Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne unveils Women’s Fund

View original article on WANE.COM

by: Sierra Tufts

Posted: Aug 26, 2020 / 03:45 PM EDT / Updated: Aug 29, 2020 / 10:08 AM EDT

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – On the 100th anniversary of women receiving the right to vote in Indiana, the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne announced a new effort to support women and girls.

The Women’s Fund was unveiled to the public. The fund follows a year and a half long study of women and girls in Allen County.

“We can’t move forward until we know exactly where we are. So we needed to figure that out first, before we could launch a fund to support women and girls in the future,” said Alison Gerardot, Women’s Fund Coordinator.

Some of the key findings from the Women and Girls Study includes 70% of the women are victims of violence in their lifetimes. Gerardot said it’s hard to compare that number to other parts of the state because the data isn’t there.

“Seventy percent is a large number. And that was an alarming statistic for our committee,” said Gerardot.

Gerardot said the Women’s Fund will look at this statistic under different lenses to help bring down the number.

“We really hope to, I think, to put more of a focus on domestic violence. Thirty-five percent of that 70% are women who are victims of domestic violence: physical, emotional, or financial abuse. And there are some very concrete things we can look to do in our community to help support those women.”

The study also highlighted four influences on girls’ lives: academic performance, emotional well-being, teenage pregnancy, and involvement with the juvenile justice system.

“We can’t move forward until we know exactly where we are. So we needed to figure that out first, before we could launch a fund to support women and girls in the future.”

The Women’s Fund will take the study’s information and use it to develop programming, and create strategies for women and girls for economic equity and personal safety.

“The important part is what we’re doing now is putting an active focus on this in our community. While we’ve had so many amazing organizations doing the work, we haven’t had a coordinated effort, sort of the quarterback, to say, “Okay, let’s lead us in these specific directions to help move our community forward.”