GRANT AWARDS

The Women and Girls Fund provides grants to qualified area nonprofit organizations after a competitive proposal review by a committee of directors. Preference is given to proposals and programs that respond to pressing needs and enhance the quality of life for women and girls in Waukesha County.

This grant will support the development of trauma-informed services for sexual assault survivors at Aurora Medical Center in Summit.
www.aurorahealthcare.org/summit

This grant will allow about 60 Waukesha County girls in single-mother households to participate in a one-to-one mentoring program.

www.bbbsmilwaukee.org

Funds from this grant will be used to purchase food items to provide weekend nutrition for students at 33 schools in five Waukesha County school districts who may otherwise go hungry.

www.waukesha.blessingsinabackpack.org

Chosen will use this grant to support the Family Closet providing supplies, clothing, and personal care items for foster families with children in their care.

www.choseninlove.org/

Family Promise will use this grant to support From Shelter to Housing, a program for single women and their children to transition from homelessness to permanent housing.

www.familypromisewaukeshawi.org/

Funds will be used to purchase an electric fully-powered stacker pallet lift to accept food donations as well as purchase food and supplies.

www.friendswithfoodwi.org

A leader in autism education, Good Friend will receive funds to support a pilot outreach program with the Girl Scouts of Wisconsin SE.

www.goodfriendinc.com/

This grant will support Juno House’s operating costs. Juno House is a special place for women and families experiencing homelessness, open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

www.hebronhouse.org/

This grant will supply medical equipment and supplies at no cost for women and girls in Waukesha County.

www.teamupwithfamilies.org

These funds will support the Pathways to Progress for Waukesha Women Program and purchase student supplies, marketing Materials and fund outreach and instruction.

www.literacyservices.org/

NAMI will use this grant to support the direct expenses of the Silence Mental Health Program in Schools including speaker raining, speaker presentation stipends, crisis resource cards, and informational materials.

www.namisoutheastwi.org/

Parents Place will use this grant to support supervised visitation services and strengthen families.

www.parentsplacewi.org

MSOE will use funds from this grant for the Strang STEAM Summer Camp, to cover expenses such as laboratory and classroom supplies, t-shirts and backpacks to provide middle school students with learning resources, self-confidence, and cognitive  awareness.

https://www.msoe.edu/academics/high-school-programs/summer-programs-at-msoe/

This grant will be used to advance and increase women’s financial wellness and business ownership in Waukesha County through outreach, training, and one-on-one business technical assistance.

www.wwbic.com

• $11,000 to ARCh: Association for the Rights of Citizens with Handicaps to support a program for women and girls with autism.
• $10,000 to Carroll University to provide a wellness program for mothers that focuses on exercise, parent-child bonding, parental education, self-advocacy and mental health.
• $15,000 to Community Smiles Dental to provide treatment for low-income Waukesha County women and girls who would not otherwise have access to dental care.
• $6,000 to Concordia University Wisconsin’s African American Female Initiative to support at-risk high school girls who show that, with a little added opportunity, they can develop leadership and confidence skills.
• $15,000 to Easterseals Southeast Wisconsin’s Safe Babies Healthy Families to fund home visitations to at-risk families to help ensure safe and healthy children through education, support and access to resources.
• $10,000 to Family Service of Waukesha County to provide school-based mental healthy assessments, interventions and counseling services to help girls overcome mental, emotional and behavioral issues that might interfere with personal, family, interpersonal and school success.
• $5,000 to Healing Hearts of Waukesha County to fund a Hispanic program coordinator to offer grief support services in an efficient and culturally competent manner to Spanish-speaking clients.
• $12,000 to La Casa de Esperanza to provide bilingual, culturally competent programming for children up to age six years.
• $5,900 to Lad Lake to fund a prevention, intervention and advocacy program for girls at risk of sexual exploitation or who have experienced sexual abuse.
• $15,000 to Lake Area Free Clinic to provide oral health care to women who do not have access to it.
• $10,000 to Lotus Legal Clinic to offer access to legal and survivor empowerment services for victims of sexual violence and human trafficking in Waukesha County.
• $15,000 to Wellpoint Care Network to deliver trauma-informed care training, customized educator consultation, and mental health treatment for children, adolescents and young adults in school-based settings.
• $10,000 to Wisconsin Community Services, Inc. to provide experiential social engagement and age-appropriate skill-building opportunities for middle and high school girls.

In addition to these grants made from funds generated by the annual Women of Distinction luncheon and earnings on the WGF endowment, the WGF also recently awarded a $15,000 grant to Forward Careers, Inc., to help young women successfully transition out of the foster care system. Funds for this grant were generated by a special endowment fund created within the WGF by Regina Baecher Oberlin of Brookfield.

• $15,000 to ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis to provide customized one-to-one emotional support to anyone impacted by a breast cancer diagnosis, including patients, families and friends.
• $15,000 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Milwaukee to provide 60 Waukesha County girls ages 6-12 with female mentors through a school-based mentoring program.
• $10,000 to Eras Senior Network to support about 250 senior and disabled Waukesha County women through the Weekly Friendly Phone Call program that helps ensure basic needs are being addressed and reduces the feeling of loneliness.
• $10,000 to Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast to support STEM educational and experiential learning opportunities for girls.
• $2,500 to Girls on the Run of Southeastern Wisconsin to sponsor a program that enhances the social, psychological and physical wellness behaviors of girls in grades 3-6.
• $10,000 NAMI Southeast Wisconsin to promote the Ending the Silence program, which uses young adult presenters with experience to teach high school students about signs of mental health conditions and how to seek help if they or a friend are experiencing symptoms.
• $10,000 to Prevent Blindness Wisconsin to support the Vision for Life program, which provides preventative vision health services to at-risk children and women. Prevent Blindness Wisconsin will partner with the Women’s Center.
• $15,000 to ProHealth Care Foundation Hispanic Health Resource Center to provide financial assistance so uninsured or underinsured women have access to cancer screenings, diagnostic services and breast cancer treatments.
• $10,000 to UWM at Waukesha Foundation to provide a year of hands-on opportunities for young women through the Girls Engineering Math Science (GEMS) and Beyond program.
• $15,000 to Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation to support “Make Your Money Talk – Financial Empowerment for Women,” which provide business education, one-on-one counseling, and financial empowerment classes to improve women’s economic situations.

In addition to these grants made from funds generated by the annual Women of Distinction luncheon and earnings on the WGF endowment, the WGF also recently awarded a $15,000 grant to Forward Careers, Inc., to help young women successfully transition out of the foster care system. Funds for this grant were generated by a special endowment fund created within the WGF by Regina Baecher Oberlin of Brookfield.

• $1,000 to Alverno College to send 20 high school girls and four adult chaperones from Waukesha County to the 2021 daylong Wisconsin Girls Summit.
• $7,500 to Concordia University Wisconsin for the African American Female Initiative, which teaches at risk high school girls leadership skills and ways to increase self-confidence.
• $7,000 Froedtert Menomonee Falls Hospital Foundation for the New Moms Recovery Program, an outpatient program for mothers whose babies were exposed to addictive opiate drugs before birth.
• $15,000 to Lotus Legal to help provide free legal services to those who are victims of sexual assault, abuse or labor or sex trafficking.
• $6,000 to The Women’s Center to support a new program designed to provide a safe space, opportunities for connection, and wellness and healing activities to empower teen girls who are survivors of sexual or dating violence.
• $15,000 to Association for the Rights of Citizens with Handicaps (ARCh) to support I Can Do It (You Can Do It), which helps disabled women and girls increase physical activity and healthy eating behaviors through an eight-week course with community volunteers as mentors.
• $15,000 to Family Service of Waukesha County to help support the C.A.R.E. Center, which helps reduce the trauma of child abuse and neglect by providing a timely, comprehensive and multidisciplinary response to allegations of child abuse.
• $7,150 to La Casa de Esperanza to send 11 teachers to the Mathematics Institute of Wisconsin (MIW) to learn more effective ways to teach math. The MIW will help meet the needs of students who are simultaneously learning mathematics and English.
• $15,000 to Parents Place supporting a collaborative program with Waukesha County Technical College to teach parenting skills to incarcerated mothers.
• $15,000 to Community Smiles (formerly Waukesha County Community Dental Clinic) to help improve the oral health of low-income women and girls in Waukesha County who would not otherwise have access to dental care.

Special grants totaling $25,000 were awarded in 2020 to seven area non-profit organizations to help address emerging needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Family Service of Waukesha: $3,000 to get critical clients, who are currently unable to pay for services, back on their counseling schedules.
• La Casa de Esperanza: $2,500 to provide food for families.
• Lake Area Free Clinic: $5,000 to provide extra equipment to make dental procedures safer for both patients and clinicians.
• The Hope Center: $5,000 to support general operations and provide meals and aid to its day center program participants.
• The Women’s Center: $2,500 to buy tablets so case workers can continue to work with domestic abuse clients remotely.
• Waukesha County Community Dental Clinic: $5,000 to provide extra equipment to make dental procedures safer for both patients and clinicians.
• Waukesha Free Clinic (formerly St. Joseph’s Medical Clinic): $2,000 to provide COVID-19 testing to uninsured, underinsured and low-income families.

• $15,000 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Milwaukee allowing about 45 Waukesha County girls in single-mother households to participate in a one-to-one mentoring program.
• $10,000 to Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast to help engage girls in robotics and coding. It will also offer opportunities in technology-focused camps, Girls & STEM events and STEM Journey curriculum.
• $10,000 to Healing Hearts of Waukesha County to help provide grief-support programs for children ages 4-18 in Waukesha and Oconomowoc who have experienced loss due to death, divorce, incarceration or other life-altering events.
• $15,000 to the Hispanic Health Resource Center for their Breast Health Education and Navigation program helping to reduce preventable deaths for an at-risk and underserved population by fostering breast cancer education, screening and treatment. Trained bilingual staff eliminate significant language, financial and cultural barriers.
• $5,000 to Good Friend, Inc. to expand peer sensitivity workshops and classroom presentations for elementary and middle school students, and teachers and administrators teaching autism awareness, acceptance of differences, and developing empathy for children with autism.
• $1,500 to Independence First to support GirlsFirst and LadiesFirst, programs that provide girls and women with disabilities a safe, non-judgmental environment in which to participate and form new friendships while raising consciousness about disability issues.
• $10,000 to Innovators in Learning and Achievement, Inc. CESA#1 to establish a teen academy for middle school girls that focuses on strategies to help them succeed in high school and beyond. Women mentors will help girls identify their strengths and possible career paths.
• $15,000 to Lake Area Free Clinic to provide free medication for all female patients for six months.
• $15,000 to Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan to help support Trauma Informed Care for At-Risk Preschoolers, a program that gives primary caregivers the tools to effectively deal with young children who have a history of trauma.
• $15,000 to NAMI Waukesha to support a collaborative effort around the emerging priority issue of mental health in Waukesha County. The grant was awarded to the Waukesha County Suicide Prevention Initiative (WCSPI) with NAMI Waukesha serving as the fiscal agent in response to the Waukesha County Health and Human Services Department Community Health Improvement Plan and Process (CHIPP). The funds provided will be utilized to host a mental health wellness conference for women and girls during 2020. The conference will provide an opportunity for women and girls in Waukesha County to learn how internal and external stressors can impact mental health with workshops that will build resilience and educate how to improve mental wellness.
• $10,000 to SHARP Literacy for a four-week STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) summer camp to 100 girls in grades 3-5 from Waukesha County schools.
• $6,000 to Wisconsin Community Services supporting girls in Waukesha to ensure success at school, home and in the community. Services include mentoring, providing resources to girls and their families, regular contacts with parents/guardians and schools, and support over the summer to prepare girls to return to school.

• $10,000 to Addiction Resource Council, Inc. for the Resist the Influence program for middle school students.
• $10,000 to Best Buddies Wisconsin to support the Waukesha County School Friendship Project.
• $5,000 to Carroll University for its STEM for Girls/STEM para Chicas program to provide a free two-week summer camp for 60 middle and high school girls.
• $7,500 to Easter Seals’s Safe Babies Healthy Families program helping to ensure healthy pregnancies and births for women in at-risk families.
• $10,000 to ERAs Senior Network to purchase 10 electronic notebooks allowing the agency to speedup the processing of new clients.
• $3,600 to Junior Achievement of Wisconsin’s JA Job Shadow program for 120 high school girls in Waukesha County.
• $5,000 to LindenGrove Foundation for a 60-inch touch screen with 3,000 senior-focused applications for frail elderly in assisted living.
• $10,000 to Lotus Legal Clinic to provide free legal services to women and girls in Waukesha County who are victims of gender-based violence, abuse or human trafficking.
• $10,000 to National Alliance of Mental Illiness Waukesha County for the SOAR program.
• $10,000 to Prevent Blindness Wisconsin for the Preschool Children’s Vision Screening Program.
• $10,000 to the Waukesha County Community Dental Clinic to help provide affordable care for women and girls at clinics in Waukesha and Menomonee Falls.

• $5,000 to Blessings in a Backpack to provide food for 50 poverty-level, school-age children in the Waukesha and Oconomowoc school districts every weekend throughout the school year
• $10,000 to Habitat for Humanity of Waukesha County for the 2017 Women Build project on White Rock Avenue in Waukesha, helping women learn construction skills while building two affordable homes for low- and moderate-income families
• $10,000 to Healing Hearts of Waukesha County for peer-to-peer support for children and families experiencing grief because of a death, divorce, incarceration, separation, deportation, abandonment, or other life-altering events
• $8,500 to Hebron House of Hospitality to provide shelter, food, counseling and other services to two families living in Hebron House for 30-40 days to help the families become self-sustaining
• $8,385 to Lad Lake for a sensory enrichment environment, therapeutic recreational items and a meditation garden to help children from troubled homes enjoy a calming atmosphere as they transition to short-term care
• $9,908 to Lake Area Free Clinic to provide medication for all of its female patients with acute and chronic illness for four months
• $5,000 to Muskego Senior Taxi Service to subsidize vehicle maintenance and gasoline purchases to provide 4,000 rides to 250 senior citizens and young adults with disabilities
• $8,000 to St. Joseph’s Medical Clinic, Inc. to expand outreach to ensure access to women’s health care and provide education on the need for preventive care
• $10,000 to Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation to provide services to help women start their own businesses and ongoing support to women who want to grow existing businesses
• $10,000 to The Women’s Center to support their emergency shelter, providing safety and basic needs, case management and advocacy, and access to comprehensive programming that empower women to break the cycle of violence for them and their children

• $10,000 to ARCh, The Association for the Rights of Citizens with Handicaps, for the STRONG G.I.R.L.S. (Gaining Independence, Resiliency, and Life Skills) program to aid in reducing the risk of exploitation and abuse
• $10,000 to Best Buddies to support the Waukesha County Best Buddies School Friendship Program serving 3,156 students at 46 chapter schools
• $5,000 to Caring Place for the Creative Therapies Program which contributes to the enrichment and enhancement of daily life for the aging population
• $10,000 to Donna Lexa Art Centers for the Art4Vets Program serving 2,054 female veterans in Waukesha County which strives to build self-esteem and confidence
• $10,000 to Easter Seals Southeast WI to support the Safe Babies Healthy Families program serving 350 area families annually
• $10,000 to Girl Scouts of WI Southeast to help form teams for the First Lego League Robotics competition exposing local girls to STEM programming
• $10,000 to Hope Center for the A Hand Up Program which provides women and children living in poverty a “hand up, not a handout”
• $10,000 to UW Waukesha County Foundation to provide financial assistance to fifteen nontraditional female students through the Paving the Path to College program
• $10,000 to Waukesha Community Arts Project for the Leadership Through the Arts program which serves high school girls as they explore college and career paths
• $10,000 to Waukesha County Community Dental Program to help provide 100 low-income pregnant women and their babies with dental care and oral hygiene education through the Healthy Smiles for Moms and Babies project

• $10,000 to ABCD, After Breast Cancer Diagnosis for recruiting and training 50 new mentors, and provide continuing education and support workshops
• $10,000 to Celebrate Children Foundation to assist women-owned family childcare businesses to achieve National Association for Family Child Care accreditation
• $10,000 for Habitat for Humanity for the Women Build project to learn construction skills by helping to build a home for a low income family in Waukesha
• $10,000 for Interfaith Senior Program to fund a coordinator for the Faith in Action Program which supplies community outreach and volunteer recruitment to enable low-income elderly women and women with disabilities to live safely in their homes and stay connected to the community
• $10,000 to Junior Achievement to provide Financial Literacy experience to 520 elementary school girls through the Building Blocks for Success Program
• $10,000 to the Lake Area Free Clinic to provide female patients with medication for three months
• $10,000 to Parents Place to support the Understanding and Managing Anxiety Program for families experiencing abuse, neglect, domestic violence or custody disputes
• $15,000 to the National Alliance on Mental Illness to provide peer support and educational services for 300 women affected by mental illness and 40 hours of continued education for three female peer specialists

•  $5,000 to Waukesha County Community Dental Clinic for improving oral health for underserved women in Waukesha County
•  $10,000 to University of Wisconsin – Waukesha Campus for Paving the Path to College program
•  $10,000 to The Women’s Center for the emergency shelter
•  $10,000 to Waukesha Community Arts Project for team leadership development program
•  $10,000 to Girl Scouts of Southeast WI for their Latina initiative
•  $10,000 to Safe Babies Healthy Families for home visitations
•  $10,000 to ACAP/Donna Lexa Art Center for improving self-image of women with disabilities
•  $10,000 to United Cerebral Palsy for their respite care

• $2,500 to ARCh (Assoc. for the Right of Citizens w/Handicaps)
• $5,000 to Girl Scouts of WI Southeast for their Latina Initiative for the Girl Scout Leadership Initiative
• $2,000 to Hope Center for their Hope Center Clothing Shop
• $2,500 to Interfaith Senior Programs for their Faith in Action Program
• $7,000 to Lake Area Free Clinic for Diagnostic Support for Women & Girl’s
• $2,000 to The Linden Grove Foundation for its Dementia Beyond Drugs program
• $10,000 to The Parents Place for its Parenting for Success as a Single Parent Program
• $10,000 to Safe Babies Healthy Families for the Futures Without Violence program
• $4,000 to Waukesha Community Arts Project to support their Leadership Development for Middle and High School Girls
• $5,000 to Waukesha County Community Dental Clinic to expand critical dental health services
• $10,000 to The Women’s Center for its Transitional Living Program