Twelve projects have received Women Building Community (WBC) Grants totaling $30,000, announced Diane Shafer, president of the City Federation of Women's Organizations (CFWO) board. WBC Grant recipients were recognized at an event Tuesday, December 5 celebrating the ways they will help to improve the lives of Tompkins County women and girls.

"I am so pleased with the wide range of needs we are able to meet, and the range of ages we are able to serve with these grants," Shafer said. "Through our grant process we identify challenges facing women and girls in our community. In future years we will have the capacity to allocate more resources to meet more of the needs described by the grant applicants."

Grants were awarded on the merit of the program, quality of the application, and available funds for the cycle, explained Marge Kline, chair of the Grants Committee. "The grant proposals submitted to CFWO this year were a credit to our community's aspirations and commitment to service. We are proud to be able to help by awarding these grants to well deserving participants."

Shafer announced that this year's WBC Grants are the fifth cycle of funds awarded by the CFWO. In total, 31 projects have been supported with $133,245 since 2013.


Eleven were awarded WBC Up to $5000 Grants and one received the WBC Innovation Grant of $10,000:

WBC Up to $5,000 Grants were made for Strength in Girls @A+: Mindfulness & Yoga (Academic +, BJM Enrichment Program), Girl Ventures (Cooperative Extension Rural Youth Services), Removing Roadblocks (Child Development Council), Enabling Successful Women and Children (Tompkins Cortland Community College), Bearing Burden of Grief: Finding Our Way (Hospicare), Healthcare and Diagnostic Services for Women Ithaca Free Clinic (Ithaca Health Alliance), Building Community Resilience: Diversity in Women's Civic Leadership (Natural Leaders Initiative, Cooperative Extension), College Initiative Upstate: Wise Women (Offender Aid and Restoration), Our Daughters' Future (Our Children's Future, Village at Ithaca), Empowerment and Self Defense for Women (Tompkins Community Action), and L.E.A.D.S. Washer Dryer Combo (Women's Opportunity Center).

The WBC Innovation Grant recipient for 2018 is ComFortitude: Mama's Comfort Camp's community resilience engine - Amplifying the Voices of Mothers (Mama's Comfort Camp, Center for Transformative Action).


Recipient organizations and project descriptions are also listed below.

The mission of the CFWO is to support women and girls and to act as a catalyst for the improvement of the lives of women and girls in Tompkins County, thus making a contribution to the entire community. The CFWO owned the Women's Community Building on West Seneca Street where Ithaca Neighborhood Housing now operates an affordable housing complex called Breckenridge Place. The proceeds of this sale and existing CFWO resources have created a fund which makes WBC grants possible.

Nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies serving Tompkins County women and/or girls were eligible to apply. Applications from other organizations that carry out charitable projects or activities that address issues facing women and/or girls in Tompkins County could also be considered. Organizations and individuals without nonprofit 501 (c) (3) designation needed a sponsoring nonprofit organization.

Project areas considered for funding address needs and opportunities that improve the quality of life for Tompkins County women and girls. One of the following criteria must be addressed: Community Development, Education, Health, Human Services, and Activities that address Gender Equity. More information on the priorities of the WBC Grants, and about what will not be funded, is available at www.womenbuildingcommunity.org.

The City Federation of Women's Organizations was founded in 1910 by a group of women "concerned with education, recreation, philanthropy, health, safety and civic betterment." As the number of member organizations grew they purchased a home on the corner of Cayuga and Seneca Streets in 1920 and opened the first Women's Community Building as a recreational center for women and girls. This center had meeting rooms, a public rest room, and living quarters for young working women. In 1927 they purchased the house next door and it became a home for older women. In the 1940s they opened a community nursery school.

By 1960 both houses were gone and the new Women's Community Building was opened with a community auditorium and commercial kitchen. Times changed, membership in the CFWO declined and community needs were different. The building was sold in 2012 to make way for much needed affordable housing. The profits from the sale of the building and existing CFWO resources have been used to establish an endowment that will continue the legacy of the many organizations of the CFWO and community members who have supported the changing needs of women over the years.

The new CFWO is managed by a Board of Directors that includes individuals representing the community and individuals recommended by the CFWO Legacy Organizations: American Association of University Women, Cornell Campus Club, Eckankar, Ithaca Downtown Business Women, Ithaca Garden Club, Ithaca Music Club, Ithaca Woman's Club, La Leche League of Ithaca, The League of Women Voters of Tompkins County, Service League, Tompkins County National Organization for Women, Tompkins County Quilters Guild and Writers Association of the Ithaca Area.

For more information, questions may be directed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phoning 607-272-1247.



Women Building Community Grants 2017-18


WBC Innovation Grant

ComFortitude: Mama's Comfort Camp's community resilience engine - Amplifying the Voices of Mothers is the 2017-18 WBC Innovation Grant to Mama's Comfort Camp working with the Center for Transformative Action. Mama's Comfort Camp has been providing free peer to peer emotional/mental health support to over 2,300 mothers in Tompkins County 24/7/365 for five years. It has developed as an all-volunteer venture but will become a more sustainable organization with funding for staffing and professional development for staff and volunteers.


WBC Up to $5,000 Grants

Strength in Girls @A+: Mindfulness & Yoga (Academic +, BJM Enrichment Program) collaborates with Ithaca Mindful Communities to continue its successful program begun with a grant in 2016-17 to empower girls through yoga and mindfulness.

Girl Ventures (Cooperative Extension Rural Youth Services) is a vital program that focuses on leadership development, relationship building and community involvement for girls. Programs will be strength-based, and each participant will be encouraged by staff and other girls to acknowledge and share their strengths.

Removing Roadblocks (Child Development Council) program assists families enrolled in the agency's programs by helping remove roadblocks they encounter that prevent them from being the best parent they can be and from reaching their education, employment and personal goals.

Enabling Successful Women & Children (Tompkins Cortland Community College) assists the Child Care Center at Tompkins Cortland to provide care and education for children of the college. Priority for spots and for scholarships is given to the college's low-income students.

Bearing Burden of Grief: Finding Our Way (Hospicare) will reach two under-served groups of women, African-American and Lesbians, who experience "disenfranchised grief", have experienced a significant loss of a loved one through death, and do not benefit from traditional, mainstream mental health and bereavement services.

Healthcare & Diagnostic Services for Women (Ithaca Free Clinic, Ithaca Health Alliance) provides and maintains free primary health care, therapeutic care, and preventative health care services that address the unique medical and diagnostic testing needs of women. The Free Clinic plays an important role in providing testing for women who are lacking health insurance or are underinsured.

Building Community Resilience: Diversity in Women's Civic Leadership (Natural Leaders Initiative, Cooperative Extension) leadership development series will be offered as part of the NLI programming that has a ten-year history of support for "natural" or "informal" leaders who are primarily women. Programming has a ripple effect on the leaders' friends, families and communities.

College Initiative Upstate: Wise Women (Offender Aid and Restoration) will provide support for women who are all actively preparing for, or pursuing, higher education with CIU's assistance with computer purchases and other expenses related to applying and enrolling.

Our Daughters' Future (Our Children's Future, Village at Ithaca) will use funds to support OCF female teen mentoring program and workforce preparation experiences for West Village female teens in order to keep them engaged in healthy behaviors and prepare them to make good decision in the future.

Empowerment & Self Defense for Women (Tompkins Community Action) will provide the women residing in the TCAction Supportive Housing Program an empowerment and self-defense workshop to build boundary assertion skills and physical defenses against various types of physical and sexual assaults.

L.E.A.D.S. Washer Dryer Combo (Women's Opportunity Center) is needed to provide onsite laundry for WOC clients cleaning their professional clothing for interviews and employment, and staff cleaning donated clothing for the Clothing Closet.

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