The Women’s Fund of Greater Chattanooga (“The Women’s Fund”) hosted the annual Voices luncheon on October 6, 2021, during which it awarded a $10,000 grant to Family Promise of Greater Chattanooga. Family Promise plans to use the funds to support their Stabilizing Single Mothers program.
Executive Director of the Women’s Fund Erika Burnett shared, “We are proud to continue to partner with phenomenal organizations across our community such as Family Promise. Their Stabilizing Single Mothers initiative is comprehensive and robust; not only are they meeting the immediate needs of women and their families, but they are providing wrap-around services and support to remove systemic and environmental barriers. When we consider the potential impact of addressing the root causes of these disparities, Family Promise us a shining example of a true change agent.”
Eleven area organizations applied for the grant, which was narrowed to three finalists: Beloved Woman, the Chattanooga Area Food Bank and Family Promise of Chattanooga. The Women’s Fund’s Nightingale Network, a collective philanthropy membership group that uses dues to fund annual grants, voted to select the grant recipient. In addition to the grant awarded to Family Promise of Chattanooga, Beloved Woman and the Chattanooga Area Food Bank each received $2,700 grants thanks to a private donor.
More than 250 people attended the event, themed “The Power of One,” which was held virtually. Sponsors included BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, EPB Fiber Optics, First Horizon and Truist.
The Women’s Fund also announced the creation of the Women’s Fund Advocacy Institute. I Am an Advocate, a series of five monthly sessions to educate area residents in advocacy action and engagement, is the first program of the Advocacy Institute. Beginning November 2, participants will explore and demystify local and statewide advocacy efforts and opportunities.
The first session Why be an Advocate? will explore why people engage in advocacy and what the outcomes of advocacy can be. Registration is free and open for all sessions at chattanoogawomensfund.org/events.
“It’s no coincidence that the theme of the Voices luncheon was ‘The Power of One’,” Burnett said. “Each of us has the potential to improve the lives of women and girls in our region. When we combine our voices, we can impact life-changing policy in our state, which is the type of work the Advocacy Institute intends to do exponentially.”
The Women’s Fund has a history of influencing policy change since its founding in 2008. During the 2021 Tennessee legislative session, a record 10 bills from the Women’s Fund priority list passed in the first year of Tennessee’s 112th General Assembly. Last session, the Women’s Fund wrote a bill to protect donors and distributors of menstrual hygiene products from frivolous liability lawsuits, the reason that many manufacturers gave for not making donations to help fight period poverty. The bill (sponsored by Senator Bo Watson and Representative Rebecca Alexander) passed unanimously through the Tennessee General Assembly and became law on July 1, 2021. The Women’s Fund immediately began work by informing partners and period product manufacturers.
During Voices, it was announced that Kotex made a pledge to the National Alliance for Period Supplies, of which the Women’s Fund is a member, to donate 8 million tampons across the states of Tennessee and Maine, the only two states with laws of this kind. With 1 in 5 women and girls report missing school or work because they don’t have access to or cannot afford period products, this donation will change lives across Tennessee.
Overall, Tennessee ranks 49 out of 50 for issues that affect women and girls, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, which ranks the status of women in all 50 states. Tennessee ranks among the worst in the nation in seven areas: political participation, employment and earnings, work and family, poverty and opportunity, reproductive rights, health and well-being, and violence and safety.