Grants 2002 - 2004

In November of 2002, the Eleanor Foundation announced the recipients of its inaugural round of grant awards, and marking the end of the first grant cycle in our 104-year history. In that 2002 grant round, we directed resources toward organizations that offered innovative programs supporting female heads-of-households who earned wages above the poverty line but far below what is considered a sustainable living wage.

Our grants in 2002 totaled $230,000 and provided assistance to 116 women and their children. The awards included:

• $203,000 to Housing Opportunities for Women
  Housing Opportunities for Women (HOW) offers transitional and permanent housing and support services to women with children who are seeking to achieve independent, self-sufficient lives. HOW works primarily in the Edgewater and Rogers Park communities of Chicago. Our award supports the first two years of a new program to create and implement a new housing and service model based on the Housing First strategy—which seeks to move households into permanent housing to avoid the instability and disruption typically associated with reliance on shelters and other transitional housing arrangements. This project will over a three-year period serve ten female-headed households earning between $10,000 and $30,000, and this program is expected to serve as a pilot for replication in other contexts.
• $50,000 to The Women's Self-Employment Project
  The Women’s Self-Employment Project (WSEP) is a 16-year-old organization with the mission to assist women with low and moderately low income to increase their economic self-sufficiency through self-employment and sound financial management. WSEP offers educational and technical assistance programs, as well as financial assistance through its micro-lending program. Of particular note is its national award-winning program that assists women establish home-based child care enterprises. Our grant enables WSEP to extend the reach of its current programs to 100 women who have already secured permanent housing but need help sustaining long-term economic independence, by entering into formal partnerships with landlords and other housing service providers.

The Eleanor Foundation launched its second round of grant awards on February 10, 2003. Thirty-five proposals were received, and on July 23, 2003 we announced awards totaling $270,304 to five organizations:

• $60,000 to Goodcity to help up to 30 members of the Austin Childcare Providers Network running successful at-home day care centers. Our grant allows these women to expand their businesses, helping themselves and other women badly in need of day care.
• $46,143 to Acorn Housing for direct assistance and pre- and post-home ownership training to 20 working women seeking home-buying opportunities in the Englewood and West Englewood communities.
• $30,000 to the Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing. This grant carefully pairs 30 seniors with 30 working women in home-sharing arrangements in Hyde Park, Kenwood and adjacent communities. The result will be twofold: first, to house working women who need shelter; and, second, to allow the seniors to remain in their homes.
• $25,000 Planning Grant to Chicago Women in Trades. Chicago Women in Trades (CWIT) provides women and girls the training and other help needed to access better-paying jobs in the construction trades. Our grant enables CWIT to create specific partnerships with other organizations to offer the women it serves access to affordable housing.
• $109,162 to Heartland Human Care Services to launch a Homeless Prevention Financial Services Program. This program works proactively with more than 750 women who need short-term financial assistance to keep their homes or apartments. The program also provides counseling about debt intervention, financial reorganization, and ways to avoid future threats to their housing stability.