Jewish Women’s Fund Grants $188K to 20 Groups

Five Atlanta organizations, two other U.S. groups and 13 programs in Israel are receiving 2017 grants totaling $188,000 from the Jewish Women’s Fund of Atlanta.

The grants, announced in late May, go to groups that expand opportunities for Jewish women and girls and that share JWFA’s mission to promote social change through a gender lens.

The Jewish Women’s Fund, now composed of more than 120 women applying the power of collective philanthropy, has granted more than half a million dollars the past five years.

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This year’s Atlanta-based grantees:

• Tikkun Olam: Repairing Our Relationship With Food, Body and Ourselves, Eating Disorders Information Network —EDIN will address the problem of eating disorders in the Jewish community by creating and implementing a curriculum that empowers women and girls to develop a sense of worth apart from body shape and size.
• Change the Culture: Sexual Assault & Dating Abuse Prevention and Education at Emory University, Jewish Women International —Change the Culture is a multifaceted, co-ed program that promotes the safety of students through an exploration of campus culture, sexual assault and dating abuse. By partnering with Hillel, ZBT and SDT, the program seeks to change attitudes, support survivors and engage men as allies.
• Early Development of Gender Equity Program, SOJOURN —This pilot program will work with kindergartners and first-graders, teachers, and parents throughout Jewish Atlanta to break down gender stereotypes and help children reach their potential.
• FOCUS (Finding Occupations, Careers, Universities, Success) Program, Temima —FOCUS provides Jewish high school girls with guidance in choosing post-secondary options suited to their interests, skills, values and abilities through workshops, speakers, testing and college counseling.
• Respect My Red/iClub, Weber School —This pilot program will prevent sexual assault, harassment and abuse among students by helping adolescents understand healthy relationships and address disrespectful behaviors within their peer groups.

Other U.S. projects:

• JGirls Magazine —The online jGirls Magazine is written by and for Jewish teen girls across all affiliations. Site users gain leadership skills, self-esteem, a sense of identity, engagement and status within the Jewish community while building a pipeline to a future cohort of bold, committed Jewish female leaders.
• Leadership Development Curriculum, Yeshivat Maharat —The first yeshiva to ordain women as Orthodox clergy uses a two-pronged approach to leadership development by grounding students in the theory of leadership, then giving them opportunities to apply leadership skills to challenges.

Israeli projects:

• Securing the Rights of Single Mothers, Association for Civil Rights in Israel —ACRI will work to advance the rights of mothers in the welfare system by anchoring guidelines for custody hearings in legislation, institutionalizing due process, regulating government powers and raising awareness about the issues mothers face in the welfare system.
• Task Force on Human Trafficking and Prostitution, ATZUM-Justice Works —The task force aims to eradicate human trafficking into and within Israel by promoting legislation to criminalize the purchase of sexual services and protect the prostituted person.
• Harnessing the Power of the Masses to Advance Civil Action to Safeguard Women’s Rights, Center for Women’s Justice —CWJ will mobilize Israel’s legal community and activists behind trailblazing litigation and legal actions to effect systemic responses to get abuse and other infractions against women’s rights and freedoms.
• Pilot Entrepreneurship Program for Religious Women, Jerusalem College of Technology —JCT will engage religious women in business classes, creative thinking workshops, coding events, mentoring and hackathons, thereby increasing their earning potential and business acumen.
• Alma Community Center for Young Women’s Leadership, Jewish Agency for Israel —This new Jerusalem center will provide tools and support for at-risk teen girls to find their own voice, set their own goals, and build a future of commitment, action, investment and perseverance.
• Addressing the Needs of Mothers and Women at Work, Jewish Women’s Funding Network —This collaborative grant, with funding from JWFA and 14 other Jewish women’s foundations in the United States and Israel, supports efforts for women’s rights and gender equality in Israel, with a focus on labor rights.
• Cracking the Glass Ceiling, Kol Israel Haverim —Through participation in this five-year program, junior high and high school girls from low-income families receive tools to expand their opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
• Latet Atid—Latet Atid offers mentoring and micro-loans to help women from diverse sectors of Israeli society transform their lives and break the cycle of poverty by establishing micro-businesses.
• Care Leavers Project, Makkom —Law students and women who have aged out of Israel’s foster care system (“care leavers”) write and promote legislation concerning foster care and promote leadership, self-empowerment and social responsibility.
• Sharsheret, the Society for Advancement of Education —Sharsheret works with high school girls in Israel through a mentoring framework to strengthen their sense of self, advance their emotional well-being and build their leadership skills.
• The Gender Index, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute: Center for Advancement of Women in the Public Sphere —The Gender Index is an innovative monitoring tool that tracks the trajectory of gender inequality in a wide range of domains. It targets decision-makers and policy-shapers and is designed to provide detailed and extensive data on the state of women in Israeli society to inform policy decisions.
• College for Women in Politics, WePower —WePower addresses the disproportionate distribution of political power in Israel by helping women access the skills and knowledge they need to be elected to council and mayoral positions. Increasing the number of women in high-level decision-making positions improves gender equality at all levels of Israeli society.
• Breaking the Bind, Women’s Spirit Financial Independence for Women Victims of Violence —Breaking the Bind advocates change in fundamental Israeli policies and laws that undermine, destabilize and weaken women’s financial security and personal safety, especially survivors of violence. It sheds light on the invisible violence women suffer once they are no longer considered victims, as well as the pain caused by systemic injustice and outdated laws.