising future through arts and mental wellness activities. Three cohorts will experience self-growth through intensive, intimate workshops. As participants discover their strengths and talents, they will continue their artistic journey, gain professional experience, and receive ongoing mentorship and access to mental health resources through ongoing TRANSIT ARTS programs.

Equality Ohio Education Fund
Supporting Trans Girls in Sports through the Ohio Can Play Project
Transgender youth are being marginalized by policy-makers. Eighteen states have banned transgender girls from playing sports on teams matching their gender identity; similar bills are pending in Ohio (as of fall of 2022). This directly harms transgender girls by increasing suicidal ideation and stigmatizing an already misunderstood group. This program seeks to advance its educational work so transgender girls continue to have access to sports respecting their gender identity. We seek to expand the power of #OhioCanPlay in Central Ohio to elevate the voices of transgender girls and those who support them.

Femergy
GHRO Your Future
GHRO Your Future is a life-skills development and mentoring program for girls ages 12-18. Each participant is matched with a strong female leader from the community to discuss personal goals and ambitions and receive social-emotional support. In workshops, participants engage in hands-on activities in the areas of academic support, career exploration, workforce readiness, leadership development, mental wellness, and confidence building. GHRO operates in schools for limited, targeted programming, and as a community-based program where girls connect with mentors at least once per month, attend two monthly life-skills workshops, and attend a two-day conference.

Freedom a la Cart
Pioneering a Road to Economic Recovery for Survivors of Human Trafficking
Freedom a la Cart’s workforce development program effectively empowers survivors of human trafficking to lead new lives of personal and economic self-sufficiency. Moving human trafficking survivors out of vulnerability and poverty and into stability and economic self-sufficiency requires more than just a job. The program melds case management, trauma counseling, workforce development, career coaching + mentorship, financial literacy training, and savings incentives. By walking alongside women on the road of recovery and providing them with resources, community, and employment, women are empowered to build a life of independence, advance into fulfilling careers, and build wealth.

Girls L.E.A.P. ⭐
Girls LEAP STEM Program
Girls LEAP STEM Program is a year-long monthly educational program that includes summer camp. It is built upon the successes of a week-long STEAM Camp held in 2021 and 2022, during which the girls learned how to code by creating their own unique characters that “talked”, built websites, and created robots using basic materials like cardboard for propeller cars. These experiences allowed for an increased interest in technology-based careers, curiosity in STEM, and confidence in their ability to learn technical subjects. The program will empower girls from under-served communities that experience more disadvantages at home and school.

Groundwork Ohio
Strong Voices make a Strong Community – Advocacy Day
Decisions deeply impacting the lives of women and young children are often made without their voices being heard. Public policy plays a critical role in our society but can perpetuate structural inequities that prevent certain populations from leading healthy lives.

Groundwork Ohio is an advocacy organization informing early learning and healthy development policies for Ohio’s young children. We will train and engage women and families in the process of using their voices to support policies that most influence the positive life trajectories of young children: maternal and young child health and access to quality early learning.

ICE Mentors (Eryn PiNK) ⭐
She’s Gold Leadership Program
The concept of Eryn PiNK is based on a fictional, 12-year-old African American animated girl who illustrates what it means to be an empowered leader. Her real-life experiences underscore the needs our organization addresses and steer our curriculum.

Eryn PiNK Girl Empowerment is dedicated to the development of girls, with a targeted emphasis on creating pathways of advancement for girls of color to thrive. Led by a dedicated team of “role models,” our programs implement culturally relevant solutions to develop leadership skills, increase confidence, and provide opportunities so they may amplify their voices through our in-school and community programs.

Justice for Migrant Women
Channeling the Power of Migrant Women to Advance Gender Equity
Justice for Migrant Women will channel the power of migrant women in Central Ohio to advocate for gender equity through policy change. In the next year, we will work alongside migrant women to raise awareness of and shift engagement in the priority issues we collaboratively identify with these women, who are too often excluded from places of power and missing from the public policy decisions that impact their lives. We will work toward policy changes that improve pay equity, increase migrant women’s protections from workplace harm and exploitation, and increase access to justice for survivors of sexual violence.

LifeCare Alliance
We Are Worth Defending
IMPACT Safety’s “We Are Worth Defending” initiative aims to make the proven and tested methodology of empowerment self-defense (ESD) easily available, affordable, culturally relevant, and accessible. Additionally, programs will be implemented by women of color for women and girls of color. The initiative includes ongoing research, training, instructor certification, community advocacy, and violence prevention awareness in Franklin County and contiguous communities.

MY Project USA ⭐
Expansion of Leadership and Empowerment Program for Immigrant and Refugee Girls
The Girls’ Leadership and Empowerment Program is a safe space for young women to develop as leaders within their community while they build self-esteem, grow their communication skills, and define their hopes and ambitions. Girls will learn to build their power with the Ohio Women’s Alliance, work with local leaders to address violence and other community issues, and provide community service—emphasizing the Muslim tradition of service to fellow human beings. MY Project USA’s staff and volunteers will expand opportunities for young Muslim, Arab, and Hispanic women, ages 14 to 18, to explore who they are and who they will become.

New Directions Career Center
Women’s Advocacy Program
The Women’s Advocacy Program is a leadership and nonprofit board training program for women who have experienced life circumstances requiring them to seek local social services. The goal is to ensure that programs and policies designed to support women and families include their voices and perspectives. The Women’s Advocacy Program’s 2023 cohort will receive training in leadership skills, public speaking, advocacy, communications, board responsibilities, and community engagement. Cohort 2022 and Cohort 2023 graduates are placed on boards and board committees across Central Ohio to inform programs and policies that serve women and families.

Ohio Women’s Alliance
The Reproductive Justice Table
The Reproductive Justice Table is a year-long fellowship and campaign training program for women community leaders pursuing positive change in their communities. Applicants must have experience as a community volunteer or leader to apply, which they share in their application. RJ Fellows commit to monthly training sessions that sharpen their skills in community organizing, campaign planning, issue-based advocacy, and organizational financial management. Throughout the year-long fellowship, RJ Fellows collaboratively develop and implement a reproductive justice campaign of their choosing to educate and engage more women across Ohio.

Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio
Ohio Center for Sex Education Peer Education Program
Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio’s education arm, the Ohio Center for Sex Education, runs an innovative Peer Education Program that engages young people by training them on evidence-informed reproductive and sexual health education while strengthening their confidence, leadership, and presentation skills. Because we know that teens often turn to their friends with questions about sexual health, peer educators share their newfound knowledge with peers to improve their understanding of reproductive health and sexuality. Peer educators work to increase protective factors that prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections and combat harmful gender stereotypes in their schools and communities.

Policy Matters Ohio
Economic Security and Opportunity for Women
Policy Matters Ohio’s long-term goals include making childcare affordable for all who need it, paying childcare workers a living wage, and helping women get and keep good jobs. Right now, a single mother of two earning $16/hour spends more than half her income on childcare but makes too much to qualify for public support for childcare. Childcare workers, who are disproportionately Black women, earn poverty-level wages. We will advocate for affordable high-quality childcare, a living wage for childcare workers, and economic security for women and families through research, community education, strategic communications, and coalition building.

Proyecto Mariposas ⭐
Elevating the Voices of Young Latinas (ages 13+)
This Elevating the Brave and Strong Voices of Young Latinas (ages 13+) will focus on preparing young women (former Mariposas participants) to mentor our younger girls in areas of mental health, cultural humility, breaking biases, education, and leadership. Through this program, they will earn a certificate, a letter of recommendation, and a stipend. This program will continue to prepare them to gather data, develop and lead programming, and coach/mentor girls ages 13+.

The Women’s Center for Economic Opportunity
Women’s Rise to Wealth Accelerator
The Women’s Rise to Wealth Accelerator is a money management program offered in a psychologically safe space for women of color to debunk money myths and raise their financial emotional intelligence. Participants learn practical skills to reduce debt, raise credit scores, and deepen their knowledge of investing. Participants learn and practice using the language of money and wealth to negotiate and better navigate a financial system that is not designed to prosper them.

Vote Run Lead
RUN/51: Training Women to Lead Ohio
RUN/51 is Vote Run Lead’s revolutionary campaign to transform state legislatures to be 51% women — reflective of the country’s population.

This first-ever effort to create a majority-women office will not only build a more equitable, more representative government body; it will also create policy impacts that are good for women and girls (research shows that more women at decision-making tables result in policies that support them, such as economic equity, reproductive health, and more). With more women in visible power, RUN/51: Ohio will also help shift a still-held narrative that women cannot or should not lead.

YWCA Columbus
Bright Futures
Bright Futures is a community-based program that empowers girls in middle and high school to understand and disrupt systemic oppression, develop agency, and take up roles of leadership needed to advocate for changing the systems that perpetuate inequities. The program seeks to provide participants with tools for understanding and dismantling the structures of inequity that impact their lived experiences and communities.

Photograph on home page by Shellee Fisher

Recently, The Women’s Fund joined our partners to make a major announcement. Working with Zora’s House, Columbus College of Art and Design, and other community partners, we will be launching an equitable design institute for women of color. This collaboration has been years in the making and will transform the way that women of color are integrated into structures of power in Columbus.

“Allowing women of color to address the wealth barriers they face by designing economic solutions that imbed their lived experiences will help eliminate stark disparities that have existed for centuries,” said Kelley Griesmer, President and CEO of The Women’s Fund.

Funded by a $1.5 million investment by JPMorgan Chase, this new equity design institute will empower women of color to generate innovative solutions to the economic barriers they face. The women will come together in cohorts and participate in design sprints to co-create solutions that can be scaled and implemented in Central Ohio and beyond.

“Without women of color engaged in creating solutions, ineffective programs and policies are funded and implemented. This is a true systems-change investment that will start at the root cause of how decisions are made, and is a critical step toward designing a city that hears, responds to, and implements a vision of economic prosperity designed by those most impacted by obstacles,” said LC Johnson, Founder & CEO of Zora’s House.

The institute will be headquartered at Zora’s House. Other community organizations participating in this collaborative effort include the Affordable Housing Trust, the Columbus Urban League, the Women’s Center for Economic Opportunity, and YWCA Columbus.

The Women’s Fund is thrilled to be a part of this groundbreaking initiative that is a culmination of over a year of hard work and dedication to uplifting women’s voices in our community.

Read more about this new initiative in The Columbus Dispatch and Columbus Business First.

One week after the Supreme Court’s devastating reversal of Roe v. Wade, we announced a new Immediate Impact grant campaign. Over 125 grassroots and matching donors stepped up to fund these grants to organizations working to protect abortion access for Ohioans. The outpouring of support allowed us to more than triple the amount of grant funds to over $35,000.

For over 20 years, The Women’s Fund has invested in grantmaking, research, and advocacy focused on gender equity, and we’re continuing that legacy with these Immediate Impact grants. We are proud to be supporting these partners during this uncertain time:

Abortion Fund of Ohio (formerly Women Have Options-Ohio) – $15,000
30 years ago, Women’s Fund founder Emily Rutherford also helped start Women Have Options. Their extensive experience helping people access and afford abortions is more necessary than ever. Today, Abortion Fund of Ohio is ensuring that those who need abortions can access them by providing financial assistance to cover related costs including healthcare, transportation, childcare, and more.

Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio – $15,000
Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio is a trusted source of reproductive healthcare for many Ohioans. Their clinics are now supporting patients who are navigating new restrictions on their access to basic healthcare. The organization is also a leading voice in the legal fight for reproductive rights.

Ohio Women’s Alliance – $5,462
Ohio Women’s Alliance is a statewide community organization that uses a reproductive justice lens to create a better Ohio for everyone. Through their advocacy and volunteer programs, including their partnership with Abortion Fund of Ohio, they mobilize thousands of individuals across the state who care about reproductive rights.

The Supreme Court’s decision to strip away abortion rights left millions of women, transgender, and nonbinary people scrambling to ensure their access to essential healthcare. Achieving gender equity means we must stand up for everyone’s basic rights, and we’re as committed as ever.

Match funds for this campaign were generously provided by Geben Communication, The Kitchen, McDougald Research, NorthAvenue Financial Advocates, and Zora’s House.

The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio is investing $259,700 in 17 grant partners focused on creating equity for women and girls in Central Ohio, and we are thrilled to support such an incredible group as we kick off our second generation of impact!

Central Community House ★
TRANSIT ARTS Black Girls Glow

Black Girls Glow, led by TRANSIT ARTS, a program of Central Community House, provides girls with the opportunity to build self-esteem and leadership skills and develop a promising future through positive future stories via art, creative activities, and mental wellness. Participants in the program complete vision boards through intensive, intimate workshops. As participants discover their strengths and talents in the program, TRANSIT ARTS will provide opportunities for girls to continue their artistic journey, gain professional experience, and receive ongoing mentorship.

Eryn PiNK Girl Empowerment ★
She’s Gold Leadership Program, Eryn PiNK School Program & Give That Girl the Mic: Columbus’ All Girl Talent Showcase

Eryn PiNK Girl Empowerment is dedicated to the development of girls, with a targeted emphasis on creating pathways of advancement for girls to thrive. Led by a dedicated team of “role models,” our programs create brave spaces and implement customized solutions through our in school and community programs to develop leadership skills, increase confidence, and provide opportunities so they may amplify their voices.

Femergy®
GHRO Your Future

GHRO Your Future is an exploratory program dedicated to the self-development of adolescent girls. These young scholars are given the opportunity to connect with other girls, explore and support each other’s desire for personal growth, and build enthusiasm to succeed not only in school, but in life. Each participant is matched with a strong female leader from the community for monthly check-ins to discuss personal goals and ambitions and provide social and emotional support.

Girls on the Run of Central Ohio ★
Girls on the Run of Central Ohio Columbus City Schools

Girls on the Run is the only physical activity-based positive youth development program designed to enhance girls’ social, psychological, and physical skills and behaviors to successfully navigate life experiences. The 10-week curriculum serves as a platform for social emotional learning and increased physical activity while promoting holistic health outcomes and engagement in community service for girls grades 3-8. Girls on the Run partners with over 200 schools to make programming accessible to as many girls as possible in Central Ohio.

HelpLine of Delaware and Morrow Counties, Inc.
Thank Goodness I’m Female (T.G.I.F.) Leadership Cohort

The T.G.I.F. Leadership Cohort is an opportunity for Delaware County high school girls and students who identify as female to learn and develop their leadership skills and style. The program focuses on modules designed to connect participants with women leaders and mentors from Central Ohio in a “you can’t be what you can’t see” model. The six modules are: Time Management, Stress Management, Leadership in School and Beyond, Communication and Public Speaking, Finding Your Leadership Style, and Advocacy. Participants will put the knowledge they gained from the cohort into practice through a final capstone project.

Innovation Ohio Education Fund
The Ohio Women’s Public Policy Network

The Women’s Public Policy Network (WPPN) is a coalition unlike any other group in the state. Formed in 2015 as a program of Innovation Ohio Education Fund, WPPN brings together nearly 40 organizations to collaboratively advocate for public policies that build economic opportunity for women and their families. WPPN convenes community conversations, strategy sessions, and events around shared policy goals and coordinates the coalition’s legislative efforts. They also engage in public advocacy and issue education, such as providing legislative testimony at the Statehouse or educating lawmakers through an intersectional gender lens.

LEAD Ohio
Women LEADing Ohio

Women LEADing Ohio (WLO) was created to increase the number of women in Ohio’s political process to ensure the needs and voices of women are heard. A government that is gender-balanced, multiracial, and composed of differing backgrounds and lived experiences allows for more constructive discussion and broader perspectives about important issues affecting women and their families in Ohio. WLO provides a protected space for educational programming and support for women interested in civil service. The program is led entirely by women with a lens of being a woman in traditionally male-dominated government and political spaces.

League of Women Voters of Ohio Education Fund
Women’s Voices: Next Generation of Women Leaders

League of Women Voters of Ohio develops young women leaders through dialogue, mentorship, and hands-on experiences. They engage and empower young women by providing the knowledge and skills needed to become informed voters and engaged citizens. This program boosts confidence and leadership skills among young women, recognizing that the gender gap in leadership starts at an early age. The program includes an internship program, the Youth in Action program, opportunities to visit the Ohio Statehouse, and voter outreach.

My Project USA ★
Leadership and Empowerment for Immigrant and Refugee Girls

MY Project USA is establishing a leadership and empowerment program for teen girls from our local immigrant and refugee community. These young women are often seen as secondary to boys within their families and culture and are far too often afraid to be themselves in settings that include boys. Our program will develop a cohort of teen leaders and give them the tools they need to take control of their bodies, minds, educations, and careers while helping to produce a cultural shift that will help our community see girls as equal to boys.

New Directions Career Center
New Directions Career Center’s Women’s Advocacy Program

The Women’s Advocacy Program is a leadership and nonprofit board training program for women who have experienced life circumstances requiring them to seek local social services. The goal is to ensure that programs and policies designed to support women and families include their voices and perspectives. The Women’s Advocacy Program’s 2022 cohort will receive training in leadership skills, public speaking, advocacy, communications, board responsibilities, and community engagement. Cohort 2021 and Cohort 2022 graduates are placed on boards and board committees across Central Ohio to inform programs and policies that serve women and families.

Ohio Women’s Alliance
Advocates for a Better Ohio

Advocates for a Better Ohio is a year-long fellowship and campaign training program for women community leaders pursuing positive change in their communities. Fellows commit to monthly training sessions that sharpen their skills in community organizing, campaign planning, issue-based advocacy, and organizational financial management. Fellows will also work with Ohio Women’s Alliance staff and their peers to develop and implement a campaign throughout 2022 to engage more women across the state of Ohio in issue-based advocacy and voting.

Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio
The Ohio Center for Sex Education Peer Education Program

Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio’s education arm, the Ohio Center for Sex Education (OCSE), runs an innovative Peer Education Program that engages young people by training them about reproductive and sexual health education while strengthening their confidence, leadership, and presentation skills. Because we know that teens often turn to their friends with questions about sexual health, peer educators share their newfound knowledge with peers to improve their collective understanding of reproductive health and sexuality. Peer educators work to help prevent unintended pregnancy, reduce rates of sexually transmitted infections, and combat harmful gender stereotypes in their schools and communities.

Policy Matters Ohio
Childcare for All

Policy Matters Ohio’s long-term goal is to make childcare affordable for all who need it, pay childcare workers a living wage, and help more women get and keep good jobs. Right now, a single mother of two, earning $15/hour spends more than half her income on childcare but makes too much to qualify for public support. The women who work in childcare, who are disproportionately Black women, earn so little they need assistance, too. Policy Matters Ohio advocates for affordable high-quality childcare and a living wage for childcare workers through research, public education, strategic communications, and coalition building.

Proyecto Mariposas ★
Valiente | Fuerte | Latina (Brave | Strong | Latina)

The Valiente | Fuerte | Latina is a multi-part program for girls and women ages 8 and up. The annual program combines hands-on self-esteem activities, conversations, and resilience and personal skill building activities that are designed and developed to foster culture, elevate the voices of girls, and build relationships with mothers or caring adults. Through the program, we address the topics of self-confidence, cultural biases, and gender gaps. The program is offered in English and Spanish providing a space for heritage participants to feel comfortable and safe.

ThriveIN 
WorkSpace

WorkSpace is a 12-month, leadership and professional development, career accelerator program for millennial and Gen Z Black women and women of color. Through in-person and virtual programming along with transformational access to mentors, peer networks, and jobs, WorkSpace provides Black and WOC professionals with the information, connections, transferable skills, leadership development, and glass-breaking confidence to #ThriveIN their careers. WorkSpace also includes an interactive portal with resources and a job board for women of color job seekers, removing key barriers to employment such as racial and gender bias, while creating more diverse and equitable work cultures for women.

Vote Mama Foundation
Vote Mama Foundation: Allowing Campaign Funds to be used for Childcare in Ohio

Being a mother and running for office are both full time jobs with no salary. Vote Mama Foundation is working to pass legislation in Ohio that would allow state and local candidates to use Campaign Funds for Childcare (CFCC), to ensure that no mother is locked out of running for office due to an inability to afford care for her children while campaigning. By breaking this structural and financial barrier, Vote Mama Foundation is making it possible for more mothers to bring their lived experience to the decision-making table to advocate for women, girls, and working families at all levels of government.

We Amplify Voices
We, The Change Girls’ Leadership Intensive

“We, The Change” is a series of arts-based, trauma-informed workshops geared toward Columbus-city middle schoolers. Throughout the academic year, participants meet at designated hours with a team of professional musicians, producers, videographers, and visual artists to explore modes of creative expression and mindfulness practices anchored in a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum. The Girls’ Leadership Intensive, a ten-day summer immersion program, tailors this curriculum for a cohort of 16 girls selected from the larger group. Through self-compassion-centered mentorship across artistic mediums, participants cultivate the tools to dismantle the gendered roadblocks that keep girls from embracing their full leadership potential.

★ Recipient of funds raised by the Monica Terez Girl Power Fund