The Fund for Women and Girls Ignites Change with Impact Grants

WEST CHESTER, PA — The Fund for Women and Girls has awarded $20,500 in grants to 3 non-profit organizations serving the needs of women and girls throughout Chester County. Recipients include Black Women of Chester County in Action, Orion Communities, and The Alliance for Health Equity.

For the fourth year in a row, The Fund awarded ‘Moving Her Forward’ Impact Grants, a grantmaking program established to focus on swift responses to pressing needs in the community. Impact Grants are intended to support systems-level changes and leverage impact through collaborative funding with other foundations/donors. The needs identified in The Fund’s 2022 Blueprint Report: Lighting a Path, its fourth comprehensive research report on the state of women and girls in Chester County, are the focus of Impact Grant awards.

Black Women of Chester County in Action (BWCCA) received $3,000 to conduct its Baker’s Dozen Listening Tour: Dessert for the Body and Soul, a series of wellness programs for women of color (WOC) in Chester County. The series, led by a trained Black therapist and professional baker, will bring WOC together for baking sessions and discussions of mental and physical wellness, gathering data on the needs of WOC in Chester County for future strategic program planning.

The BWCCA program responds to the following Blueprint action steps:

1. Provide culturally competent and equitable health care for historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups
2. Support research on disparities in health care and health outcomes in historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups.

The Fund awarded $10,000 to Orion Communities, supporting the cost of one 16-week Gettin’ Ahead in a Just Gettin’ By World program. This series provides life skills and resiliency training primarily to underserved Phoenixville women, preparing them with language to advocate for themselves in the larger world and improve their economic and health outcomes. The Fund joined with other partners to provide Orion with a total of $22,500 to complete a match challenge to fully fund the program this year.

The Orion Communities program responds to the following Blueprint action steps:

1. Create leadership programs for all women with an emphasis on women of color
2. Reduce health inequities
3. Integrate health considerations into programs and policies across sectors to promote a shared goal of improving the health of communities.

The Alliance for Health Equity was awarded $7,500 to support the second cohort of its Nonprofit Justice and Equity Institute.  Founded in 2021, the Institute provides a cohort-based series of seven workshops targeted at the non-profit sector to self-assess and become socially responsible for unintentional inequitable practices, programs, and processes within their organization’s culture. The Alliance for Health Equity will use Cohort 2, comprised of Chester County non-profit service providers, as a model for developing curricula for implementation beyond Chester County.

The Alliance for Health Equity program responds to the following Blueprint action steps:

1. Reduce health inequities that existed long before the pandemic
2. Provide culturally competent and equitable health care for historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups and the LGBTQ+ population
3. Protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity;
4. Promote equality in all facets of life since these factors are also related to health outcomes.

Since 2020, The Fund has awarded $116,000 in Impact Grants for 21 projects throughout Chester County. More Impact Grants will be awarded throughout the new year as time-sensitive priorities arise. Last year’s recipients include:

• Community Warehouse Project;
• Chester County Food Bank;
• Domestic Violence Center of Chester County; and
• ChesPenn Health Services.

Last fiscal year, The Fund awarded $239,680 in grants to 30 non-profit organizations. See a full list of last year’s grantees here.

To date, The Fund has directed over $4 million to 86 non-profit organizations to strategically address persisting needs, including homelessness, domestic violence and women’s health. Through its inclusive and community-driven process, The Fund continues to lead and unite the community through philanthropy and advocacy to ensure that women and girls have resources and opportunities to thrive.

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