Jewish Women's Foundation of Greater Pittsburgh

Jewish Community Center — $10,000
The JCC’s mission is to nurture people, connecting community every day through every age, inspired by Jewish values. Girls who play sports have higher levels of confidence and self-esteem and lower levels of depression. Suggesting a strong correlation between their success in sports and success in business, Women Athletes Business Network research shows that among senior businesswomen today, 94% played sports growing up. JWF is funding the No Boys Allowed Basketball Program (NBA), which focuses on girls who do not identify as athletic, sports-oriented or competitive. The program emphasizes game fundamentals, self-discipline, fun, encouragement and being ‘your best self’ on and off the court.

Jewish Fertility Foundation — $12,000
JFF supports intended parents through its proven, successful three-pronged approach: financial assistance (for assisted reproductive technology), emotional support (with face-to-face and virtual support groups and mentorship), and education (for the medical community, Jewish communal leaders, and Jewish individuals and families). JFF has been inspired by other nonprofits that have dramatically changed public attitudes about breast cancer, drunk driving, and mental health. They see themselves as pioneers in the infertility space, driving frank conversations and removing the shame and stigma so many face as they try to build families. JWF is funding the “Shifting Culture through Infertility Education and Support” program, which provides both direct and indirect support to women experiencing infertility.

Jewish Women International and Hillel Jewish University Center — $15,000
JWI is the leading Jewish organization empowering women and girls* by protecting their rights and safety, strengthening access to long-term economic security, and lifting and mentoring women leaders. (*women and girls = all who experience the world as female). Hillel JUC is a focus point for Jewish campus life for more than 2,200 students. JWF is funding the pilot program “Financial Fitness,” with JWI convening three cohort of female students from Hillel JUC, SDT sorority and Achayot, a feminist Jewish women’s group on CMU’s campus. When a woman controls her money, she controls her future. Women must be knowledgeable and prepared to advocate for their financial futures in the same way men are. Students will participate in on-line and in-person workshops, with additional support for six months post workshops.

Jews for a Secular Democracy, an initiative of the Society for Humanistic Judaism — $3,000
Jews for a Secular Democracy is a pluralistic initiative to defend the separation of church and state and counter the influence of religion on government through a Jewish perspective. It draws on Jewish history and teaching to advocate for a civil society that provides equality for people of ALL backgrounds and beliefs, protected by a government neutral toward religion in its fair enforcement of policy and law. JWF is providing seed funding to connect with partners in the Pittsburgh Jewish community for the program Jewish Women and Religious Freedom in America: Fostering a Community of Action program, a new event series led by, for, and about Jewish women, which will amplify a spectrum of Jewish women’s voices in response to the stunning legal and legislative setbacks from the rise of white Christian Nationalism.

National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Section — $15,000
JWF is providing funds to support, MomsWork, powered by NCJW Pittsburgh. The U.S. economy experienced a net loss of nearly 3 million jobs since February 2020, with women accounting for 63% of those losses. An equitable economic recovery post-Covid requires an investment in the well-being of moms, and MomsWork is well-positioned to support success in or a return to paid work. Together with its partners, MomsWork is poised to educate moms seeking long-term economic wellbeing, expand their social capital for economic justice and racial equity, and connect moms to opportunities and support.

Tzohar Arts — $15,000
Tzohar Arts has two programs – Tzohar Seminary and Tzohar Women – which focus on empowering women toward personal, social, and spiritual growth through creativity and the arts. Tzohar Seminary empowers young women to become agents of change for themselves and for the world. Many Tzohar alumnae are pursuing and involved with arts-related careers, where they are having a significant impact including an animator for Marvel and other feature films, a museum gallery curator, a designer of prosthetics, an engineer, art therapists, arts educators, Judaic educators, and professional writers, photographers (including one featured in Vogue), filmmakers, singer/songwriters, musicians, and visual artists.

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General Community Grants

Angels’ Place — $5,000
Angels' Place, Inc. provides exceptional family support and quality early childhood education to help parents in need and their children become lifelong learners and create a brighter future. At two centers located in Pittsburgh’s North Side and Swissvale, single parent families receive comprehensive programming and advocacy from Angels’ Place staff. Angels’ Place provides:

Accredited high-quality early childhood education and childcare.
Facilitated group discussions of parenting, health, safety, financial literacy and life skills.
Individual and group counseling.
Play Connection activities that enhance parent/child relationships.
Opportunities for referrals to services from community partners.
Assistance in meeting food, clothing, and other basic needs.
Access to the Family Support Program. Angels’ Place parents have been able to finish school, find or maintain rewarding employment and gain parenting and life skills.

Crisis Center North — $5,000
CCN provides domestic violence (DV) services to 23 primary zip codes containing 403,000 residents, or approximately 32% of Allegheny County’s total population. Over 90% of CCN’s clients are women and children. In addition, CCN provides educational and violence prevention programming. Last fiscal year, CCN impacted more than 14,000 middle and high school students through its school-based prevention programming and also trained more than 1,500 participants (including police, doctors, nurses, hospital staff, medical and nursing students, community groups, veterinarians, and animal care providers) on the dynamics of DV and how to recognize and support victims.

Crossroads Foundation — $6,500
Crossroads Foundation aims to narrow the gap in equal and fair access to educational opportunities for young people by providing students from diverse backgrounds, specifically students of color and students from households with lower incomes, with a quality high school experience along with the necessary tools for them to develop their talents and skills. Over two-thirds of their graduates go on to college. With this one-year grant, Crossroads will evaluate current programs for their female scholars and find areas that need to be enhanced and/or expanded. Funding support from JWF will help female students achieve greater success through the Key Counseling Initiative and the College and Career Readiness Program.

East End Cooperative Ministry — $8,000
For over 50 years, EECM has been a community leader in addressing the issues that affect our area’s most at-risk, disadvantaged, and under-served populations. EECM has responded to community needs with programs that provide opportunity, transformation and hope to those experiencing homelessness, food insecurity, educational challenges, and barriers to employment. Funding from JWF will support EEOC’s Girl’s Life program, an existing program conducted through in school, after-school and summer activities. Girl’s Life provides prevention, intervention and growth programming to at-risk girls, empowering them to rise above negative behaviors and to aspire to life success. The program is delivered through a three-tier developmental and skill-equipping strategy. This process is intended to help the girls develop to be intellectually and socially competent women who make positive contributions to their families, community and the world.

Open Field — $10,000
Open Field’s mission is to improve the lives and futures of youth through sport. Open Field’s sports-based youth development programs promote girls’ empowerment, education, leadership and life skills, and health and well-being, on and off the soccer field. For more than a decade, programming has provided transferable skills and life-changing experiences to more than 5,000 youth in low resource communities in Pittsburgh, PA and Cameroon, Africa through the global game of soccer. Funding from JWF will support Open Field’s CHAMPS (CHange Agents Mentoring Peers through Sport) program, which was created in 2019 to employ teenagers during spring and summer months as Youth Leaders to support program implementation and provide a platform for learning skills that support their personal and professional growth. Teenagers apply and interview to participate in the program, which provides many refugee youths their first ‘real’ job opportunity and experience in America.

Planned Parenthood — $7,000
Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania has been providing high quality, affordable reproductive health care to individuals, regardless of income or location, for more than 90 years. PPWP operates seven health centers throughout Allegheny, Cambria, Somerset and Westmoreland counties. Services include gynecological care, providing birth control information and a variety of birth control methods, pregnancy testing, pelvic and breast exams, screening and treatment for STIs, emergency contraception, hormone therapy for transgender and nonbinary individuals and medical and surgical abortions.

Ruth’s Way — $7,500
Ruth’s Way’s mission is to empower at-risk girls between the ages of 10-17 to realize their own voice and strength in their ability to control their own destinies and outcomes, helping them to achieve long-term success as ethical and virtuous women of society. Through their unique process of Achievement Consultation, they teach adolescent girls the process of identifying their barriers to success, and then how to properly and effectively address these barriers so that they will become effective problem solvers and be properly equipped to conquer current and future life adversities.

The Neighborhood Academy — $10,000
The Neighborhood Academy (TNA) is a faith-based, college preparatory, independent school whose mission is to break the cycle of generational poverty by empowering youth and preparing them for college and citizenship. JWF is funding an existing program, the Female Counseling Program, which is designed for the 9th – 12th grade female students of TNA. The Counseling Program is the holistic backbone of their educational model, addressing the myriad of issues that may otherwise prevent their students from learning and growing. TNA strives to reach five goals, each with specific objectives, activities, and outcomes including: 1) Building Resilience 2) Instilling Perseverance 3) Encouraging Integrity 4) Nurturing Honesty and 5) Aiming for Transcendence.

Women’s Center & Shelter — $5,000
WC&S exists to end intimate partner violence/domestic violence (IPV/DV) and create safe spaces for help, healing, and hope. They are advocates, grounded in fostering a community of safety, healing, and empowerment for anyone affected by domestic violence. Founded in 1974 as one of the first six domestic violence programs in the country, WC&S has been serving Allegheny County for 48 years. According to the ongoing National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey by the CDC, one in four women and one in 10 men has experienced sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetimes. WC&S addresses the issues of IPV/DV through programs and services designed to keep survivors, their children, and even beloved pets, safe including: Emergency Shelter, Support Groups, Legal Advocacy, Hotline Services, a Children’s Advocacy Program, Education and Outreach, a Civil Law Project, Medical Advocacy, Refugee, Immigrant, & Limited-English-Speaker Services, Immediate Needs Coordination, a Homeless Providers Program, and Individual Therapy.

Women’s Law Project — $6,000
WLP leverages the power of the law to eliminate gender bias and discrimination and envisions a society in which justice and equality of opportunity are not determined by sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, economic status, or intersecting identities, and especially race. WLP uses litigation, advocacy, and public education to correct inequities in society. The decision to start, or not start a family has economic and social impacts. WLP views bodily autonomy as a keystone issue in the fight for equality, and much of their work is focused on reproductive rights. WLP also seeks equitable opportunity in many arenas including healthcare, education, athletics, employment, public benefits, insurance, and family law, and seeks justice for survivors of gender-based violence.

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