BJCWF Newsletter
Fall, 2011
Lunch n’ Learn
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Noon – 1:30 PM
Noon – 1:30 PM
Family Justice Center
989 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
2012 Grant Cycle Update
- Letters of intent are under review- Grant Committees meet in March
- Sign up now to join a committee!
We’ve Awarded Our Second Long-Term Grant!
Project GROW
at the Brookline Community Mental Health Center has been awarded a
three-year, $75,000 grant to continue and expand its preventive group
mentoring program for socially isolated girls. The program targets
girls at-risk of bullying and aggressive behavior – the ways that girls
specifically use their relationships to hurt one another. The 25-week
curriculum has been shown to have a positive influence on self-esteem,
identity development, social and relational competence, and academic
performance.
The
grant will also fund the creation of a Project GROW manual that can be
used to replicate the program in other communities, an extension of the
program to serve girls with autism spectrum disorders, and a program to
work with very young low-income mothers who are having difficulty
forming attachments to their young children.
We
have been impressed by the effectiveness of BCMHC in the two years we
have provided funding to Project GROW, and look forward to their ongoing
success.
And Our First Long-Term Grant is Up and Running!
Jewish Women’s Archive has launched the pilot of the My Bat Mitzvah Story website,
developed with support from our first 3-year grant, and designed as an
on-line resource for girls preparing for Bat Mitzvah. It is being
piloted now with a number of test groups in Greater Boston and will be
fully launched next spring. Check it out at MyBatMitzvahStory.org.
A Note From Fund Chair Mady Donoff
Our Boston Jewish Community Women’s Fund is participatory philanthropy at its best!
Our grant process brings engagement and the opportunity to make a
difference in the lives of hundreds of women and girls, in Boston’s
Jewish and secular communities and in Israel. Participating in the Fund
also means bringing in new members, and you are the best spokeswomen
for what we do. (It also means renewing your own membership after five
years.)
While
many of the grants we funded in 2011 focused on girls’ needs, we remain
committed to funding programs that address other hard core issues:
relationship abuse, trafficking in Israel, and the tenuous economic
status of many single women.
Our 12th
grant cycle is underway. Letters of intent are currently being reviewed
and grant committees are being formed. Maxine Rosenthal and Betsy
Epstein are leading this year’s effort, and working with sub-committee
Co-chairs Barbara Gutman and Winnie Sandler (Boston Jewish), Barbara
Targum and Julie Jaye (Boston Secular), and Rebekah Kaufman and Deborah
Goldberg (Israel) to prepare for the grant review process in
March. All grant readers will read grant proposals and participate in
decision making.
Work,
great leadership from many volunteers, spirited discussions,
informative site visits, and an opportunity to collaborate with an
exceptional group of women… this is what makes the Fund a unique opportunity for participatory philanthropy… this is what makes each one of you, a valued member of the Fund!
Thank you for all you have done and all you will continue to do in the New Year.
