A program of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, the Jewish Women’s Giving Foundation recently awarded funding to seven programs in Baltimore and Israel.
The grants support organizations striving to improve the lives of women and girls facing challenges ranging from lack of access to education and employment to housing insecurity and sexual exploitation.
This year’s grantees include:
American Friends of Magen David Adom
An Israeli emergency response organization, MDA’s National Human Milk Bank provides mothers’ milk to premature babies as well as infants who were orphaned, whose mothers were abducted or injured, and those of mothers recruited to the IDF.
The BAF is a community-based nonprofit that provides financial assistance to women, girls and pregnant individuals who live in or travel to Maryland for abortion care. BAF also provides funds to reduce logistical barriers to abortion care, such as transportation, lodging, child care and translation services.
Building on its success providing meals to Baltimore’s food-insecure student population, BHP recognized an additional barrier to student success: Period Poverty. Young girls, particularly those aged 9-13, often miss school due to another critical barrier: lack of access to menstrual products. BHP aims to ensure that every student has the resources and support needed to thrive both in and out of the classroom.
Goucher Prison Education Partnership
The GPEP provides college education to female students incarcerated in Maryland. The students’ hard work and academic accomplishments impact not only their own futures, but also their families and the communities to which students belong, within and outside of prison.
HRCC is a nonprofit that fights sexual assault in all its forms, serving Haifa and northern Israel, an area that includes over 1 million children, adolescents, and adults. HRCC’s goals are to support survivors of sexual violence and their families, to work with adolescents to prevent sexual assault, to raise community members’ and professionals’ awareness about sexual violence, and to protect the rights of survivors.
HER Resiliency Center is a Baltimore nonprofit that supports young women overcoming various hardships, such as aging out of foster care, homelessness, addiction, pregnancy and sexual exploitation (sex trafficking and sex work). As a Trauma-Informed Care certified organization, HER is sensitive about stigma, shame and the possibility of re-traumatization. HER has developed a workforce development program in the construction trades called the Triple Crown Academy to provide women with employable skills and job training.
PIVOT is a reentry and workforce development program that connects women impacted by the criminal justice system with the comprehensive services needed to reclaim their lives, rejoin their families and reinvigorate their communities. PIVOT’s nine-week reentry and workforce development program is the only one of its kind in Maryland, focusing specifically on the needs of justice-involved women.
Now in its 22nd year, JWGF was established by a group of women committed to the power of collective philanthropy to create lasting change for women and girls. Since its inception, JWGF has granted more than $2.5 million, championing innovative and bold approaches to address urgent issues locally and globally.
“This year, we received a record number of grant requests, a powerful reminder of both the incredible work being done and the immense need that still exists, both here in Baltimore and in Israel,” said Julie Newman, outgoing chair of JWGF. “The volume and diversity of proposals reflect the many challenges women and girls continue to face and reinforce why our collective philanthropy is so critical.”
For information, visit associated.org/getinvolved/women/jwgf/.
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