California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls Announces $5M in Grants to Fund Women’s Pandemic Recovery Response on Equal Pay Day

SACRAMENTO, CA  – Today, March 15, 2022, on Equal Pay Day, the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls (CCSWG) announced the recipients of a $5 million grant program to fund organizations serving women and girls who have been disproportionately affected economically by the ongoing pandemic. Grantees include organizations serving low-income, unemployed, or underemployed, AIAN, BIPOC, LGBTQIA, unhoused, rural, disabled, senior, and veteran populations.

Grants were awarded in five areas to direct service providers, local women’s commissions, and government entities seeking to establish and expand local women’s commissions, and nonprofits serving primarily women and girls.

“Equal Pay Day is a date that symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year – a disparity that is even greater for women of color, mothers, and members of the LGTBQ community. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these challenges for women across the state, and the world. That’s why we are proud to administer the state’s first-of-its-kind grant opportunity dedicated to Women’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said CCSWG Executive Director Holly Martinez. “We had an incredible response for the $5 million in funding we have available to grant, demonstrating significant need around the state. We received and evaluated more than 630 proposals to support women and girls across all five funding categories, totaling over $62 million in requests. At this time, we are able to award 20% of all applications received.”

“The Golden State is a national and global leader – showing an unyielding dedication to progress and equity through not just words, but decisive action,” said First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. “We have upheld and enforced California’s nation-leading equal pay laws while advancing progressive policies that help all working women realize their fullest potential.”

A number of grantees, joined the Commission in Tuesday’s press conference, including:

Impact Foundry: The Sacramento-based nonprofit will receive $50,000 to provide Certified Sustainable programming to 10 Northern California based organizations whose mission is to increase services to women. The funds will support existing programming and direct services while enabling them to increase services and improve economic opportunity and security for women and girls.

Pacific Coast Regional: This grant of $50,000 will support the inaugural cohort of Black female business owners in the SELF (Sister Entrepreneur Loan Fund) program that seeks to help these underserved business owners recover from the pandemic and to thrive in the future. The cohort launches on March 7, 2022 with thirty women. The women will participate in workshops and one-on-one business advising to be eligible for the grant funding for general business expenses.

San Francisco Department on the Status of Women (SFDOSW): The Department was funded $50,000 to provide support for two guaranteed income pilot programs. These programs will include direct cash assistance to two populations: Native American/Indigenous survivors of domestic violence, and single, pregnant and/or parenting justice-involved homeless women with children ages 0-12 years old. In addition, SFDOSW will administer a grant to Double Denim to produce a digital campaign on civic engagement and political empowerment.

Hospitality Training Academy: The HTA will receive $25,000 to deploy a four-part communications strategy targeting women disproportionately affected by the pandemic, particularly women of color and those facing multiple barriers to employment, offering access to high quality jobs and a road to economic security. HTA has been working with its partner employers, UNITE HERE Local 11 and other allies to address this issue proactively by creating formal apprenticeship programs that help women advance into these higher-level positions while providing mentoring and other support.

A complete list of grant recipients can be found at https://women.ca.gov/womens-recovery-response

Press Contact:

Darcy Totten, Director of Communications

darcy.totten@women.ca.gov

916.261.6705 (cell)

###

About the Commission

The California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls works in a culturally inclusive manner to promote equality and justice for all women and girls by advocating on their behalf with the Governor, the Legislature and other public policymakers, and by educating the public in the areas of economic equity including educational equity, access to health care including reproductive choice, violence against women and other key issue areas identified by the Commission as significantly affecting women and girls.