Baltimore Womens’s Giving Circle

The Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle (BWGC) is awarding $318,000 in new, one-year grants to 19 Baltimore-rea nonprofit organizations. The BWGC, a group of more than 300 women who pool their charitable dollars—each member contributing $1,100 annually—assists disadvantaged women and their families in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Selected from 82 applicants, the 19 organizations run programs that match the BWGC’s goal of improving life and promoting self-sufficiency for economically disadvantaged women and their children.

            “An incredible number of organizations in this area are doing wonderful work and really making a difference in the lives of women,” says BWGC Co-chair Pat Joseph. “We make our grant decisions only after participating in an educational program that gives us a better understanding of the obstacles confronting many of our citizens and the organizations trying to help them, meeting with the organizations and the people working directly with those who need a leg up.”

            Since its founding in 2001, the BWGC has awarded over $1.6 million in grants to more than 100 local organizations. A fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation (BCF), the BWGC was started by 52 women with the assistance of BCF and has grown to more than 300 members. “The BWGC was started with a $10,000 grant from BCF, which also has given us much organizational assistance over the years,” says Beth Lebow, co-chair of the BWGC.

Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle grantees serve women and their families in the following key areas: literacy/education, job and career training, life skills, housing, mentoring, parenting skills, healthcare services, and domestic violence.

The 2009 BWGC grantees include:

Action In Maturity - $8,167
To help seniors live independently by providing them with transportation to shopping, cultural, and social events.

 

Baltimore Outreach Services - $20,000
To provide support services to women and their children living in this emergency shelter.

 

Chesapeake Habitat for Humanity - $20,000
For the Family Services Program, which helps CHH client families purchase and keep their homes.

Greater Homewood Community Corporation - $20,000
For the Experience Corps program, which places older adult volunteers in Baltimore City elementary schools to serve as tutors, mentors, and classroom aides.

 

House of Ruth - $20,000
To provide a therapist to work with children who have witnessed domestic violence.

 

Karma Dogs, Inc. - $720

To provide monthly interactions with therapy dogs to 120 child victims of domestic violence at the Family Crisis Center.

 

Marian House - $20,000
To expand services to newly reunited families of women recently released from prison and their children.

 

Maryland New Directions - $20,000
To provide employment and career counseling to unemployed and underemployed women in Baltimore.

 

My Sister’s Place - $20,000
For a specialist to help link homeless women to assistance programs and community resources.

Our Daily Bread - $20,000
To support the salaries of an employment counselor, an intake coordinator, and manager for the organization’s employment center that helps women in transition.

 

Partnership for Learning, Inc. - $6,900
 For Each One Reach One, a mentoring and literacy program offered to first-time, non-violent female offenders in lieu of punishment.

Public Justice Center - $20,000
To expand the organization’s program for foster youth to two additional schools.

 

Salvation Army - $20,000
To support Booth House, an emergency and transitional housing shelter for women and their children.

 

The SEED School of Maryland - $20,000
For the summer orientation program offered to 6th grade students entering the SEED School in the fall.

 

Sidran Institute - $19,960
For workshops to train parents based on the “27 Secrets to Raising Amazing Children” program.

 

Sisters Academy of Baltimore - $20,000
To support a mentoring program for 20 high school aged alumni of this Catholic middle school for girls from low-income Baltimore neighborhoods.

 

St. Agnes Foundation - $20,000
To provide healthcare services to 200 immigrant women in Southeast Baltimore through the Esperenza Center.

 

St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore - $20,000
For the Adelante Familia program, which seeks to reduce the incidence and impact of domestic violence in Spanish-speaking immigrant families.

 

University of Maryland Medical System - $12,005
To provide healthcare services and medical mentoring for 20 girls, ages 12-18, through the Pediatric AIDS Program – Spreading Our Wings.