Leaders at the Jewish Women’s Giving Foundation (JWGF), a program of THE ASSOCIATED: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, is currently soliciting letters of interest from nonprofit organizations seeking grants for FY2012. Grants range from $5,000 to $20,000 and are provided to organizations that support JWGF’s mission of helping to provide better lives for women and girls locally, nationally, and internationally.

JWGF, established in 2003, is a group of over 70 women philanthropists who collaborate in the grant-making process. Since its inception, the group has provided over $560,000 to help empower, enrich and assist needy women and children in Baltimore, Israel, and the former Soviet Union. JWGF is a diverse group of community members and leaders who share their passion for helping others.

Recent JWGF grant recipients include:

Local Grantees:

• Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program (Baltimore, MD), a home-based early childhood development program, focuses on teaching mothers basic skills and knowledge so their children will succeed when they begin high school.
• Prison Education Partnership (Jessup, MD) will expand its college program to reach over 800 women incarcerated in Maryland.
• Senior Friendly Neighborhoods (Baltimore, MD) to partially fund the salary of a Russian-English bilingualSupport Services Coordinator to work with older women in Northwest Baltimore.

Overseas Grantees

• Herzog Hospital (Jerusalem, Israel) to address the shortage of nursing aides in Israel through a nurse’s aide training program that aims to provide Ethiopian and Bnei Menashe women with professional skills and a path to self-sufficiency.
• Israel Family Planning Association (Beer Sheva and Kiryat Gat, Israel) to train 40 Ethiopian women to work with Ethiopian teenage girls and their families to combat sexual abuse and violence, promote gender equality and raise living and economic standards of Ethiopian women.
• The Family Nest (Ashkelon, Israel) to help mothers and daughters become self-sufficient and to provide support and guidance to them.

The deadline for submission of letters of interest is November 1, 2012. For additional information, membership information and questions, please contact Leah Berry at 410-843-7493, lberry@associated.org, or visit THE ASSOCIATED’s website.