Total of $6.3 Million Invested in 2019 for Research, Advocacy, Programs and Grants to Advance Opportunities for Texas Women and Girls
DALLAS, December 2019 – At a celebratory reception on December 12 at its offices, Texas Women’s Foundation (formerly Dallas Women’s Foundation) announced its community grants totaling $635,500 to 24 organizations that work to improve the lives of women and girls in North Texas. North Texas community grants represent about 10 percent of the Foundation’s overall $6.3 million investment in 2019 in research, advocacy, programs and grants to advance opportunities for Texas women and girls.
The Foundation’s community grants are a competitive grants process, in which the Foundation’s volunteers and staff conduct financial reviews, site visits and program reviews to select and fund, with board approval, the most effective solutions to help women and girls. Grants are distributed through the Foundation’s operating funds raised from a broad base of donors, complemented by funds from cooperative granting partners, such as Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) and various Foundation donor advised funds.
Roslyn Dawson Thompson, Texas Women’s Foundation president and CEO, said, “During this North Texas community grant cycle, we expanded our geographic area to include Tarrant County. We welcomed two new grantees from Tarrant County: The Ladder Alliance and Methodist Justice Ministry. We also added four new community grant partners from Dallas County: Junior Players Guild, Momentous Institute, Pamper Lake Highlands and Poetic. Through these partnerships, we are strengthening women and girls in the areas of education, housing, leadership and workforce development, and as a result, our entire community becomes stronger.”
The grantees include the following:
Collin County:
- Agape Resource & Assistance Center Inc.
Dallas County:
- Agape Clinic
- Bridge Breast Center Inc.
- Dallas Methodist Hospital
- Girlstart
- Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, Inc.
- Ignite Texas
- Junior Players Guild
- Momentous Institute
- Mosaic Family Services Inc.
- Ntarupt Fund at Dallas Foundation
- Pamper Lake Highlands
- Per Scholas Inc.
- Poetic
- Resource Center of Dallas, Inc.
- Rosa Es Rojo, Inc.
- Traffick911
- Trinity River Mission, Inc.
- Vickery Meadow Learning Center
- Wesley-Rankin Community Center
Denton County:
- Health Services of North Texas, Inc.
- Metrocrest Services
Tarrant County:
- Ladder Alliance, Inc.
- Methodist Justice Ministry of First United Methodist Church
Dawson Thompson added, “Our expansion as Texas Women’s Foundation has opened many doors, including growing interest and opportunities to expand the Foundation’s grantmaking. To better accommodate this growth and to continue to provide thoughtful, transparent and impactful grantmaking, we have made the decision to move our Community Grant cycle from fall 2020 to spring 2021. Thereafter it will take place in the spring each year.”
For a complete listing of organizations and descriptions, see end of release.
More information about grants can be found at https://www.txwf.org/community/#apply_grant.
About Texas Women’s Foundation:
Texas Women’s Foundation (formerly Dallas Women’s Foundation) is Transforming Texas for Women and Girls, empowering them to build stronger, more equitable communities. Since 1985, the Foundation has been a trusted leader in advancing social and economic change for women and girls in Texas. One of the world’s largest women’s foundations, the Foundation raises funding from a broad base of donors, including individuals, foundations and corporations. These resources support more than $6.3 million in investments that advance economic security and leadership for Texas women and girls through groundbreaking research, advocacy, grants and programs. The Foundation’s statewide research on issues affecting women and girls provides decision-makers and lawmakers with critical data to inform policies, practices and programs in the state. Its grantmaking and innovative programs support solutions that help Texas women and girls thrive. In addition, Texas Women’s Foundation is an acknowledged leader and advocate in the gender lens investing movement and has deployed 100% of its assets – endowments, operating investments and donor-advised funds – in a gendered impact portfolio that yields strong financial returns and measurable social benefits to women and girls. For more information, visit www.txwf.org, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram or donate now
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Texas Women’s Foundation 2019 Community Grants
Collin County:
Agape Resource & Assistance Center Inc. (Economic Security)
The organization provides housing and transformational support services to homeless women, moms and their children that empower them to move from crisis, abuse and poverty to fulfilling self-sustaining lives. Funding will support salaries and to help empower 25 single women families to graduate to self-sufficiency.
Dallas County:
Agape Clinic (Health)
Agape Clinic’s mission is to provide quality health care services unconditionally to underserved people. Funding will provide 667 well-woman visits to patients and women’s health services.
Bridge Breast Center Inc./The Bridge Breast Network (Health)
The Bridge Breast Network’s (BBN) mission is to save lives by providing access to diagnostic and treatment services for breast cancer to low income, uninsured and underinsured individuals. Funding will allow the BBN to reach underserved women living in Dallas, Collin, and Denton County with mammography services, breast health education and access to medical care. In addition, three women with breast cancer will be provided treatment and survivorship services.
Dallas Methodist Hospital/Methodist Health System Foundation (Workforce Development)
Methodist Health System’s mission is to improve and save lives through compassionate, quality healthcare. Funding will support the El Centro College Associate Degree Nursing Program at Methodist Health System (ECC/MHS program). The program represents Methodist’s investment in their employees and the communities they serve, and offers qualified individuals the opportunity to achieve nursing certification free of charge.
Girlstart (STEM)
Girlstart aspires to be the national leader in designing and implementing innovative, high quality informal STEM education programs that inspire girls to transform the world. Funding will support Girlstart’s scale-up in North Texas to reach more than 400 North Texas high-need girls every week with high-quality, hands-on STEM educational experiences in 20+ Girlstart After School programs, and 75+ girls through three week-long, technology-intensive Girlstart Summer Camp programs in North Texas.
Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, Inc. (Legal Services)
HRINT provides free legal and social services to immigrants escaping persecution and abuse. Funding will support general operating expenses of the Crime Victim’s Program (CVP), one of three Legal Programs at HRI.
IGNITE (Leadership)
IGNITE is a movement of young women who are ready and eager to become the next generation of civic and political leaders. Funding will support the existing program in North Texas and its expansion. During the 2019-20 school year, IGNITE is administering programs at 14 high schools and seven colleges/universities in Dallas, Denton, Collin, and surrounding counties, including Tarrant and Rockwall counties.
Junior Players Guild (Leadership)
Junior Players’ mission is to encourage intellectual growth, mental well-being and the development of life skills in the youth of North Texas through mentoring, creative expression and participation in dramatic and arts activities. Funding will support the Transformation Project, an initiative in which Junior Players collaborates with the Dallas Independent School District by working with high school students during the school day and within an educational setting, instructing students in the basics of dance genres, stage combat, skilled movement work and exploring the current challenges that they and/or their communities face.
Momentous Institute (Health)
Momentous Institute’s mission is to transform children’s futures and creating new possibilities for success. Funding will support the organization’s work to strengthen women’s social emotional health by providing quality mental health services to women who are mothers or caretakers of children facing their own social, emotional or behavior challenges themselves.
Mosaic Family Services Inc. (Legal Services)
Mosaic Family Services is a safe haven for survivors of human rights abuses including providing culturally competent services to refugees, victims of domestic violence and survivors of human trafficking. Funding will support the Multicultural Legal Services Program, which provides comprehensive legal services for victims of abuse.
Ntarupt Fund at Dallas Foundation (Teens)
Ntarupt’s mission is to improve the quality of life for children, families and communities by preventing unintended teen pregnancies. Funding will provide operating support to allow Ntarupt to educate teens, parents and professionals serving youth; mobilize the community; and create community awareness about teen pregnancy and prevention.
Pamper Lake Highlands (Adult Education)
Pamper Lake Highlands’ mission is to meet the immediate needs of impoverished families through sharing Jesus’ love and hope, by providing dual-generational services (community support, education and resources) at the earliest stages to mothers and children to empower them to break the cycle of poverty and oppression. Funding will provide general operating support for GED and ESL adult education classes to give women the training and skills needed to secure better job opportunities.
Per Scholas Inc. (Workforce Development)
Per Scholas envisions a future where individuals from any community can access well-paying career positions and where talent is recognized and recruited from many diverse sources. Funding will support Per Scholas’ training costs and provide stipends to help alleviate certain barriers such as childcare, transportation and other household expenses that deter single mothers from enrolling and completing the Network Support training. The Network Support training is a 15-week, full-time, tuition-free training leading to CompTIA A+ and Network+ professional certification, so that they are prepared for in-demand, entry-level IT employment.
Poetic (Girls/Victims of Trafficking)
POETIC is a comprehensive in-community aftercare program for girls leaving the juvenile justice system who have experienced childhood sexual abuse, commercial sexual exploitation or sex trafficking. Serving the community at no cost to enrolled girls or their families, POETIC equips girls to find their voices, reclaim their narratives and persist forward. Funding will support operating expenses for the innovative Pipeline to Success model, which enrolls girls in 32+ hours of intensive, on-site programming each week and provides girls with 24/7 access to their therapist, teacher and case manager.
Resource Center of Dallas, Inc. (Health)
Resource Center is a trusted leader that empowers the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) communities and all people affected by HIV through improving health and wellness, strengthening families and communities and providing transformative education and advocacy. Funding will support the Transgender Health Program.
Rosa Es Rojo, Inc. (Health)
Rosa Es Rojo, Inc. makes wellness and cancer prevention accessible for the high-risk cancer population of Latino women in North Texas by promoting nutrition, physical activity, emotional health and positive thinking. Funding will provide support of these services.
Traffick911 (Victims of Trafficking)
Traffick911’s mission is to free youth from sex trafficking through prevention, identification and empowerment. Funding supports full-time advocates who work with child sex trafficking victims daily; emergency clothing and toiletries; advocate and mentor travel as they visit survivors and take them on outings, appointments and court appearances; and other program-related expenses.
Trinity River Mission, Inc. (Leadership)
Trinity River Mission provides educational and social opportunities that inspire students and their families to dream, believe and achieve. Funding will support Girls on a Mission, a program promoting sisterhood for girls of color in West Dallas, with social-emotional support and character/leadership development for 30 underserved, adolescent girls in 5th to 10th grades.
Vickery Meadow Learning Center/Literacy Achieves (Adult Education)
Literacy Achieves’ mission is to equip non-English speaking adults and their young children with English literacy and life skills to promote self-sufficiency and the overall well-being of students, their families and the community. Funding will support the Daytime Adult English Literacy Program, which empowers 600 immigrant and refugee women to reach their full potential with free English literacy and life skills classes, taught by more than 300 dedicated female volunteer teachers.
Wesley-Rankin Community Center (Leadership)
Through caring relationships, Wesley-Rankin Community Center partners with its West Dallas neighbors to provide education and resources to drive community transformation. Funding will support the ongoing programming expenses for the Adult Academy, which provides education classes and leadership development opportunities for 105 women.
Denton County:
Health Services of North Texas, Inc. (Health)
The organization is dedicated to improving the quality of life for all North Texans through medical care, support services and advocacy. Funding will support Women’s Clinical Services, which provides essential healthcare services for low-income, uninsured, and underinsured women living in Denton, Collin, Dallas and the surrounding counties.
Metrocrest Services (Urgent Needs/Economic Security)
Metrocrest Services’ mission is to provide programs for individuals, families and seniors that lead to self-sufficiency and foster independence. Funding will support Metrocrest Services’ Empowerment Program for Women to provide 10 families with female heads of households with emergency assistance including rent, mortgage and utilities payment to stabilize their housing situation.
Tarrant County:
Ladder Alliance, Inc. (Workforce Development)
Ladder Alliance’s mission is to provide women victims of domestic violence and low-income women with the tools to lead self-reliant, independent and successful lives. The grant will provide support for the three training programs: Basic Computer Skills Training (BCST), Professional Office Skills Training (POST), a 16-week, 400-hour training program, and Microsoft Office Specialist Training (MOST). Funding will provide 275 students with computer skills training that will enable them to secure professional employment and begin the road to a self-reliant, independent and successful life.
Methodist Justice Ministry of First United Methodist Church (Legal Services)
The group provides free legal services for victims of domestic violence as well as an array of services to help survivors recover from abuse and establish their independence. Funding will ensure that victims break the cycle of abuse and go on to live a life free of fear through funding counseling fees, emergency financial assistance for basic needs and bills.