The Women’s Fund of Southwest Florida presents new programs to support economic security for women in Southwest Florida at Rotary Club
The Women’s Fund of Southwest Florida presented research and programs to support opportunities leading to economic security for women at the Nov. 6 Rotary Club meeting in Fort Myers. The initiatives include a leveraged savings program for low-to-moderate income women to assist them in building financial assets for education and training, toward the purchase of their first home, or to startup or expand their business.
“The Women’s Fund is working hard to secure federal funding for our region’s women to build assets through savings,” said Brenda Tate, president of The Women’s Fund of Southwest Florida. “Can you imagine every family who applies for need based scholarship being offered the opportunity to open a savings account at a local bank to save for education? When that savings goal is reached, The Women’s Fund will match each saved dollar with two more. That’s a two to one return on the investment.”
The other is a program, paired with training and mentoring, will offer women business owners access to capital for their business start-up or expansion.
The Women’s Fund recently released research findings on the status of women in Southwest Florida, examining four core areas including population and diversity, employment and income, achievement and autonomy, health and well-being. The Women’s Fund commissioned the Regional Economic Research Institute at Florida Gulf Coast University to investigate the status of women and girls in Southwest Florida in order to benchmark progress, inform public policy, set funding priorities and programming, and to inspire demand for additional knowledge about the status of women and girls in Southwest Florida.
The mission of The Women’s Fund of Southwest Florida is to raise money through federal and state grants, and relationships with individual and corporate donors, and employ a strategic grant-making model to fund programs and organizations that address the special, critical needs of women and girls in Southwest Florida. Founding members of the Women’s Fund of Southwest Florida Board of Directors include Brenda Tate, president; Linda Uhler, Secretary/Treasurer; Lalai Hamric, Vice Chair and Lou Pontius, Chair.
To schedule a presentation by The Women’s Fund, contact Brenda Tate at 239-281-2233. For more information and to view the executive summary of The Status of Women in Southwest Florida report, visit http://www.womensfundflorida.org/ or email contact@womensfundflorida.org. Follow The Women’s Fund online at facebook.com/floridawomen and on twitter.com/twfofswfl.
Tags:
