News/Press Releases

May 25, 2021

Teacher reading a book to students at Rayitos de Sol Bilingual Childcare in Milbridge, Maine.

The Maine Women’s Fund Grants $155,000 to 16 Nonprofits, Helping Shape the Post-Pandemic Future for Maine Women and Girls

Portland, Maine, May 25, 2021 – The Maine Women’s Fund recently announced grants totaling $155,000 for 16 nonprofits that are working to address the most pressing needs of women and girls across the state. From York to Aroostook County, these organizations and leaders are helping shape the post-pandemic future in key areas where the pandemic has further exacerbated existing gender inequalities.

“We’re honored to make bold investments in innovative programs that will help address the disproportionate burden of care work, as well as unprecedented increases in violence, substance use, unemployment and financial insecurity,” said Kimberly Crichton, Executive Director of the Maine Women’s Fund. “We’re also proud to invest over one third of funding in the powerful vision and leadership of Black, brown and Indigenous women-led organizations, which receive just 0.5% of all charitable giving in the United States but experience the greatest disparities.”

One recent grantee, Mano en Mano, supports Latinx and farmworker communities in Maine and received $10,000 to support its Rayitos de Sol Bilingual Childcare in Washington County.

Grant support from the Maine Women’s Fund comes at a critical time, as one in four (more than 2 million) women left the workforce during the pandemic, with Latinas experiencing the greatest job losses of any population. Rayitos de Sol Childcare was started in January 2021, during a surge in the virus and a distressing report of job loss for Latinas and Black women.

“Women are disproportionately impacted by the lack of affordable and quality childcare, which often limits their access to career opportunities, professional growth, and ability to gain financial autonomy,” said Juana Rodriguez, Migrant Education and Rayitos de Sol Childcare Director of Mano en Mano. “Rayitos de Sol supports women that previously could not access childcare services due barriers, including cost and language, in order to pursue personal, professional, and other goals. Thanks to support from the Maine Women's Fund, we can continue to provide bilingual childcare that builds bridges of community, so that language and culture are valued and appreciated by all.”

Each organization supported by Maine Women’s Fund this year has a similar story to tell. Helping shape the post-pandemic future in Maine, the most recent grants include:

• $7,500 for ArtVan’s Art Therapy in Knox, Sagadahoc Androscoggin, Cumberland and York County
• $10,000 for Elder Abuse Institute of Maine’s Statewide Developing Support Services for Elder Victims of Abuse within the Criminal Justice System
• $7,050 for Four Directions Development Corporation’s Strengthening Wabanaki Community Assets in Aroostook, Penobscot, and Washington County 
• Because of Maine Women’s Fund Four Directions will be able to better identify opportunities for financial services in Wabanaki Communities.
• $10,000 for Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project’s Supporting Immigrant Survivors of Violence Statewide
• $10,000 for In Her Presence’s Capacity Building Initiative 2021 in Cumberland County
• $10,000 for Mabel Wadsworth Center’s Connecting Women and LGBTQ+ People to Health Care in Penobscot, Aroostook, and Washington County
• $10,000 for Maine Commission on Domestic and Sexual Abuse’s Statewide Racial Equity Roadmap
• $10,000 for Maine Transgender Network’s Statewide Support For Trans Survivors of Violence
• $10,000 for Maine Women's Lobby Education Fund’s Statewide Education and Engagement for Gender Equity
• $10,000 for Mano en Mano’s Rayitos de Sol Bilingual Childcare in Washington County
• $10,000 for New Ventures Maine’s Statewide Expanding Wabanaki Savings through Collaborative Partnership Development, Marketing and Outreach
• $10,000 for Restorative Justice Institute of Maine’s Statewide Leadership Development and Healing with Women Impacted by Incarceration
• $10,000 for Somali Bantu Community Association’s Hiring More Women as Staff Members in Androscoggin County
• $10,000 for Survivor Speak USA’s Making the Last Girl FIRST in Androscoggin, Cumberland and York Counties
• $10,000 for Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness’ Statewide Supporting Wabanaki Women in Recovery
• $10,000 for YWCA Central Maine’s Single Gender Women’s Swim in Androscoggin County

The Maine Women’s Fund provides general operating or project support to organizations that meet needs in the areas of: Education, Financial Skills & Literacy, Healthcare, Leadership, Personal Safety, and Policy. Dani Scherer, Chair of the Maine Women’s Fund Grants Committee stated, "At this moment of recovery and reckoning, it matters who leads us forward, and how. The organizations and initiatives supported through our recent round of grant funding show us what an equitable, caring and inclusive future can look like."

November 3, 2020

We are thrilled to have been recognized by the Grant Professionals Association with the 2020 Grantmaker of the Year Award, made in recognition of our contributions to the community and the grants profession within the public sector!

www.grantprofessionals.org/page/gmotyawardrecipients

June 24, 2020

Photo Credit: ArtVan staff.
Image Description: ArtVan, and all the other grantees, will be bringing their tools of change to women and girls across the State. 

CONTACT:
Kimberly Crichton, Executive Director
Maine Women’s Fund
Kimberly@mainewomensfund.org
(207) 774-5513

Maine Women’s Fund Announces Nearly $140,000 in Grants for 16 Organizations

June 24, 2020 – Today, the Maine Women’s Fund announces annual grant funding totaling $138,975 to 16 nonprofit organizations dedicated to transforming the lives of women and girls. In the past 30+ years the Maine Women’s Fund has made over 490 bold investments totaling more than $2.6 million to 230 organizations investing in the power of women and girls across the state.

“Our generous donors and sponsors allow us to fund new and established organizations so that they have the resources to strengthen women’s rights, create new opportunities, and economic well-being.“, said Dr. Candace Walworth, board member and Chair of the Grants Committee.

The Grants Committee received letters of interest from 68 non-profit organizations of various sizes and from all areas of the state. Each member of the Committee reviewed all requests and participated in a group discussion; from there, 27 of those organizations were invited to submit a more detailed proposal. After further assessment and due diligence by the committee, 16 organizations were selected for funding based on: strengths of the program and organization; the clearly identified need for the program; the diversity of geographic area and populations reached through the program; and opportunities to make the greatest impact and further the mission across the Maine Women’s Fund six funding areas: education, financial skills and literacy, healthcare, leadership, personal safety, and policy.

2020 Grant Awards (listed in alphabetical order):

• A Company of Girls builds self-confidence and resiliency, cultivates leadership skills, and creates a community of tolerance and acceptance where uniqueness is celebrated and creativity thrives through experiences in theater, visual and culinary arts.
• ArtVan serves children ages 3-18 in 390 family apartment units in Bath, Brunswick, and Auburn through regularly scheduled visits. Their art therapy approach lets poverty-related stressors be pro-actively and externally expressed through art.
• The Elder Abuse Institute of Maine will pilot a warmline aimed at helping Maine's 16,000 home health workers to identify elder abuse and to report cases more effectively and frequently. Only 1 in 24 cases of elder abuse is currently reported.
• The Hope and Justice Project, Inc. will implement wellness recovery action plan workshops in 3 areas of Aroostook County to provide survivors of domestic violence with a working plan for achieving their wellness goals.
• The League of Women Voters of Maine Education Fund will enhance the ability of women from underrepresented communities to impact the decisions that affect their lives, and support the role that women continue to play in securing democratic rights for all.
• Mabel Wadsworth Center is Maine's only independent, non-profit, community-based feminist health center. Our funding will support a feminist model of care focused on sexual and reproductive health through education, advocacy, and clinical services.
• Maine Children's Alliance advocates for policies to support the 12,000 female-headed households and 14,000 children living in poverty in Maine, such as expanding access to education, job training, and improved work-family policies and food security.
• MaineTransNet will address the increasingly hostile social and political attacks that leave trans people hurt (often physically) and isolated; this grant will support their goal of ensuring one support program monthly in all sixteen of Maine's counties.
• New England Arab American Organization will provide a unique opportunity for New Mainer women to earn Child Development Associate certification. Participants will advance their skills and earn income while reflecting cultural diversity.
• One Less Worry provides personal care products, including pads and tampons, which cannot be paid for with SNAP or WIC benefits, to those in need in Knox County while destigmatizing and normalizing periods through their Period Friendly project.
• Restorative Justice Institute of Maine will partner with the residents of the Women's Correction Center to address harm and injustice through practices that build connection, equity, accountability, and healing.
• Family Futures Downeast addresses multi-generational poverty by combining post-secondary, workforce and career pathways for parents while their children receive high-quality early education. Our grant will help raise parent voices.
• Tree Street Youth supports youth of Lewiston-Auburn through programs rooted in academics, the arts, and athletics in a safe space. They will build additional, intentional supports to reduce barriers to leadership experienced by young mothers.
• Wabanaki Public Health's mission is to provide community-driven public health services to all Wabanaki communities while honoring their cultural knowledge, cultivating innovation, and collaboration. They are overseen by Tribal leadership.
• Wayfinder Schools serves at-risk youth and teen parents, providing students the experience necessary to discover their strengths and skills, connect with their families, practice personal responsibility, contribute to community, and earn a high school diploma.
• YWCA Central Maine, who advocates for racial and gender equity, will offer a custom Parent and Child Together learning experience to introduce New Mainer mothers and children to the structure of a US early learning classroom.

“Once again, our annual grants provide many supportive programs for all ages, with several different programs around the state specifically serving the ends of the age spectrum, and others specifically serving the middle of the age spectrum,” said Kimberly Crichton, Executive Director. “Funding stretches from Aroostook to York County and reaches all five federally recognized tribal communities.”

  *This year, we funded Financial Skills and Literacy grants through our CA$H Maine capacity building initiative.

 About the Maine Women’s Fund

Since 1989, the Maine Women's Fund has been incubating and investing in nonprofit organizations run by and for Maine women and girls. Through its $2.9 million endowment, it makes annual financial investments in new and established organizations working towards its mission – to transform the lives of Maine women and girls through innovative programs and advocacy efforts. The Maine Women’s Fund provides financial and technical assistance to the organizations it partners with to build capacity, achieve sustainability, and create space for new generations of women leaders. In the past 30+ years the Maine Women’s Fund has granted almost 500 awards totaling more than $2.6 million to 230 organizations investing in the power of women and girls across the state and Wabanaki communities.

The Maine Women’s Fund is the only Maine foundation focused exclusively on advancing gender equity. In 2017, the Maine Women’s Fund created a rolling Swift Social Justice Grants Program to complement the Annual Grants Program and stand with women and girls from communities disproportionately impacted by the current policy and social landscape as they address immediate threats or take advantage of opportune moments. The Safety First for Women Fund is the Maine Women’s Fund first pooled emergency fund.

Learn more at www.mainewomensfund.org.