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Deadline for 2010 grant applications is October 15! Click here to access the guidelines and application materials. The Women's Fund is an endowment fund that is invested prudently and provides grants to help women and their families lift themselves to a better standard of living. The fund is part of a growing movement nationwide, which allows women to fulfill their unique motivations to give back to their communities. Our Women's Fund focuses specifically on making a positive impact in center Pennsylvania: Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Lebanon and Perry Counties. The Women's Fund awarded $5,000 in grants for 2009. Below is a desription of the funded agencies and the award winning programs.
Agency: Community Check-Up Center Project: Mujeres Saludables: Health Care for Harrisburg Area Undocumented Women Community Check-Up Center is a community based nonprofit organization working in partnership with the community to improve the health and wellness of low-income children and families through high quality compassionate care. It is located within walking distance to over 2,500 public housing residents and more than 3,500 Medicaid-eligible children in South Harrisburg. Of this population, 60% are Spanish-speaking. The agency was founded in 1994 by a group of mothers with children in the Head Start program who were concerned that quality health care was not available in their area. The agency is comprised of two programs: the Children’s Check-Up Center, which serves newborns to 21 year-olds; and the Women’s Check-Up Center (WCC) which provides routine gynecological care and family planning services to women. WCC also offers health education, domestic violence support and confidential testing for sexually transmitted infections. Both programs serve all patients without regard to ability to pay. Moreover, the Center has become the medical home for low-income women who do not have a primary care physician. The grant from the Women’s Fund for the Mujueres Saludables (Healthy Women) project will provide reproductive health care for at least 125 undocumented Hispanic women, who represent a disproportionate number of the uninsured patients seen each year by the Women’s Check-Up Center. Changes in state and federal support for women’s health care and a shift of this funding to the State Medicaid program created a gap in support care for undocumented women. This grant will help fill that gap and will specifically provide funding to support WCC’s Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner to provide routine gynecological services to undocumented, mostly Hispanic, women. Agency: Planned Parenthood of Northeast and Mid-PennGrant Project: Teen Tuesdays at Planned Parenthood’s Harrisburg Medical Center Planned Parenthood of Northeast and Mid-Penn’s mission is to provide and promote high-quality and comprehensive reproductive health care through medical services, education and advocacy. Central to their mission is ensuring that reproductive health care is available to everyone, regardless of income, health insurance status, or pre-existing condition. Many people seeking services from the agency, including teens younger than 18 years-old, qualify for free services. In fiscal year 2007-08, over 770 Cumberland and Dauphin county teens and young adults, over half of whom were girls, participated in Planned Parenthood’s comprehensive sexuality education program which provides age-appropriate, medically accurate information on a broad spectrum of topics including abstinences, birth control, contraceptive methods, family planning, and reproductive health. These topics are taught in a context of decision making, personal values, responsibility, and relationships so that teens thoroughly understand sexuality and its consequences for themselves and their partners. The Teen Tuesdays program was established three years ago so that girls and boys could experience a “teen friendly” environment when they came to the Harrisburg Medical Center and would in turn be more likely to continue visiting the Center for health care. Every Tuesday afternoon, teens are invited to walk into the Center without an appointment and receive reproductive health care and education in the company of their peers. The need for Teen Tuesdays is immediately evident from a review of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease (STD) rates in Pennsylvania. Dauphin County has the second highest rate of unintended teen pregnancy and STD among the 67 counties. Harrisburg ranks higher than Philadelphia or Pittsburgh in its rate of teen births. This grant from the Women’s Fund will provide needed services to an anticipated 850 -1,350 girls who are expected to visit the Harrisburg Medical Center for Teen Tuesdays during this fiscal year.
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