A press release: May 14, 2007

The Women’s Fund of the Capital Region will announce its first grant recipients and honor the Capital Region’s Trailblazing Women of 2007 during an awards luncheon on Tuesday, May 15.

The First Annual Moving Mountains Awards Luncheon at the Desmond Hotel and Conference Center. Commencing at noon, over 270 registered attendees will gather to recognize the following three women as The Women’s Fund Trailblazing Women of 2007 for their philanthropic contributions within the Capital Region:

  • Teri Bordenave, President and CEO of Girls Inc. of the Greater Capital Region
  • Charlotte Buchanan, Esq., Retired, Mcnamee, Locher & Williams
  • Jeanne Neff, Ph.D, President of The Sage Colleges

During the luncheon, The Women’s Fund will formally announce its first grant recipients. A total of $55,000 will be distributed to the following three local non-profit programs that work collaboratively with organizations to promote sustained economic self-sufficiency for women, and provide comprehensive guidance and support to girls.

  • $15,000 to Project Hope and Power (through Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Services of Saratoga County), a program that teaches women financial literacy with the goal of giving them the skills to move out of a domestic violence situation.
  • $20,000 to the Self Sufficiency and Financial Empowerment program (through Unity House) to help victims of domestic violence with educational opportunities, legal assistance and support. This is a new collaboration of Literacy Volunteers of Rensselaer County, Unity House and Capital Communications Federal Credit Union.
  • $20,000 for the St. Patrick’s Home-Based Child Care Partnership (through Catholic Charities), which trains people to become home certified daycare providers. The program targets people living in poor neighborhoods, allowing the providers to become economically self-sufficient, and while also making high-quality and reasonably-priced daycare available in the neighborhood. The Capital District Child Care Council and SEFCU are collaborators.

"Our grants program is focused on addressing the root causes of financial instability for women--not just the symptoms, said Leslie Cheu, Volunteer Chair of the Women’s Fund Grant Making Committee and Executive Director of the Troy Savings Bank Charitable Foundation. “This year's grant recipients developed strong collaborative partnerships to address the multiple challenges women face as they work toward financial stability and independence,” she continued.

Founded just over a year ago in February 2006, the Women’s Fund of the Capital Region is a collaboration of the Community Foundation for the Capital Region, United Way of Northeastern New York and United Way of Schenectady County created to promote women’s economic self-sufficiency and opportunities for girls. The Women’s Fund promotes the independence, growth, and self-determination of women and girls by supporting projects that create systemic change and move women and girls toward economic self-sufficiency. The Women's Fund plans to accomplish this through donor and community education, grant making and community collaboration.

More information about The Women’s Fund of the Capital Region and its First Annual Moving Mountains Awards Luncheon can be found at www.womensfundcr.org. Tickets are $35 per person.