A staff report
(Editor’s note: This report corrects a news release that CityView reported on June 26 with outdated information sent by a representative of the Women’s Giving Circle. CityView apologizes to its readers for the incorrect information.)
The Women’s Giving Circle of Cumberland County, a fund of Cumberland Community Foundation, awarded grants for 2023-24 at a June 8 meeting at Cape Fear Botanical Garden. The grants total $56,000, with selected projects focused on financial and educational insecurities; child security; child abuse; foster care; and child care insecurity, according to a news release.
Since its inception in 2008, the Giving Circle has awarded more than $751,000 in grants to nonprofit organizations in Cumberland County to benefit women and children in need.
This year’s grants provide funding to:
- Children’s Home Society of NC Cumberland County Area Family Foster Care Recruitment: $10,000. Cumberland County leads the state in the number of children in need of foster care. The lack of qualified families in the county requires out-of-county placements for many of these children or other less desirable placements, the news release said. The grant will help fund recruitment strategies including in-county staff for in-person recruiting and one-on-one contacts; social media strategies; and advertising to encourage applications. The organization currently supports 60 families and children.
- Connections of Cumberland County Connect 2 Enterprise: $15,000. This is a new program for women who have been employed but have been unable to sustain a job longer that a few months at a time. The goal is to develop on-the-job behaviors to help make employment long-term. Participants are hired to produce and offer products for sale in an online store for four months. They receive weekly counseling on work readiness skills from a mental health counselor/social worker.
- Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity: $15,000. Habitat for Humanity is dedicated to eliminating substandard housing locally and worldwide through constructing, rehabilitating, and preserving homes. The grant will help build a home for a single mother with five children. Habitat teaches the potential homeowners financial literacy.
- Miller’s Crew: $15,000. Miller’s Crew connects special-needs adolescents and adults with their community by providing training and employment opportunities. Founded in 2016, it began by placing training centers and coffee shops in high schools with exceptional children’s programs. After rapid success,, Miller’s Crew moved to a mobile training lab/food truck, then opened a coffee shop. The grant will be used for equipment for the coffee shop, which opened in January on Haymount Hill.
- Ann Neighborhood Youth Center: $1,000. The summer and school-year math and reading tutoring program serves low-wealth communities as well as deaf and hard-of-hearing students. To support adequate nutrition, students are provided a snack and evening meal before returning home after tutoring sessions. The program requested funds for food and “safe serve” certification for a kitchen staff member.
Founded in 2008, the Women’s Giving Circle is an organization of women whose purpose is to support substantial, positive change for women and children in Cumberland County through philanthropy and education. The Circle includes more than 125 women.
More information is available at cumberlandcf.org or by calling Susan Barnes at 483-4449, Ext. 108.
