2009 A FUND FOR WOMEN Grant Recipients:

Care Net Pregnancy Center of Dane County—The Elizabeth House
Opened in 2005, The Elizabeth House (TEH) residential home is one of two primary programs of the Care Net Pregnancy Center of Dane County. The population served at TEH is single mothers, ages 18-30, who lack secure housing, resources, and skills for effective parenting and healthy relationships.

Funding from AFFW will help TEH implement its Nurturing a New Life Parent Education Project through the purchase of a curriculum designed to develop the parenting skills of young, single mothers. Focusing on the important developmental stages of the child from birth to three, the curriculum is developed upon 2 core values: (a) parents are a child’s first and most influential teacher, and (b) the early years are critical for future school and life success. Working with the young mothers first at TEH and then through home and site visits, the project will increase parental understandings of their children. It will also equip the new mothers with developmentally appropriate ideas for interacting with their children, enhancing bonding and attachment.

The Exchange Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse
Serving Dane County families since 1984, the Exchange Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse provides a personal parenting support network for at-risk families through in-home support, advocacy, and access to a wide range of community resources and professional services. Parents learn about child development – what to expect from their child as they mentally, physically and socially develop.

AFFW will help fund Parents and Children Together (PACT), an approach to teaching positive parenting skills to parents, primarily single moms, with cognitive limitations. These young mothers might otherwise "slip through the cracks" because their disabilities are not severe enough to be treated in crisis mode. Yet they are impaired in their ability to model healthy, confident behavior to their children. PACT works because it is intensive over an extended period of time and uses timed repetition of skill practices until they are learned. Role modeling is also used to demonstrate each skill, and the approach is non-judgmental and strength-based. The impact of PACT over time is to break the cycle of abuse for future generations

Goodman Community Center
Founded in 1954, the Goodman Community Center (GCC) is one of Madison's oldest neighborhood centers. It accomplishes its mission of strengthening lives in the community by identifying and responding to local needs, working with individuals and other agencies, and offering resources and programs that reflect the area's ethnic and economic diversity.

AFFW will support a pilot program at GCC—Moms Own Mentor: Project MOMs! The program targets mothers whose teen daughters are enrolled in Girls Inc. programs at the center. It will provide mentoring, advocacy, recreation, home visits and regular gatherings of the women. Mothers will also participate in Girls Inc mother-daughter curricular programs as well as structured activities that will help them navigate the world of parenting teen girls. By focusing on the mother-daughter relationship, GCC expects the impact on girls to include: delayed sexual activity, improved academic success, decreased drug and alcohol usage and reduced peer influence. By addressing and supporting GCC moms’ own needs, the goal is to engage them in this critical stage of girls’ lives in a way that will promote greater self-sufficiency for both.

Kennedy Heights Community Center
Since its incorporation in 1986, Kennedy Heights Community Center has provided a support network for low income families in the neighborhood, increased available resources to improve the lives of residents, and presented social, educational, recreational, and cultural programs for children and adults. Girls Inc. at Kennedy Heights focuses on health, academic success, community service, leadership development, and recreation for girls, ages 9-16.

With their grant, Kennedy Heights will provide a research-based Girls Inc. curriculum for mothers and daughters called Economic Pathways. Most families in the neighborhood struggle to manage family finances, do not use banks, and lack access to credit. Like reading and writing, the center reports that economic literacy is a skill that must be learned. Mothers and daughters in the program will cover such topics as wants and needs, career development, banking skills, loan options, use of credit cards, and investment risk versus return. As an incentive, mother-daughter teams that complete the curriculum and all evaluation materials will work together to build their own computers. DANEnet will provide hardware and training for this aspect of the program. Computer ownership is expected to enhance self-sufficiency in both generations through access to information helpful to school and career development.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, Inc.
Planned Parenthood (PPWI) has provided reproductive and sexual-health care and education to Wisconsin women and girls for over 74 years. Education services are offered in collaboration with schools, community centers, and other local partners. In 2008, 65 percent of participants were women and teen girls, with the majority being from diverse populations.

AFFW will support the PPWI Dane County Parent Education Program. More than any other source, parents influence teen decisions about sex, PPWI reports. Parents can answer questions early, provide ongoing information, and share their values about sexuality The problem is many parents are unprepared – they aren’t sure when to start, what to say, or how to say it. Aimed to provide low-income parents of teen and pre-teen girls with the knowledge, skills and support they need to communicate effectively and consistently with their daughters, PPWI parent workshops will cover topics such as sexuality and body image, healthy relationships, sexual values, healthy decision-making, pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections. Workshops will help parents initiate honest discussions about sex and provide consistent, accurate information that will support the girls in their lives. Ongoing parental support will ultimately help adolescent girls grow into healthy, empowered, self-sufficient women.

The Rainbow Project, Inc.
Established in 1980, the Rainbow Project provides early intervention and treatment services to children and adults who have experienced or are at risk for experiencing trauma. Because their work is primarily with young children, caregivers—most often parents, but also grandparents, other adult relatives and foster parents—are always included as they address core social and emotional development issues.

With funding from AFFW, the Rainbow Project will develop Madres y hijas, a comprehensive program for Latina mothers and daughters that will strengthen self-identity, promote pride in one’s self and culture, and build self-awareness and esteem. Groups serving Spanish-speaking girls from partnering elementary schools will focus on coping and communication skills, self- and social-awareness, and reduced aggression, depression, anger, fear, and anxiety. Parents and grandparents who participate in comparable parent-education groups will develop new knowledge and skills that will help them navigate the challenges of living in two worlds. Parent-child interactive components ensure longer lasting results and deeper benefits to young girls who have been burdened as cultural and language interpreters for their families and/or are ashamed of their differences from other children in their classes and community. The Rainbow Project expects Madres y hiyas to empower Latina women as individuals, parents, and community leaders as well as result in healthier, happier children.

Canopy Center, Inc.
Founded in 1977 as the Parental Stress Center, the mission of Canopy Center, Inc. (CC) is to prevent child abuse and neglect. CC's Families United Network (F.U.N.) helps families with high-needs children and a lack of good parenting role models to establish safe, strong, stable environments. With the children often known as "throw-away" kids because of the extent of their multi-generational problems, CC attempts to reach two or three generations at a time.

The CC Power to Women Project (Pwr 2 Wmn!) that AFFW will support starts by having parents examine their own development as children, their relationships with their parents, their unmet needs, and how to fulfill those needs to increase their own senses of self-worth. While the parents do this, their daughters will use various artistic modalities to explore their relationships with their mothers. Once parents address their own issues, they are better able to see their teen daughters as individuals instead of extensions of themselves. A mentoring component will encourage mothers in the program to help girls without participating parents. Seen as extremely cost-effective because of its fit within F.U.N., CC believes Pwr 2 Wmn! has the potential to be life-changing for a minimum of 2 generations—mothers and daughters.