Economic Opportunity Grants
Economic opportunity grants address key issues impacting economic opportunity for women and girls in the Puget Sound region as identified through the Women's Funding Alliance's study, A Closer Look. Our goal over the next five years is to invest at least half of our granting into efforts that increase the overall economic well-being of low-income and underemployed women and girls in the Puget Sound region, particularly single heads of households and females from marginalized communities.
2010 Economic Opportunity Granting Criteria
Primary Economic Opportunity Funding Priorities (up to $25,000)
Applicants may apply for up to $25,000 in the following four priority areas:
- Creating Better Jobs
WFA will invest in strategies to improve women’s wages, working conditions, labor standards, benefits, and training opportunities for women workers. Priority will be given to strategies including:
- Skill development and education – Programs that enable women to get into higher paying fields and jobs that pay at least a livable wage; including non-traditional jobs and green jobs training.
- Work supports – Programs that address providing work supports such as child care and transportation for working women. Programs addressing skill development and education must ensure supports will continue when the participant finds a job.
- Access to health insurance – Programs that advocate for and ensure full health insurance coverage for women and their families.
- Building Entrepreneurship
Women are starting businesses at dramatic rates, and with support, have the potential to lift themselves and their families out of poverty while contributing to the local economy. WFA will invest in programs that promote women’s business ownership, microfinance efforts, and/or ways to provide women with access to credit, financial markets and business training.
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Increasing Assets and Financial Literacy
Research has shown that without assets, people are bound to stay in poverty even if they begin to make a living wage. WFA will support women’s financial empowerment by investing in asset building efforts (home, education, business), matched savings programs, debt reduction, financial literacy and training. Note: A financial literacy program must be linked with an asset building strategy.
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Public Policy Reform
In order to sustain women’s economic well-being over the long-term, we know that deeper systemic changes need to occur related to each of these areas (creating better jobs, building entrepreneurship, increasing assets and financial literacy). Toward that end, we will also support policy and related advocacy and awareness building activities that will show results in this one-year timeframe or, at least, lay significant groundwork toward their goals. We are particularly interested in efforts related to:
- Advocating for family friendly workplace policies and benefits (flex schedules, expanding Family Leave Act, unemployment insurance that allows women to have coverage if they have to leave jobs because of family responsibilities, etc)
- Ensuring full health coverage for women and their children.
- Addressing pay equity issues for all women.
- Creating living wage jobs for women.
- Reforming TANF and WorkFirst to eliminate barriers to becoming economically self-sufficient
Secondary Funding Priorities (up to $10,000)
Applicants doing other work, not related to the outcomes areas listed above, to create economic opportunity for women and girls may apply for funds up to $10,000:
While the issue areas listed above are WFA’s top funding priorities, we will also consider requests to support work that impacts improved economic opportunity which are not related to the above outcome areas. Examples of these include programs encouraging girls to enter STEM fields and housing; including transitional and other housing programs that promote women’s economic advancement.
The deadline for submitting a 2010 LOI application was March 10th. Grants will be announced in June 2010.
View the list of our 2009 Economic Opportunity Grantees.
