South Yarmouth—The Women and Girls Fund of The Cape Cod Foundation recently awarded $50,000 in grants to five nonprofits serving women and girls in Barnstable County. The Foundation launched the Fund in 2022 and awarded $50,000 in grants during its inaugural year.
“During our first two years of grantmaking, we have focused on funding programs and organizations that prioritize breaking the cycle of poverty by increasing economic opportunity and self-sufficiency for women through trainings and educational opportunities and those that break down barriers for girls by providing new, expanded, or more accessible educational opportunities, out-of-school programs, and mentorship opportunities,” said Kristin O’Malley, President and CEO of The Cape Cod Foundation.
The 2023 recipients are:
CAANAN SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH, $5,000
To support ESL (English as a Second Language) and civics classes. The Canaan Seventh Day Adventist Church has been a staple to the Cape Cod community by providing consistent services to the Haitian and local Caribbean population.
TEAM MAUREEN, on behalf of GLAM GIRL, $20,000
To support GLAM (Global Local Athletic Movement) GIRL for GLAM GIRL Equity + Indigenous Youth Empowerment Project. GLAM Girl combines sports practice, leadership training, and service and advocacy projects to create more opportunities for young women and girls and drive gender equity. This project is a partnership with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe to address the needs in their and other Indigenous communities and to empower girls in grades 5-8 and to build leadership among young adults.
GIRL SCOUTS OF NEW ENGLAND, $5,000
To support financial aid for up to 15 girls, grades 2-12, from low-income households on Cape Cod to attend Girl Scouts’ Summer Camps. The organization’s mission is to build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. The Girl Scout Leadership Experience (GSLE) is a research-based, robust collection of engaging, challenging, and fun activities in a girl-centric environment designed to empower girls (age K-12) to take the lead—in their lives and the world. The GSLE focuses on exploration and skill-building in 4 core pillars: Life Skills, Entrepreneurship/Financial Literacy, STEM, and Outdoor Engagement/Environmental Stewardship.
HEALTH IMPERATIVES, $15,000
To support the “Partnering for Progress” Ambassador Program, which addresses the needs of Cape Cod’s growing immigrant population by connecting women and children to health care, food access, housing, and other services. “Partnering for Progress” engages past participants as Ambassadors to work with and support new arrivals which also creates economic development opportunities for the women who fill the Ambassador role.
SHARING KINDNESS, $5,000
To support Grief Support and Suicide Prevention Skills: Nurturing Resilience and Wellness in Women & Girls. Sharing Kindness will bring a trauma-informed, grief-focused clinician to one of Belonging to Each Other’s (BTEO) houses for women. BTEO is a Falmouth-based nonprofit organization that provides temporary cold-weather housing to unhoused neighbors.
The family of Deborah C. Neumann, who recently established the Deborah C. Neumann Fund at The Cape Cod Foundation in her memory, awarded additional grants totaling $16,800 to support the initiatives from Health Imperatives and Sharing Kindness outlined above and to support an additional proposal from Jr. Tech for its STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Summit-Statewide 2024. The Summit is designed for high school girls interested in exploring and pursuing STEM career paths and features female STEM professionals and educators as role models.
“When we know one of our fundholders has an interest in supporting certain areas, we routinely share nonprofit proposals internally,” said O’Malley. “The Neumann family gift illustrates the power of leveraging resources to increase impact in the community.”
Earlier this year, the Foundation launched “The Women and Girls Fund Community Challenge” to raise $200,000 by the end of 2024 and $1 million by the end of 2027 to provide resources for women and girls across the region in the years to come. The Community Challenge has raised $150,807 to date; total fundraising for The Women and Girls Fund is now at $435,000.
To donate to The Women and Girls Fund, visit capecodfoundation.org or send a check, payable to The Women and Girls Fund, to The Cape Cod Foundation: 261 White’s Path, Unit 2; South Yarmouth, MA 02664.
The Cape Cod Foundation is a community foundation whose mission is to build permanent charitable resources for community betterment through informed grantmaking and civic leadership. The Foundation has distributed more than $95 million in grants and scholarships since its founding in 1989. www.capecodfoundation.org
