By rdnewsNOW staff

part of $3.5M nationwide

Red Deer & District Community grants $167,000 to local women’s initiatives

Jan 25, 2021 | 8:39 AM

Red Deer & District Community Foundation is announcing grants totalling $167,000 to seven local agencies working to support women, girls, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse individuals working towards a future grounded in equity, inclusion and justice.

The Fund is part of a partnership with Community Foundations of Canada, funded through the Government of Canada. Red Deer & District Community Foundation is one of 21 local community foundations across Canada that are taking part. In total, these community foundations are granting $3.5M towards the women’s movement.

“We are thrilled to support the seven organizations who are working on the ground to advance gender equality in our community,” Erin Peden, Executive Director of the Red Deer & District Community Foundation said. 

“Our investment in their work is key to supporting women who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. We can work towards a just recovery by tackling systemic issues like racism, wage inequality, and gender-based violence. Along with the other 20 participating community foundations, we are committed to lasting systems-change in philanthropy, by writing gender equality into our investment practices and organizational policies. As the year progresses, we look forward to sharing more about this journey.”

Red Deer & District Community Foundation has funded organizations at the “heart” of the women’s movement, with a focus on those that have demonstrated a long-term commitment to empowering women, girls, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse people through their mission, activities, or partnerships. The grants span a variety of purposes, including efforts to pilot new initiatives, to address long-standing community needs, or to support a just recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. The initiatives themselves may touch on a wide range of areas that are affected by gender equality, including food insecurity, income inequality, racial injustice, domestic violence, and many more. In particular, the Fund prioritizes initiatives that are ‘self-led’—those that are led by the same groups that they focus on serving.

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“From coast to coast to coast, feminist organizations have a long and rich history of mobilization to advance gender equality in our country,” said Andrea Dicks, Community Foundations of Canada (CFC) President.

“As budgets get re-allocated to public health and economic programs in the wake of the pandemic, these organizations are most at risk of losing funding. At CFC our purpose is to ‘relentlessly pursue a future where everyone belongs. To create communities of true belonging and recover from this pandemic, we need to advance gender equality across the country. We’re grateful for the financial support from the Government of Canada and the leadership of the Red Deer & District Community Foundation who is taking part in these efforts.”

More on the locally funded projects can be found here.

(media release)