Awarded Grants
Grant awarded to Humanity Crew
Humanity Crew is a grassroots non-governmental non-religious-non-profit organization founded in November 2015 by Adv. Maria Jammal and Dr. Essam Daod, a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, who joined a rescue mission to respond to the influx of Syrian refugees arriving in Lesvos, Greece. During the mission they identified the deep threat to the refugees’ wellbeing. In particular they became concerned with mental health of the refugees brought on by despair, loss, pain and fear from the unknown future and flight to safety. During the mission, they development Humanity Crew to deal with these issues. The Grant of $25,000 will support 2 refugee camps.
Humanity Crew has identified 3 specific problem areas that women living in refugee camps in Greece are currently facing. -(1)Violence and Protection – new living conditions that women face when moving to these camps exposes them to unsafe environments. Many of these women were used to strong support systems from family and friends. After joining the camp they quickly realized they did not have anyone to rely on. Additionally, they are at a greater chance of domestic violence from their husbands who once was the proud family patriarch, to someone who is helpless and without purpose. Using this situation to carry out domestic violence on their wives and children. (2)Mental Health – Many women in these camps have come from war zones in the Middle East, experiencing trauma, personal loss, abuse and sometimes severe torture. Arriving at the camps women further face security issues and often face symptoms of anxiety, depression, PTSD, insomnia and many other symptoms.(3)Cultural Gaps and Integration – Throughout their journey, many times the humanitarian aid these women receive is usually received without any cultural or lingual sensitivity by locals and other volunteers who speak different languages and lack cultural understandings. If approved, funding will be used to fund programs that will focus on 4 different areas:
– Creating empowerment groups of local women inside the camp
-Short term group therapy for women
-Sensitivity training for the refugees and for the care-service providers in the camp by their professionals
– Cultural and community activities for all refugee groups The direct beneficiaries of this project will Syrian, Iraqi and other Arabic speaking women and young girls living in refugee camps in Greece. Funds will be used throughout 2018.
Humanity Crew believes they are making a sustainable difference by empowering women and helping integrate themselves into their new communities. Their programs work to provide women with life skills that help them in taking steps towards their own education and career as an active part of the refugee society. Additionally, Humanity Crew looks to involve the whole community, in hopes of educating and then preventing violence against women. Their goal is to create a holistic community based change towards a healthy family life and healthy overall society
2 year grant Awarded to the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women
The Foundation is pleased to again support The Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women (IEEW), a non-profit whose focus is to empower women to grow their businesses, pursue greater entrepreneurial ventures, and become more active public policy advocates.
The global Peace Through Business program educates women entrepreneurs in Afghanistan and Rwanda on an annual basis. After eleven years of educating women entrepreneurs in Afghanistan and Rwanda, the Peace Through Business program is gearing up to add more diversity and to reach more women in a shorter amount of time. To move beyond the pilot phase with mini-courses requires a renewed funding effort. . A matching donation for a 2 years, $25,000/year grant is awarded to guarantee IEEW can expand the PTB/NU Pathways MiniCourses beyond borders. Experts agree for Afghanistan to become more successful, the rural women as well as the urban women must be reached.
The Foundation wants to continue its partnership with IEEW in this critical phase of growth and success. IEEW recognizes that peace, economic growth, and good leadership must extend well beyond the borders of Afghanistan and Rwanda. Every donation helps IEEW to sustain and expand the program by ensuring financial viability that allows it to grow and evolve each year. Funds specifically will go toward a) educating women in the traditional PTB course AND in the new PTB/NU Pathways courses inside Afghanistan and Rwanda, b) bring the top students to the USA for Leadership Development in July, and c) create an Oklahoma City event to celebrate Women’s History Month and explore the potential for an Oklahoma Native American partnership educating women entrepreneurs.
Chicago Jesuit Academy awarded grant for their College Persistence Programs
Chicago Jesuit Academy serves young men whose families reside on the West Side of Chicago where opportunities are few.
A $20,000 grant from the Foundation will help to expand the College-Persistence Programs as the number of alumni served grows from 185 in 2017-2018 to nearly 300 by 2020. Specifically, they would allow CJA to hire an additional College-Persistence Counselor in the 2018-2019 school year. This helps ensure that CJA will be able to deliver personalized high school placement, high school persistence, college placement, college persistence and career guidance to all alumni, even as the school doubles in size. Funds will be used during the 2018-2019 school year, specifically June 1, 2018 through May 31, 2019. The specific program goal is for 97% of CJA alumni to graduate from high school. Thereafter, the goal is for 50% of CJA alumni to graduate from a four-year college or university, 25% of CJA alumni to graduate from a two-year college or technical training program, and 80% of non-degree earning alumni, representing 25% of total alumni, to be meaningfully employed within three years of earning a high school diploma. The rationale for these goals is simple. CJA believes that all young people should have the opportunity to realize their potential, use their gifts in a meaningful way in service to others and have economic freedom. This focus on long-term outcomes is exactly why CJA established and continues to build the CollegePersistence Programs.
FINCA International awarded Grant for BrightLife Program
The Foundation is pleased to announce a $30,000 grant to FINCA for their BrightLife Program. This is the fourth year of our funding and involvement with the program since inception in 2014.
FINCA International (FINCA) is harnessing its 30 years of experience in providing access to finance to lowincome entrepreneurs to bring sustainable and scalable solutions in the energy, education, water & sanitation, agriculture and healthcare sectors to families living at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP). BrightLife was founded in 2014 to address energy poverty. With Africans suffering from the world’s lowest electrification rates, people rely on indoor fires and kerosene lamps for cooking and lighting. The resulting air pollution leads to the premature death of up to 2 million people per year, and the widespread use of kerosene lamps has been linked directly to black carbon emissions which contribute directly to global warming. Through this new work, FINCA has a unique opportunity to accelerate the achievement of a broader range of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
FINCA has a unique opportunity to accelerate the achievement of a broader range of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through its 30-years of microfinance work and its new work in social enterprises. Financial inclusion helps create the conditions that bring many of the SDGs within reach. A strategic priority of their work is to develop the pay-as-you-go financing for products sold through BrightLife as an on-ramp to financial inclusion to BoP clients to start savings accounts and have access to other financial products at FINCA Uganda and other financial institutions. Furthermore, durable, efficient and high quality clean energy alternatives—such as solar powered lanterns and clean cook stoves—provide improved health outcomes such as reduced incidence of respiratory disease and reduced black carbon emissions. Clean energy solutions also help reduce time poverty, providing children with increased study time, decreasing time spent on collecting firewood, and enabling businesses to stay open later in the evening.
Reaching women is a priority for FINCA’s mission and for BrightLife. Nearly half of FINCA’s clients are women, who often face the steepest climb out of poverty, particularly in Africa. Affordable access to high quality, affordable, life-transforming products like solar lamps, cooking stoves, and water filtration systems, available to BoP families has the power to substantially improve the health and well-being of women and children in Uganda, as they currently suffer the greatest exposure to pollution from traditional indoor fires and contaminates. A program that helps the Women of Uganda and the planet, is a win win for all.
Grant awarded to Syria Fund
The Syria Fund is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States that supports education programs and hands-on humanitarian efforts for Syrian refugees living in Jordan., has been awarded a $22,500 Grant.
The Syria Fund believes in making direct, specific contributions that have an immediate impact on families in need through partnerships with local organizations. So far, in addition to many humanitarian aid efforts, The Syria Fund has successfully built and implemented education programs that reach over 500 Syrian refugees and other vulnerable Jordanian children. The Syria Fund is seeking funding to expand its education efforts to help transform the prospects for the future for Syrian refugees living in Jordan.
The Syria Fund and its local partner the Middle East Children’s Institute (MECI) propose establishing a Remedial Education Program in three locations in Northern Jordan. This program will provide both Syrian refugee children and other vulnerable youth with sustained remedial academic and psychosocial support to catch up on missed years of education and to keep up with their counterparts in formal schools. Working closely with Jordan’s Ministry of Education, The Syria Fund and MECI will identify existing public schools in which to implement the program, using MECI’s carefully-designed curriculum and a highly qualified and fully-vetted staff specifically assigned to this project.. This grant of $22,500 will support one full class of 30 children including all salaries, supplies and extra programming for the year.
The beneficiaries of the Remedial Education Program will include 450 students, 15 full-time teachers, three school counsellors, one dedicated field officer and various other education staff members and hundreds of family and community members. This valuable education enhancement program will ensure Syrian refugees and other vulnerable youth can enter the appropriate grade level in formal schools and maintain and flourish in the classroom. The grant awarded by the Foundation will support one full class of 30 children including all salaries, supplies and extra programming for the year.
The mission of The Syria Fund closely aligns with that of The Kathryn B. McQuade Foundation — striving to make sustainable improvements in women’s and children’s rights, education and welfare.
Roots & Wings awarded grant
The Foundation is again happy to support the work of Roots and Wings with a $25,000 grant.
Roots & Wings was established in 1999 in Morris County, New Jersey. Their mission is to provide young
adults who age out of the foster care system in New Jersey with safe housing, educational support, case
management, counseling, and life skills in order to empower them toward self-sufficiency.
Without an adequate system in place, studies show that aged out foster care youth are among the most
disconnected and statistically vulnerable segment in society. Ranging in ages of 18 to 24, these individuals
who have aged out of foster care face are at a great risk to face food insecurities, early pregnancies,
addictions, interpersonal violence, prostitution, and incarceration.
Roots & Wings works to provide holistic programs and services that are aimed to remediate the deficiencies
in education and socializations that result from the unstable and often abusive childhoods experienced by
their clients. One way Roots & Wings in working to do this is through their RISE program.
The RISE program is the agency’s residential program that presently includes four, two bedroom apartments
in Morris County, NJ, and three, three bedroom apartments in Union County, NJ. The goal of this program is
to meet the immediate needs their clients have regarding housing, food, and medical care, while also working
with the clients a long term plan on becoming self-sufficient, contributing members of a community. Each
client is assigned a case manager to help them along the way, establishing goals and strategies.
Roots & Wings is awarded $25,000 to help with expansion costs of their Union County Rise program.
Roots & Wings was able to open an additional apartment in May of this year and are currently working on
one more apartment to open in September. This apartment will provide safe housing for an additional two
aged out foster care youth for up to 2 years while they receive services and work towards becoming selfsufficient.
Funding will take place in 2017.
Grants for Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief
Early on Wednesday, September 20, Hurricane Maria, a powerful Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph winds, made direct landfall on Puerto Rico, bisecting the entire island and drenching it with feet of rain. What’s happened since has been catastrophic for Puerto Rico.
There’s still no power on the island, with the exception of generators powering only the highest-priority buildings like hospitals. That means in many places there’s no water to drink or bathe in or to flush toilets. There’s limited food, fuel, and cell service, and it’s taken several days for reporters and rescue workers to reach remote towns and villages.
“Make no mistake — this is a humanitarian disaster involving 3.4 million US citizens,” Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said Monday.
Children are the most vulnerabe, and an American Island without Electricity, water and food….lacking basic necessities needs everyones help today.
The Foundation hopes that in some small way these grants will help.
$25,000 to The Foundation for Puerto Rico
$15,000 to Save the Children
$10,000 to Americares
NAWBO Institute for Entrepreneurial Development awarded a grant
NAWBO has been awarded a $30,000 grant to assist in funding the Institute’s Virtual Platform.
The NAWBO Institute is an educational foundation that provides
opportunities for capacity building and organizational development for emerging and established women
entrepreneurs. Through the Institute Virtual Platform, NAWBO strengthens the wealth-creating potential of
women business owners and promotes economic development within the entrepreneurial community,
building a legacy of success for the next generation. NAWBO is determined to bring education and mentoring
programs to women, regardless of their global location or social position.
For women business owners, the most glaring “need” stems from the lack of knowledge on how to scale a
business from point A to point B. Education brings the ability for women to build and sustain a business,
leverage capital, and develop a long-term strategic plan and performance management system, enabling
more women-owned businesses to realize growth.
Furthermore, statistics illustrate that new thinking and programming to support women seeking to grow
their businesses is needed. The study states that most of the programming offered through the public sector
and much of the private sector is dated and focused on individuals who want to start a business. However,
few solid programs exist to provide business expansion expertise and engage entrepreneurs – in particular
for women and minorities.
The Institute for Entrepreneurial Development is open to women business owners in any stage of business,
sponsors, and partners around the globe desiring access to the information, education, courses, and network
of support within the platform. The organization emphasizes the virtual support, tools, resources and
education to women of color and to socially and economically disadvantaged women who have additional
barriers to launching and sustaining a business. The accessibility of the Institute’s virtual programming will
allow for more participation of women who face additional obstacles to entry and will be a key resource in
providing them with solutions to the barriers that are currently preventing their growth.
The funds will be used for assisting with funding the NAWBO Institute Virtual Platform. The On24 platform
facilitates communication, virtual networking, best practice sharing, and education for women business
owners, partners and supporters around the world. The virtual platform’s cutting edge technology allows for
interactive and engaging virtual experiences for users.
Children & Families First (CFF) awarded grant
Children & Families First (CFF) is awarded a $27,000 grant for their Nurturing Parenting & their Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers Program.
CFF began helping families in greater Wilmington in 1884, serving 1,000 by
caring for orphaned children, feeding families, and operating a lumber yard to provide jobs.
The organization serves vulnerable, under-served infants, children, teens, and their caregivers who
experience a wide variety of significant challenges. These clients are three times more likely than the general
population to have childhood history of significant trauma – which, if left unaddressed, puts them at
significant risk of an array of diminished health, well-being, and self-sufficiency outcomes, including:
cognitive and emotional challenges, lower academic and professional achievement, troubled relationships,
and substance abuse, food and housing insecurity, and more.
The grant will be used to implement an intensive parenting training intervention for low-income pregnant and new mothers who are
recovering from serious addiction, and whose deficits in parenting skills put their children at risk of neglect
and abuse. Nurturing Parenting & their Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers (NPITP) is a skills-based familycentered
trauma-informed program designed to build effective, nurturing parenting skills as an alternative to
abusive and neglectful child-rearing practices. The Nurturing Parenting Program is proven to increase
parenting skills, self-worth, empathy, and bonding among a population with significant challenges, toward
improving stability, resiliency, and self-sufficiency for themselves and their children. Long term benefits also
include: reducing recidivism in families receiving social services, lowering multi-parent teenage pregnancy
rate, reducing juvenile delinquency and alcohol abuse, and stopping the intergenerational cycle of child
abuse. The intervention addresses a critical unmet need, and builds on CFF’s established, successful
parenting skills programs and nurse home visiting programs for at-risk pregnant women, new mothers, and
their young children.
Roanoke Children’s Theatre (RCT) awarded grant
The Foundation is pleased to again help sponsor RCT’s Kaleidoscope and RCT4TEENS programs with a $15,000 grant.
Kaleidoscope is the first class and camp of its kind in Southwest Virginia, offering
children with exceptional abilities a safe and creative community that expands awareness of others and
awareness of self.The project targets Roanoke Valley K-12 special needs students, who may have a multitude of
different developmental disabilities. Disabilities may include verbal or nonverbal, ambulatory/ in need to
assistive movement, ADD/ADHD, Autistic or Down syndrome. The project will serve a minimum of 25
students, along with their families, in collaboration with school personnel. Post camp evaluations and teacher
interviews will be used to measure the success of the program.
RCT4TEENS is a continuing theatre/health education project, produced in collaboration with local school
districts and a coalition of health care agencies and professiona. RCT annually reaches grade-wide
attendance of approximately 2,500 – 3,500 middle and high school students who participate in post-show
interactive prevention talkbacks with agency professionals, while identifying resources for ongoing support.
The overarching goal of the teen’s project is to utilize theater as teaching mechanisms to increase knowledge
and promote good health behavior. Teens who partake in the program gain an increased understanding in
health protective measures and risk reducing factors. RCT has found studies that show successful
interventions, such as RTC4TEENS, effectively promotes the understanding of risk reducing factors and
good health practices in teens. Past issues addressed include Substance Abuse (WRECKED, 2011),
Depression and Suicide (ERIC & ELLIOTT, 2012), the link between brain development and risk behaviors
(TEEN BRAIN, 2013/2014), eating disorders (EAT: IT’S NOT ABOUT FOOD, 2015), heroin addiction and
substance abuse (THE ICE CREAM MAN, 2016), and teen pregnancy (BABYLAND, 2017). The 2017-2018 play
DISTRACTED DRIVING will address the issue of driving while using social media and cell phones. Each teen
in the RTC4TEEN program also has access to youth education outreach workshops that connects teens with
health care professionals. During these workshops, teens are encouraged to ask questions and learn best
practices.