Reproductive Justice Project 2008 Grants

Early in 2008, the Womens Fund secured a matching grant from the Catalyst Fund at the Tides Foundation to support projects for reproductive justice led by women of color. This initiative supports a shift in the womens movement from a traditional reproductive rights framework to the more inclusive reproductive justice framework. Tides uses the term reproductive justice to include a broad range of work ranging from reproductive health and rights to access to quality, affordable, culturally and linguistically appropriate reproductive health care to ending sexual violence against women and girls. At the heart of this framework are the women and girls most impacted by reproductive oppression women and girls of color.

The Womens Fund structured the Reproductive Justice Project as a learning circle to involve 10 donors as participants. The donors learned about reproductive justice by meeting with experts working in the field. These women of color represented the African American, Latina, Asian, Arab and Lesbian communities. Ultimately, the group made decisions about how to distribute the total granting pool of $120,000. This project presented extraordinary opportunities for everyone involved the Womens Fund and our donor-participants as well as our grant partners, said Women Fund executive director Elaine Maly. It was also a ground-breaking project in that it enabled us to give our largest grant ever, more than $30,000, to support a reproductive justice framework that promotes the complete physical, mental, spiritual, political, social, environmental and economic well-being of women and girls, based on the full achievement and protection of womens human rights.

The evaluation phase of the project extends through the year 2010; however the Womens Fund has already received a commitment for a second phase of funding from the Tides Foundations Catalyst Fund. The learning circle group will continue to meet, and new donors are invited to join with a gift of $5,000 or more. For more information, contact Elaine Maly at 414-290-7350 or info@womensfund.com.

Reproductive Justice Project 2008 Grant Partners

• Core el/Centro - $20,000 for Proyecto Salud, which trains and mentors community health promoters in developing the self-understanding and confidence to organize and work on solutions to community health issues.
• Diverse & Resilient - $23,000 for increasing the leadership capacity of current and emerging LGBT leaders through recruitment, leadership training, and support/coaching in order to promote health, reproductive justice and social action.
• Hmong American Women's Association - $20,000 for the Viv Ncause/Sisterhood Project designed to change attitudes about domestic violence often the result of the practice of international marriage in which Hmong men marry a second wife, often overseas. This issue is a direct result of Hmong womens inability to exercise self-determination. The Project will assess community awareness and beliefs on the issue, develop Hmong leaders capacity to do this work and raise Hmong community awareness about international marriage.
• Reproductive Justice Collective - $32,000 to support the Collective in developing leadership within communities of color, particularly women and girls, in order to build a movement to influence and change the dialogue about issues such as teen pregnancy prevention and access to quality affordable health care.
• Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition - $25,000 for Promoting Healthcare Decisions Amongst Female Refugees from Africa, a program for teaching women from the most impoverished areas in Africa about the importance of and resources for healthcare, hygiene and nutrition. This program was designed to assist the recent influx of Somali Bantu people to Milwaukee. Armed with information and decision-making skills, participants will be able to incorporate healthy practices into their daily life in the United States and teach their children these practices.