UNFCU Foundation announced the 19 grantees it will be funding this year. The projects sustain pathways out of poverty for women and youth through access to health care, livelihood training, and education across three continents.
Funding for these grants and UNFCU Foundation’s support for humanitarian relief enabled the organization to reach a milestone of $1 million in grants.
“We are thrilled to enable more women and youth to gain economic and social empowerment,” said Pamela Agnone, chairperson of the UNFCU Foundation. “Our partners’ impact-driven programs and the resiliency of participants signal continued success advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals in 2023.”
Grants are awarded to initiatives that focus on the empowerment of women and youth, and particularly on the Foundation’s mission to end poverty. The chosen partners demonstrate a strong record of accomplishment and UN SDG impact in marginalized communities. According to several ongoing grantees, UNFCU Foundation’s funding has fast-tracked growth in critical areas:
“Support from UNFCU Foundation will enable New York-based YWCA Brooklyn to expand its YW Brooklyn LEAD Program to serve more young women of color in poverty-impacted communities,” said Martha Kamber, the organization’s CEO & President. “In exploring college and careers, girls take their first steps towards economic mobility.”
“MindLeaps launched a virtual academy to help youth refugees in Uganda transition from social-emotional learning to economic empowerment with its UNFCU Foundation grant,” said Rebecca Davis, founder and executive director. “In 2023, to further strengthen families and self-belief, women will receive extensive business training through our Moving Forward Together Program.”
“RefuSHE will provide additional refugee artisans in Nairobi, Kenya with the technical, business, and financial training they need to become skilled craftswomen and self-reliant entrepreneurs,” said Rose Kanana Muthuri, chief programs officer. “UNFCU Foundation’s grant will enable more young women to continue healing while they achieve economic and social independence. This includes saving the income they earn as members of RefuSHE’s Artisan Collective and launching their own businesses across Nairobi.
Grantees and projects supported by the UNFCU Foundation in 2023:
Health care grantees:
- The Floating Hospital continues to provide behavioral health services and support programs for women and children in New York City.
- Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center provides integrated medical, sexual, and reproductive health, as well as behavioral and mental health services to youth in New York City.
- United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) delivers livelihood training to obstetric fistula survivors in Nigeria.
Education grantees:
- Building Tomorrow ensures children in rural Uganda access to foundational learning opportunities, including literacy and numeracy via its Roots to Rise Program.
- Girl Up instructs adolescent girls in three target under-resourced communities in Kenya with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), life skills, and enhanced leadership development training to become advocates for gender justice.
- Grace Outreach enhances the academic skills of low-income women in New York City through the pursuit of higher education and employment.
Livelihood training grantees:
- The BOMA Project enrolls ultra-poor women living in Northern Kenya in a two-year program that includes financial, life skills, and business training.
- Hot Bread Kitchen expands workforce development and social entrepreneurship programs in the food industry for women, immigrants, and Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities in New York City.
- International Rescue Committee (IRC) provides employment services to refugee women in America through its Women’s Employability Program.
- Kilimanjaro Initiative (KI) empowers Maasai women through female genital mutilation (FGM) awareness, business skills training, and creating a hub for women’s development.
- MindLeaps provides young adults in the Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement, Uganda with access to the Virtual Academy Program on business entrepreneurship and life skills.
- Mission for Community Development (MCODE) enhances the income-generating capacity of young rural women and girls in Uganda through agricultural vocational skills.
- RefuSHE expands in-person and virtual vocational training programs for urban refugee young women in Nairobi.
- Sanctuary for Families addresses the root causes of abuse, poverty, and homelessness in New York City via intensive living-wage career training.
- Imagine Her enables young women in Uganda to gain leadership and social enterprise training through the Imagine Academy.
- Together We Bake provides women in the Washington, DC area with livelihood training and hands-on experience in the food industry.
- Trickle Up improves economic opportunities for women, including the disabled, living in extreme poverty in Guatemala. The organization also builds their resilience to socioeconomic shocks using the Graduation Approach.
- Village Enterprise expands the Poverty Graduation Program, an entrepreneurship training program for primarily women and girls in rural Uganda.
- The YWCA of Brooklyn offers college access and leadership skills training to girls of color from poverty-impacted communities in Brooklyn, NY.
Humanitarian relief in 2022:
Supporting emergency humanitarian work on the ground with partners represents an additional commitment by UNFCU Foundation to leave no one behind. In 2022, relief efforts supported the people of Ukraine in collaboration with UNICEF USA and USA for UNHCR. A partnership with USA for UNHCR contributed to its Horn of Africa campaign.
