Invest in Women in the Washington DC Metro Area

What does economic security mean to you?  To Linda* it meant gaining her independence so that she could provide for her three children, rather than staying in an abusive marriage in which she wasn’t allowed to work. 

After leaving her husband, Linda slept on a friend’s couch and had to take her children with her on job interviews.  Following weeks of frustration and rejection, just as she was about to give up hope and return to her husband, she discovered Doorways for Women and Families, a Northern Virginia organization that offers shelter and a range of services for women and children fleeing domestic violence.

Doorways - a Washington Area Women’s Foundation Grantee Partner – gave Linda financial and job skills training and helped place her children in daycare.  When she completed her training course, she beat out 300 other applicants for a position with a local city government.  She now lives on her own with her children and credits Doorways for helping her.  “I got my life back and my children got a life they otherwise would not have,“ she said.

Sadly, Linda’s story is not unique.  More than 177,000 women and girls in the DC metro region live in poverty and struggle to make ends meet.  Your investment in Washington Area Women’s Foundation helps ensure that women like Linda have opportunities to support themselves and their children.

And your investment is showing phenomenal returns.  During the past year, our signature program, Stepping Stones, strategically invested $270,000 in grants to organizations such as Doorways that provide financial education and job training to low-income women.  That investment yielded a nearly $6 million return through income and asset gains made by women participating in these programs.  That is a 2196% return on investment.   

Thank you for investing in the women and girls of our region. Together we can make a difference. 

 * name changed to protect identity 

Links:

• www.thewomensfoundation.org