St. Cloud, Minn. – The goal of the Central Minnesota Community Foundation is to improve the quality of life in the greater St. Cloud region through grants for campaigns and local programs. In August, they launched their 2019-2020 Central Minnesota Women’s Fund and Julianne Williams Fund grant rounds.
Today, the Women’s Fund and Julianne Williams Fund of the Central Minnesota Community Foundation announced the recipients of their annual grants, totaling $92,500. The grants were awarded to thirteen area organizations focusing on improving the lives of women and girls in central Minnesota.
“These organizations are implementing life-changing work for the girls and women in our community and we are excited to support them,” says Joanne Kudrna, Chair of the Women’s Fund Advisory Board.
The Women’s Fund allocated $70,000 to the following:
- $8,000 to assist with emergency childcare placement, guaranteed for children birth to age two, through St. Cloud Crisis Nursery.
- $8,000 to support the implementation of a health and wellness program for victims of trafficking at Terebinth Refuge.
- $8,000 to help expand the GREAT Theatre Camps with three new camps to increase self-confidence and foster skills such as public speaking, collaboration, and goal setting for girls ages 8 – 14.
- $4,400 for the expansion of childcare provider and CPR training program for immigrant and refugee women through Hands Across the World.
- $8,000 for the continued expansion of the Garden Leadership Project which provides immigrant women mentoring in economic self-sufficiency, job training and work experience through the Central Minnesota Sustainability Project.
- $9,600 to support the Women’s Fund Project Starfish Program through matching grant opportunities.
- $8,000 to support the facility at Anna Marie’s Alliance which provides safety and mental health services to women and children who have experienced domestic violence.
- $8,000 to support parenting classes and rehabilitative services for women through the Center for Victims of Torture.
- $4,500 for recruitment and training of women as mentors to girls in the Dr. Potter Bigs on Campus Mentoring Initiative run by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Minnesota.
- $3,500 for the Girls 360 Group program which is girls age 13-17 participating in programming that addresses healthy lifestyles, making good relationship choices and avoiding risky behavior at the Village Family Service Center.
Additionally, the Julianne Williams Fund awarded $22,500 in grants to three organizations. The Julianne Williams Fund was established to honor the life of Julianne Marie Williams, reflect the essence of Julie and promote the building of self-esteem, safety, confidence and overall empowerment of girls and young women through outdoor activities.
The grant recipients for the Julianne Williams Fund are as follows:
- $8,000 to Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Minnesota for their Date SMART program which provides youth tools and resources they need to develop safe, supportive and healthy dating relationships.
- $6,500 to Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin Lakes and Pines to expand summer programming and support scholarships for camp and weekly day camp to girls in need of financial assistance.
- $8,000 to support health and fitness education through the Women’s Health & Wellness program at Terebinth Refuge.
Since 2002, the Women’s Fund of the Central Minnesota Community Foundation has been dedicated to strengthening the community by improving the lives of women and girls. The Women’s Fund has granted over $1.6 million to support local programs in three core focus areas: girls age 10-18, women in transition and elder women.
The Central Minnesota Community Foundation (CMCF) attracts and administers charitable funds for the benefit of the local community. Since 1985, CMCF has grown to over $110.1 million in assets and awarded over $111.9 million in grants to non-profits. The CMCF is governed by a local board of directors and is a partner of CommunityGiving, which is a collaborative of community foundations united under a single framework to create efficiencies that maximize the impact of our donors. Collectively, CommunityGiving administers nearly 850 funds totaling more than $150 million. Learn more at CommunityGiving.org/CentralMN
