Special promotional content provided my Madison Community Foundation:
By Angela R. Davis and Jennifer Seeker Conroy
Madison Community Foundation’s work through A Fund for Women (AFFW) is always meaningful and uplifting, but in the fund’s 25-plus-year history no single year has demonstrated challenges faced by our community more than 2020. The inability of families to meet their basic needs throughout Dane County has intensified as the pandemic escalated. Women and families continue to face food insecurity, evictions, and illness, and they need the support of the community nonprofit organizations that are working to provide frontline assistance.
To help address the community’s urgent needs, AFFW paused its annual grantmaking cycle to make proactive emergency funds available to local nonprofit organizations meeting the acute needs presented by the pandemic.
During this year when many women are dealing with job loss, childcare, and family challenges in addition to the usual day-to-day struggles, AFFW made grants to organizations improving family life and giving women hope by helping them meet their basic needs. Unmet basic needs can have significant and lasting consequences. The inability to surmount an obstacle such as Wi-Fi access can mean a family is shut out of opportunities for work or school. Losing an income can mean having to choose between food and medication.
This year’s grants, which were distributed in April and again in September, targeted agencies providing services for women and families most adversely affected by the pandemic. The first round of grantmaking provided funds to the Latino Consortium for Action, YWCA Madison, Domestic Abuse Intervention Services, and the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness. In early fall, as families continued to struggle and faced a virtual school year, additional grants went to Centro Hispano, The Odyssey Project, and Madison Reading Project. These organizations are all experiencing increased demand for their services and a heartbreaking need for even more assistance as unprecedented pandemic conditions progress.
Through an Emergency Relief Fund, the Latino Consortium was able to provide additional support to families whose immigration status made them ineligible for federal relief funds to help cover rent or pay other bills. The grant from A Fund for Women also helped small businesses to pay their employees.
YWCA Madison used the funds to make changes to its Single Women’s Housing and Empower Home programs to keep the women and their families safe during the pandemic. The grant also allowed the YWCA to provide additional support as many of the women lost their jobs due to the shutdown.
Families of abusers are even more affected by job loss and economic stress. Instances of harm and conflict are heightened as women are continually in the same physical space as their abuser. Calls to the help line at Domestic Abuse Intervention Services have increased dramatically as victims of domestic abuse face life-threatening challenges amid the pandemic. A Fund for Women’s grant helped address the need for more assistance and adequate shelter.
The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness provided additional emergency financial assistance to women and families in the Black community who have experienced significant consequences as a result of the pandemic.
Centro Hispano continues to see increased needs among the immigrant community as many were employed in the food industry, which experienced early and drastic layoffs. The immigrant community, despite being hit harder than most other groups by COVID cases, remains ineligible for assistance available to others. The grant from A Fund for Women was used to provide families with expanded support and access to resources as they navigate this crisis.
Reliable internet access has allowed most families to continue with work and school, but many families lack Wi-Fi or a phone plan with an adequate time allotment. The Odyssey Project recognized this issue early and used the grant from A Fund for Women to provide reliable internet access to 10 Odyssey students and their families.
Madison Reading Project recognized that students at home during the pandemic often lacked books. To help meet this need, Madison Reading Project is working with several in-home social service agencies, school districts and pantries to help get books into the hands of children. Our grant has helped them make this shift in distribution, as well as purchasing books that are designed to ease the concerns, fears, and stress children are experiencing.
We have been blessed with continued strong support from our donors, even in the face of the uncertainty brought on by the pandemic. Both current gifts and legacy giving have been strong this year. We are approaching our goal of 25 new planned gifts for A Fund for Women, each of which will be matched by a $1,000 gift from founder Jane Coleman.
The more the community understands the need, the more the community gives. The community’s generous support of A Fund for Women allows young girls, frightened mothers, frustrated workers, and entire families to think beyond the next meal or the next day, and look to the end of the pandemic with hope.
Angela R. Davis is the Development Director at Madison Community Foundation.
Jennifer Seeker Conroy is Chair of the Advisory Committee for A Fund for Women and a Product Management Leader at CUNA Mutual Group.
Founded in 1993 with an endowment of $100,000, A Fund for Women aspires to transform Dane county so that all women and girls thrive. The fund, managed by Madison Community Foundation, has continued to grow, and has awarded more than 100 grants totaling more than $1.3 million to nonprofit programs and initiatives.
Madison Community Foundation is also a funder of Madison365.
