100 Women Strong Invests to End Domestic Violence

The problem of domestic violence is not new, but there is a new approach to raising awareness about the issue, which can often go undetected until it is too late.  It’s called Project Courage and is led by Harbor House of Central Florida.  This program will help individuals, friends, family and communities to Recognize what abuse is, Respond to the abuse and the abuser and know where to Refer survivors of abuse for help.  It will educate communities how to be safer.

The initiative is a collaborative that brings various stakeholders together to provide services that are in high demand in some of Central Florida’s communities.  Some of these families or communities may not be able to have the finances to access some of assistance these organizations provide but through this pilot project many of these organizations are collaborating and bringing services to those that need it most.

Project Courage launched last week in the Pine Castle <http://healthystate.org/archives/1353>  community.  The innovative program was made possible with $110,000 grant from 100 Women Strong, a giving circle at the Center for Women’s Philanthropy at the Community Foundation of Central Florida, made up of philanthropic-minded women who saw an opportunity to make an impact.  100 Women Strong used an approach to grant-making called a “portfolio” grant, whereby they identified a problem to solve and then looked at what organizations and populations could provide a solution.  Members of the 100 Women Strong Grant Committee spent almost a year working with Harbor House on this partnership grant. Harbor House has dozens of partners in this project and is creating a model to be used in other communities.

The Community Foundation uses portfolio grant making strategies across the region and this year launched a new resource to assist donors, philanthropists, private foundations, and other grantmaking organizations to identify organizations doing work in the community.  The Community Foundation Knowledge Base puts information about hundreds of Central Florida nonprofits in one place. The Community Foundation uses it to identify the nonprofits working in areas and develop grantmaking portfolios. You can use it to understand how nonprofits operate and verify their transparency.

To learn more about Harbor House and Project Courage, visit the knowledge base at www.mycfcf.org <http://www.mycfcf.org>

Safer Schools

It’s hard not to be affected by the stories that have appeared in the headlines lately about bullying.  October marks National Bullying Prevention Month and the spotlight is much needed on the problem that affects schools and college campuses alike.

The Community Foundation of Central Florida recently made a $75,900 grant to Holocaust Memorial Research & Education Center for an innovative anti-bullying program called “Make My School A Bully-Free Zone”.  We found this program to be worthy of supporting because of its scope and collaborative nature.  It will bring together volunteers, students, and parents as well as teachers, school administrators and local government.  Stakeholders will spread the message that telling a bully to “stop it” and telling the victim to “toughen up” is ineffective.  Instead, the message will be that “standing up” and “speaking out” will make a difference in our communities.

Bringing this issue to the forefront of our community is sure to have an impact because it gets people talking about behavior that is happening, many times out of the sight of parents and educators.

For more information about the Community Foundation, visit www.cfcf.org <http://www.cfcf.org> .  To learn more about our grant-making process, see our press release <http://mycfcf.org/page16638.cfm> .
Zoila Marcia – Grants Manager