Program to empower girls gets $55,000
A Community Thrives aids Ohio organizations
A Columbus organization that helps girls in 20 states navigate the challenges of adolescence, and a Cincinnati group that helps refugees resettle in the US are two of 16 recipients of large grants from a national Gannett grantmaking and crowdfunding initiative.
A $50,000 national grant and $5,000 local grant will go to the ROX (Ruling Our
Experiences) program for girls, and Refugee Connect in Cincinnati will receive a $25,000 national grant and $5,000 local grant through the A Community Thrives program.
Lauren Hancock, director of operations for ROX in Columbus, said the grant will help hundreds of girls in Ohio and across the country.
“It’s designed to help girls build confidence, and in lots of areas of their lives,” Hancock said. “It teaches them how to communicate effectively, how to get along with other girls and develop healthy relationships, and to speak their minds and speak up for themselves. It also includes training in personal safety – an empowerment model of self-defense that allows a girl to feel safe in her body and to speak up for herself.”
It also helps girls in grades 5-12 identify sources of stress and how to deal with them in healthy ways, as well as how to consider a career and a path to it.
ROX was founded in 2006 by Lisa Hinkelman, who started it in Columbus City Schools while she was teaching at Ohio State University because she saw a great need but not a lot of programming to address it. It grew quickly and was incorporated as a nonprofit in 2011.
More than 20,000 girls have taken part in the research-based program, which is delivered by trained professionals in many Ohio school districts and a growing number in other states. The schools are rural, suburban, urban, as well as private and parochial.
“Research tells us that all girls experience some universal challenges around self-confidence and self-esteem, stress and pressure – and almost none of them have anything to do with race, ethnicity or geography,” Hinkelman said.
The girls meet in groups of up to 15 students for 20 weeks with a teacher,
counselor or social worker trained by the eight-employee ROX team. That the program is co-curricular and held during the school day helps keep the girls engaged, Hinkelman said.
The $2.3 million A Community Thrives initiative sponsored by The Dispatch’s parent company, Gannett and the Gannett Foundation, supports organizations working to address a range of social issues. This year, those issues included homelessness, mental health care for LGBTQ people, reproductive care and girls’ education, to name a few. Since 2017, A Community Thrives has distributed $17 million in grants and donations to community-based organizations. “Now in its fifth year, A Community Thrives awards grants to many significant causes helping to improve lives. Each of our grant winners is making a positive impact, and we are proud to support organizations that share our purpose,” Gannett CEO Mike Reed said.
All grant recipients raised money through crowdfunding prior to receiving a local grant or national grants ranging from $25,000 to $100,000.
For Kristin Burgoyne, executive director of Refugee Connect in Cincinnati, the a $25,000 grant will mean more families affected by resettlement will be supported during their transition to the US.
“I’ve been doing this work for about 13 years now, working with refugees and immigrants in different cities, and the common thing that I would say to any community where you have a significant refugee or immigrant population, is the best thing that you can do to show your support for those communities is to be welcoming,” Burgoyne said.
Refugee Connect, operating in southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky,
plans to help support families who evacuated from Afghanistan after the United States withdrew from the country, leaving many vulnerable when the Taliban seized control.
The following Greater Columbus organizations each will receive $5,000 local grants through A Community Thrives:
h Community for New Direction, which works to treat and prevent the abuse of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, as well as treat adult mental illnesses, and empower people to achieve their potential.
h Franklin County Local Outreach to
Suicide Survivors, which helps people deal with the loss of a loved one to suicide.
h Joseph’s Coat of Central Ohio, which provides clothing, furniture and household goods to those in need.
h The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio, which has a mission to “transform the lives of women and girls by mobilizing the collective power and passion of all people working together.”
“Across the country, A Community Thrives grants link USA TODAY Network brands to the communities in which we operate and beyond,” said Sue Madden, director of the Gannett Foundation. “Our reporters work every day to empower communities to thrive and this program helps fulfill that core purpose.”
For the full list of grantees, go to www.gannettfoundation.org/act.