The Women's Fund of Greater Birmingham
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In 1996 Lin Carleen founded The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham (TWF) to create an endowment fund to honor the memories of her mother and infant daughter, both of whom did not have the opportunity to reach their full potential as women. The lessons of her own life and the lives of women she had worked with in various community organizations made her sensitive to the gap between women’s unique needs and the resources currently devoted to meeting them. Her vision for this endowment fund is to encourage the full participation of women and girls in the community by creating opportunities for educational, physical, emotional, social, artistic and personal growth and empowerment. Twenty- two women who comprise The Founder’s Circle matched Lin Carleen's initial gift to ensure The Women’s Fund’s legacy is protected and perpetuated.
The Women’s Fund was established as a component fund of The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, which has fiduciary responsibility for TWF. TWF is governed by a volunteer Advisory Board whose memberships includes many of the community’s most dynamic women, all of whom are concerned about the status of women and girls in our community.
The Women's Fund of Greater Birmingham is committed to improving the status of women and girls by serving as a catalyst for positive social change.
JIFFY Program (Journey Into Financial Freedom For You): The program educates low-income women by sharing best practices for money management and provides resources that allow women to transition out of poverty.
Alabama Roadrunners: Roadrunners works with girls to provide them with sports training, moral support and tutoring so they can receive sports scholarships to attend college. High school girls are mentored with academic success being the primary goal.
Voices Against Violence: This innovative program has helped establish dedicated domestic violence dockets in Birmingham courts as well as funding of court advocates for survivors of domestic violence. In addition, the program has provided laptops to judges that allows them to share vital information during domestic violence proceedings (such as an alleged perpetrator's past charges in other counties).
Learn more by watching the video below:
Cut It Out: TWF board members in consultation with domestic violence shelter directors conceived this project to train hairdressers to recognize signs and symptoms of domestic violence and to refer clients to the domestic violence hotline. After funding and refining the project for 2 years in the state of
Recently, Southern Living at HOME has partnered with the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence to disseminate the curriculum in every state.
Women on Wheels: TWF board members convened area service providers of programs for girls and teens, women of the world, and women of wisdom in 2003 to determine the most critical needs in services for girls and women. After an extensive research process, the advisory board elected to address the need for medically related transportation for elderly women (who outnumber elderly men 7 to 1).
Sadly, Alabama does not fund public transportation. With baby boomers aging, our community will not be prepared when many, many more elderly people are without transportation. The Women’s Fund stepped out to lead the others in ddressing this need. United Way of Central Alabama’s Community Initiatives Division submitted the successful proposal that included a transportation resource center and volunteer based on the ground service. It was successfully piloted during 2006.
Linley Heflin Unit: TWF is proud to contribute to the Linly Heflin Unit’s efforts to support Alabama women who are attending (accredited) Alabama Colleges. With the remainder of the Nine West funds, TWF is endowing two scholarships as well as supporting 5 women who have ability and need as they attend college or graduate school.
