Women's Fund awards 19 grants to area programs

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

EASTHAMPTON - Four Hampshire county organizations, including Treehouse and Safe Passage, were among 19 selected Monday to receive the more than $200,000 in grants from the Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts for programs aimed at improving the lives of women and girls.

The grants announced Monday by the Women's Fund are part of the group's social change funding, which is divided into three basic areas: educational access and success, economic justice and safety, and freedom from violence. The money is raised solely by private donations from area residents and businesses.

"It's important to help women and girls through direct service but we also have to change the underlying issues that contribute to their situations in the first place, such as economic disparities or access to opportunities," said Julie Kumble, the foundation's director of grants and programs. "We give our grantee partners funding to run their programs along with tools to help them measure how an impact on these deeper social issues."

Among the programs awarded educational access funding is the Treehouse Foundation, on Treehouse Circle in Easthampton, which helps local foster children find permanent homes and families. The foundation received $7,000 toward its "Hear Our Voice Initiative," a program that offers skill building and training to women and girls in the hopes making them advocates of child welfare and improving the lives of children involved in foster care.

In the field of economic justice, MotherWoman Inc., an Amherst-based nonprofit on Pleasant Street received a $16,000, two-year grant for "MomsRising of the Pioneer Valley," the organization's political arm that organizes a coalition of area mothers and their allies to take political action through education, training and outreach. MotherWoman is aimed at empowering mothers and protecting the rights of women.

Safe Passage, on Center Street in Northampton, netted a two year $17,000 grant in the category of women's safety and freedom from violence to serve local women and children who have experienced physical or emotional abuse.

And the program Hilltown Safety at Home, based in Russell, received $5,000 to continue its "Advocacy Services to Domestic Violence Victims" campaign, which offers advocacy services to victims of domestic violence by checking state police logs and calling all victims who have contacted police to offer safety planning, advocacy, transportation and court accompaniment.

Kumble said 46 organizations applied for grants. She noted a substantial drop in the number of Valley organizations looking for funding.

"I think that its because many organizations don't have grant writers or development directors anymore and have turned their focus to simply trying to get their day-to-day missions done," Kumble said. "Also, their grant writers may be going after larger federal grants to support their programs."

For a full list of grant recipients residents are encouraged to visit the fund's website: http://womensfund.net/grants/cGrantees.htm.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.