New sWIFT Masthead Dec2012
Interested in learning more about the grants process?
The Grants Committee will hold a training event - open to ALL members - at noon on January 11, 2015, at the Myers Park Presbyterian Outreach Center (1073 Providence Road, across the street from the Church, ample off-street parking).

The training session will focus on how to prepare for and conduct a site visit, how to read financial statements and audit reports and how to identify effective evaluation metrics. In addition, there will be a presentation about The First 2000 Days:  The Importance of Early Childhood Development.

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20 Selected as Finalists for WIF Grants
By Lisa Miller, Grants Chair

The Grants Committee members have been hard at work the last few weeks, reviewing applications and making the first round of tough decisions on those to be considered as potential grantees.

Twenty organizations - four from each of WIF's grant focus areas - have been invited to submit a full proposal. The Grants Committee work teams will review and conduct site visits until mid-February. In mid-March, the full Grants Committee will meet and select the finalists to be voted on by the full membership in mid-April.

The Top 20 are:
Arts
  • Arts for Life - To sustain an existing art therapy program for patients at Levine Children's Hospital.
  • Children's Theater - For seed money for Women Writing Women, to raise the profile of women in theater.
  • Musical Minds - To expand the musical instrument program to a new Title 1 school.
  • UNC-Charlotte - To engage multicultural youth through theater.
Environment
  • Catawba Lands Conservancy - To hire a staff person to provide educational programming and activities.
  • Clean Air Carolinas - To expand a "clean air zones" monitoring project in CMS.
  • Envision Charlotte - To promote energy conservation, effective transportation use, recycling, and water consumption among Uptown workers.
  • Wing Haven - To add new garden space and a new curriculum.
Education
  • Augustine Literacy Project - To expand a current literacy tutoring program into more schools.
  • BELL - To sustain the summer learning program.
  • Charlotte Bilingual Preschool - To create a new curriculum and program for 0-3 year-olds.
  • Reach Out and Read - To expand an existing program to six more sites to increase early childhood literacy.
Health
  • Matthews Free Clinic - To expand an existing operation by adding a full-time provider and an RN.  
  • Children's Home Society - To expand the Wise Guys Male Responsibility program.
  • NC MedAssist - To add a pharmacist and expand the free program.
  • Smart Start - To create a new program to promote physical activity and outdoor learning in at-risk children 0-5.
Human Services
  • Assistance League of Charlotte - To provide new clothing (including coats and shoes) for low-income children.
  • Communities in Schools - To expand the Immigrant Youth Services program.
  • Friendship Community Development Corp. - To support My Sister's Place, a transitional living site for single homeless women.
  • Hope Haven - To provide a job training café for those with addiction.
Mission Moment:  WIF Grantee Brings Faces of Charlotte Together With New Exhibit
by Carolyn Meade

How many parts of your life would you say have changed by 111% in the last 10 years?

For most of us, if even one thing grew or shifted by that much, it would represent a life-changing, personality-defining event.

Yet that is the story for North Carolina and most of the Southeastern United States in terms of demographics. The Latino population of North Carolina grew by 111% between 2000 and 2010. For South Carolina, the percentage was 148%. The 2012 purchasing power of North Carolina's Latinos totaled $14.0 billion, up 1,571% since 1990. Most Latinos are native-born Americans, and nearly three in four Latinos (74%) are U.S. citizens.

Levine Museum of the New South is celebrating - and increasing the  understanding of - the Southeast's growing Latino population with a new exhibit, called ˇNUEVOlution! It's bilingual, interactive and challenges visitors to consider what they know about the community they live in and what it means to be Latino in the New South.

It was made possible, in part, by a 2012 WIF grant of $90,000, which supported the hiring of the museum's first bilingual, bi-cultural coordinator, Melina Monita-Pacheco.

Sponsor Spotlight:



The Women's Impact Fund welcomes the support of Moore & Van Allen PLLC as a Sustainer sponsor.

WIF Connection: Ten MVA attorneys and professionals are members of Women's Impact Fund, including founding members Lea Johnson and Miriam Dixon, as well as Ann Allen, Carol Bowen, Courtenay Clark, Katie Hallaway, Caroline Kraich, Carolyn Meade, Emily Reynolds and Sara Page Waugh.

Public Service:  "At Moore & Van Allen, we recognize and embrace our responsibility to the surrounding community," said Stephanie Gryder, Manager of Diversity and Community Initiatives. "We are proud to support organizations like the Women's Impact Fund that are committed to helping make Charlotte an even stronger community."

MVA attorneys and staff donated 7,241 public service hours to the community in 2014. Their service included: weekly reading to third graders at Devonshire Elementary School; preparing wills, powers of attorney and health care powers of attorney for low-income senior citizens; assisting 40 victims of human trafficking; and serving as the Board Chair for the Women's Impact Fund.

READ MORE
WIF Member News

Richmond's Gain: WIF is losing another great member to Richmond, Va. Linda Stanley is making the move to take on a new role with Bank of America.

WIF members, we want to hear from you!  This new feature - WIF Member News - depends totally on you!  Please send us news of a new job, new volunteer leadership role, a new addition to your family, a big move or anything else you'd like to share with your family of WIF friends. Email: communications@womensimpactfund.org
WIF Staff News

Please join us in congratulating Jessica, WIF's Operations Manager.  Over the summer she got married!  Subsequently, her last name officially changed from Lehmann to Klasinski, so while you may have noticed a different name, it is still the same Jessica.  Her new email address is jklasinski@womensimpactfund.org.
UPCOMING EVENTS!

2015-2016 Grants Training
Monday, January 11, 2016
12-1:30pm
Myers Park Presbyterian Church's Outreach Center
1073 Providence Road
(across the street from the church)
Optional box lunch available
For more information, click here
Fundraising Fundamentals Program 
Save the Date
Thursday, February 4, 2016

Wine & Wisdom
Save the Date
Monday, February 22, 2016 
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For more information on upcoming WIF events,
click HERE