Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle

The Baltimore Women's Giving Circle has chosen 19 local organizations to receive $300,000 in grants this year.

The Women's Giving Circle, a fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation, started with 52 women in 2001. The group now has more than 300 members, each of whom contributes $1,100 annually. The women decide together which organizations should receive the funds, with a goal of improving life and fostering self-sufficiency among economically disadvantaged women and their children in Baltimore and Baltimore County.

The giving circle's grants focus on the issues of domestic violence, health services, housing, life skills, literacy and education, mentoring and parenting skills.

This year's round of grants, which were chosen from a field of 77 applicants, will include:

$10,375 for a mediation and conflict resolution program for residents of the House of Ruth, a Baltimore City shelter for battered women and their children.

$15,000 to Episcopal Community Services of Maryland for The Ark School, the only state-accredited preschool serving homeless children in Baltimore.

$20,000 to Mission of Mercy to provide free health and dental care in Baltimore County through a mobile medical clinic.

The Women's Giving Circle has awarded more than $1.3 million in grants since its founding. It is one of more than 500 charitable funds of the Baltimore Community Foundation, which has more than $194 million in assets.