2015 Funded Projects

Bethlehem Haven

Centennial Fund for a Jewish Future — Benefitting the Jewish Community Center: Year Two of a Five-Year Commitment

Gwen’s Girls

Homeless Children’s Education Fund

Jewish Association on Aging

National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Section – The Center for Women: Year One of a Second Three-Year Commitment

The Organization for the Resolution of Agunot (ORA)

Yeshiva Girls School

Bethlehem Haven

Bethlehem Haven’s Emergency Shelter has seen a surge in older women seeking shelter and assistance over the past 5 years.  The goal of the Safe at Home program is to help vulnerable women find or maintain safe, stable housing.  Through this program, women can access short-term financial assistance for housing related expenses, receive emotional support or mental health services to deal with the trauma of losing a home, and have access to a health and wellness clinic and pharmacist.

Centennial Fund for a Jewish Future
Benefitting the Jewish Community Center
Year Two of a Five-Year Commitment

In 2014 JWF created a fund through the Centennial Fund for a Jewish Future to benefit the JCC's Family Place program. Funds will be used for programming to support new families transitioning to parenthood, helping them to build peer relationships and connect to Jewish life and community.

Gwen’s Girls

The Making Positive Life Choices program is a unique, gender-specific curriculum comprised of several group-based education and support sessions that address the challenges girls deal with in peer relationships, family life and school – with an emphasis on positive self-esteem and body-image, healthy and unhealthy relationships and bullying.  It is focused on middle school girls.

Homeless Children’s Education Fund

At a meeting of HCEF’s partnering agencies, a majority of the organizations saw a need for more educational programs for mothers and their children together. In order to build on its out-of-school time programming focused on improving literacy and math skills, HCEF created a program for parents to be able to participate in the learning process to enhance their child’s educational outcomes. Mom & Me will be piloted in a select group of homeless agencies to empower and connect mothers to their child’s education through interactive workshops. 

Jewish Association on Aging

The JAA has embarked on a culture change journey that has transformed the way it cares for its cherished elderly residents. One of the most impactful culture change initiatives currently underway is the design and implementation of Resident Centered Dining on all five of the units at the Charles Morris Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (CMNRC).  This person-centered renovation and enhancement entails the complete redesign of the dining rooms that enables the JAA to offer residents made-to-order, hot fresh foods. The redesign concept has transformed the traditional institutional dining area into a home-like “eat-in” kitchen that offers the capability of serving a greater variety of foods, offering resident independence and multiple choices at every meal, while at the same time creating a sense of home and community.

National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Section – The Center for Women
Year One of a Second Three-Year Commitment

www.centerforwomenpgh.org

The Organization for the Resolution of Agunot (ORA)

ORA believes that a get (Jewish divorce) must never be used as a weapon and that the Jewish divorce process requires the participation of both parties.  All too often, a spouse refuses to comply in order to control the other party and utilize the get to extort concessions.  ORA strives to eliminate the infliction of abuse within the Jewish divorce process and will do this through educational workshops and training community lay leaders to advocate on behalf of women seeking a Jewish divorce.

Yeshiva Girls School

The economic landscape has changed for Pittsburgh's Ultra-Orthodox women and professional opportunities that previously existed for female students have either vanished or now require a college degree. The school is seeking to bring about long-term systemic change to ensure the financial independence of its students through a STEM education and writing program. JWF's third grant will enable the school to continue its efforts to modernize its science laboratory and enhance its chemistry, macrobiology and robotics curricula. 

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