Equity and Justice Grants Funded Projects

2020

Cathy Marston – $4,000 for Prison Ministry Curriculum, to be directed at UU Women to teach and support them to visit and develop programs for incarcerated women. With additional support from the First UU Church of San Antonio. 

2019

United States: Black Lives UU – $15,000 toward the Promise and the Practice campaign.

2018

United States: Black Lives UU – $10,000 toward the Promise and the Practice campaign.

Pennsylvania: Poor People’s Campaign Pennsylvania – $4,300 to fund childcare for the “month of actions” at the Pennsylvania State Capitol.

Susquehanna Valley, PA: Shape of Justice -- $5,000 to support the incorporation of the nonprofit in order to expand and enhance the congregation’s current program of providing menstrual products to food pantries and women’s shelters.

United States: Women’s March -- $1,000 to support the general efforts and costs of the marches throughout the country.  

2016

United States: Standing on the Side of Love – $10,000 in 10 leadership awards of $1,000 each to offset the cost of childcare or eldercare for female leaders in the Black Lives Matter movement.

2013

Philippines:  Buhata Pinay, Inc. – $5,000 for “Women’s Intellectual Service Economy (WISE),” which will provide small grants to support women’s livelihood projects aimed at increasing their contributions to their families’ incomes. 2012

Amado, AZ: UU Congregation of Green Valley – $5,000 for “Amigas de Amado,” start-up costs for a program supporting marginalized Hispanic women and girls in the congregation’s new home city of Amado, and to build connections between the congregation and Hispanic community.

2011

Boston, MA:  Church of the Larger Fellowship, Unitarian Universalist – $5,000 for “CLF:  Virtual Pastoral Care for Liberal Religious Women in Crisis,” start-up costs for an on-line and telephone-based counseling program for liberal religious women in crisis.

Penfield, NY:  Connect & Breathe, Inc., a non-profit organization founded, operated and largely staffed by volunteers from the First Unitarian Church of Rochester – $5,000 for “After Abortion Talking Promotion,”  promotion of a program that provides women and girls who have recently ended their pregnancies with resources to help them view their abortion decisions as caring and moral.

Philippines:  UU Women’s Association of the UU Church of the Philippines – $5,000 for “Women’s Access to Finances Is Liberation (WAFIL),”  a micro-finance program for both UU and non-UU women.  The grant supports further development of a program that provides congregational and community-based women’s groups with both low-interest loans to start money-making enterprises and educational programs to familiarize them with their legal rights.

2010

Carbondale, IL:  Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship – $5,000 for “The Kabwe Library and Resource Center/Building a Legacy of Literacy,” start-up costs for a library/resource center serving the Ranchhod HIV/AIDS Hospice and Orphan Care Center in Kabwe, Zambia.

Costa Mesa, CA:  Mujeres Iniciando en Las Americas (MIA) – $1,000 for “Hombres Contra Feminicidio (Men Against Feminicide, aka White Ribbon Campaign),” an educational program for 12-15 year-old middle school children addressing the root causes of violence against women.

Fort Myers, FL:  UU Church of Fort Myers, FL – $3,000 for “Women’s Health Workshops:  Empowering Migrant Farm Workers and Indigenous Women,” two free workshops covering reproductive and family health, domestic violence, human trafficking, prenatal care, self-care techniques, and community resources serving 100 farm workers and indigenous women and adolescent girls in Southwest Florida. Huntington Station, NY: 

h2 Empower , Inc. – $4,000 for “Women’s Literacy in Burundi,” start-up costs for an adult education learning center to teach reading, writing, and accounting to participants of a microloan program in Bujumbura, Burundi.

Nairobi, Kenya:  Rock Women Group – $1,000 for “Kenya Child Labour Project,” support for a project that addresses structural issues keeping children in exploitive jobs.

Sequim, WA:  Mujeres De Maiz Opportunity Foundation – $1,000 for “Promoting Adult Women’s Literacy in Chanal, Chiapas, México,” a full-year, certified program of literacy training for 15 women who were unable to complete their primary education.

2009

Friday Harbor, WA:  Friends of Kunya, an arm of Village Volunteers – $3,000 for “Clean Water for Kunya,” to help install a pump and tank-treat system to bring water from Lake Victoria to Kunya Village, southwest Kenya, where it will be treated and distributed to six spigots in the community. This will free up time for girls – who can now spend six hours a day fetching water – to attend school and lead safer. more productive lives, avoiding both illness from polluted water and the danger of attack on the route to and from the lake.

Houston, TX:  International Convocation of U*U Women – $2,500 for “ICUUW Global Sisters Groups in Action,” to support implementation of the Global Sisters Groups’ recommendations from the 2009 International Convocation of UU Women.  These seek to improve women's lives through anti-poverty and empowerment initiatives in education, health care (including reproductive rights) and preventing violence against women and children.

Marblehead, MA:  UU Church of Marblehead – $2,500 for “Pipelines for Clean Water Distribution,” to support installation of pipelines to distribute clean water from a nearby lake to the Indonesian village of Duma, on the island of Halmahera.  This will replace a system destroyed during violent conflict involving Christian and Muslim communities in 1999-2002.  The new facility will save village women and girls time and energy they can then devote to improving their quality of life and developing their roles as community leaders.

Nairobi, Kenya:  Rock Women Group – $4,000 for “Kenya Child Labour Project,” to broaden the scope of a skills training program for Kenyan child workers in safe, sustainable income generating work, such as tailoring, hairdressing, knitting, and vegetable and snack selling, as well as to provide management and leadership training to teachers preparing to expand their participation in the Rock Women Group.  The group’s mission is to strengthen the rights of child laborers in the informal economy in Nairobi, Kenya; to address the physical and sexual exploitation of child workers; to attend to structural issues which keep children in the work force; and to create pathways to alternative schools for these children.

Portland, OR:  The Real Wealth of Portland Project, Economic Action Group of First Unitarian Church – $2,000  for “Riane Eisler & The Real Wealth of Portland,” a 2009 UUA General Assembly workshop on "Caring Economics." It is designed to offer a consciousness-raising, action-oriented opportunity for UUs to learn about the "Caring Economics" concept and about Portlanders’ involvement in community initiatives advocating for children, sustainability, and other aspects of a durable local economy.  Resource packets and other information for creating similar projects in other communities will be available.

2008

Buffalo, NY:  Jericho Road Ministries, Inc. – $4,000 outright – plus $2,000 as a match to funds raised from new sources – in support of “The Priscilla Project,” a health mentoring program connecting medically at-risk, vulnerable refugee and low-income women with stable volunteer mentors.

Harrisburg, PA:  Unitarian Church of Harrisburg’s Helping Women in Prison & Their Families, a lay-led social justice ministry – $4,780 in support of “Enhancing Communication to Empower Women: Website Redesign for the PROGRAM.”  The grant helped fund improvements to the website of the PROGRAM, which serves women and children involved with the criminal justice system to promote productive, crime-free lives.

2007

Boston, MA:  Center for Women & Enterprise, Boston, MA – $5,000 in support of “Renewal House Financial Literacy & Visioning Project,”  to help provide training in financial literacy and goal-setting for residents of Renewal House, a UU Urban Ministry program for women in crisis.

Costa Mesa, CA:  Mujeres Iniciando en las Americas – $5,500 to support “Sexual Harassment Commercial #1,” radio spots in Spanish and Qui’che providing information about sexual harassment and domestic violence, as well as information about where those affected can obtain help.  

East Fort Worth (TX):  Montessori School and the African Descent Caucus of Diverse & Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM) – $3,000 for “Early Childhood Education and Advocacy in Sierra Leone,” which supported the Mother’s Union of Sierra Leone in establishing a model early childhood education and support program for girls at risk. North Easton, MA:  Unity Church Aiding Neighbors, a program of Unity Church UU, North Easton, MA – $5,000 to support its “English Language Learners Program,” which provides English language, life skills English, and citizenship courses to low income residents (mostly women) of the Greater Brockton, MA, area.

Philippines:  Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines – $5,845 in support of set-up costs for “Buhata Pinay (Do It, Filipina!),” an organization providing services and livelihood projects aimed at empowering and educating Filippine women.  

2006

Boston, MA:  The Church of the Larger Fellowship, Unitarian Universalist – $2,500 for  “Hope Not Hell: Building a UU Women’s Prison Ministry,”  to support start-up costs for this ministry among incarcerated women in several U.S. prisons, providing them with an alternative to the fundamentalist Christian ministries more commonly available to them.

Carbondale, IL:  Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship – $5,000 for “Busy Bees of Kabwe, Zambia Workshop,”  to support construction of a building to provide working and storage space for a collective of HIV affected women, which makes hand sewn and knitted crafts sold to help support the women and their families.

Fort Myers, FL:  UU Church of Fort Myers, FL, and the Florida Migrant Interstate Program –  $2,500 in matching funds for “Mira Mama – Radio PSAs on Human Trafficking,” to support production costs of radio public service announcements to educate migrant workers on the dangers of human trafficking.  The radio spots were recorded in Spanish and other languages of Central and South America.

St. Joseph, MN:  Unitarian Universalist Women & Religion – $5,000 for “Cakes for the Queen of Heaven Republication Project,” to support republication of this ground-breaking, adult religious education curriculum, bringing it to a new generation of UUs.

2005

Washington, DC:  Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom – a program of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.  $4,000 for general support – a pilot grant demonstrating the spirit of UUWF’s new funding program.