Awards going to groups deemed to be addressing needs of women, girls

The 2013 Girls Advisory Board Class of the Chester County Fund for Women and Girls announced its selection of eight grant recipients.

Eight Chester County agencies have received grants totaling $25,000 from the Chester County Fund for Women and Girls, the foundation announced in a news release.

The Chester County Fund for Women and Girls is a grant-making and education foundation dedicated to addressing the needs of women and girls in the county. For 17 years, the fund has raised awareness about the critical needs of women and girls, and has awarded more than $1.9 million to 59 nonprofit organizations, the release said.

Through its Girls Advisory Board (GAB), celebrating its 10^th anniversary, the fund educates a new generation of young women about the importance of philanthropy and community service. While serving on GAB over a three-month period, 20 high school girls from across the county learned about the economic, social and health needs of girls in the community. The young women set funding priorities, created a grant application, visited nonprofit agencies, and recommended specific programs for funding.

The Girls Advisory Board awarded grants to organizations that addressed the girls’ top funding priorities, which included improving girls’ emotional and physical health and addressing problems of substance abuse and/or violence.

The 2014 GAB grant recipients are the Crime Victims Center of Chester County, which received$3,000 for self-esteem support groups for teen victims of sexual assault; Kennett After School Association, $2,000, After-the-Bell program; The Garage Community and Youth Center, $3,000, after-school programs for girls; Maternal and Child Health Consortium, $5,000, Healthy Start for Teen Moms; Minding Your Mind, $2,000, Minding Your Mind; Parkesburg Point, $4,000, Girls-to-Women in the World Program; Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania, $2,000, SPOT Program for LGBTQ Youth; and YoungMoms, $4,000, YoungMoms.