Women of the ELCA 
2003 Grant Recipients

REGION 1
Advocacy for the Poor
Raising Our Children, Raising Our Voices!, $2,000
Washington Association of Churches (1B), Seattle, Washington
An ecumenical project, this program involves the voice of the faith community in advocating for public policies that address such issues as poverty among women and children, homelessness, support services for families and wage benefits for low-income workers.

Domestic Violence
Hope Spring Project, $4,000
Lutheran Community Services (1E), Portland, Oregon
Hope Spring assists women with children who are recovering from substance abuse and homelessness. Families are offered such services as rental and childcare assistance, case management, parenting and life skills classes, substance abuse prevention, and emergency financial assistance.

Job Training  
Empowering a New Workforce, $4,000
Bethany of the Northwest (1B), Everett, Washington
This project increases the workplace skills and self-esteem of women and men who are seeking to become independent of welfare by offering them intern positions and trainee programs.

Youth Mentoring
Circle of Hope, $4,000
Hope Dolls, Planes, and Trains (1E), Portland, Oregon
Circle of Hope is a mentoring program for incarcerated and at-risk youth that involves them in productive craft projects and the opportunity to help others in the community, which improves their self-esteem and helps them to know that their efforts can also improve the lives of others.

REGION 2
Domestic Violence Prevention
Domestic Violence Prevention Project, $3,000
Mission San Pablo (2C) San Diego, California
This project offers workshops on the prevention of domestic violence to women and children in the Spanish-speaking community that is served by Mission San Pablo at Clairemont Lutheran Church.

Health Care
NCP Health Services Workshop Series, $3,000
New City Parish, Inc. (2B), Los Angeles, California
New City Parish addresses the harmful impact of state and county budget cuts on health-related social services by offering health workshops at each of its six congregation sites. Workshops include preventive care information, physical and mental health screening and referral, and presentations by health care professionals.

Homeless Shelter
Winter Relief 2003–2004, $3,000
Tri-City Homeless Coalition (2A), Fremont, California
Winter Relief is an emergency shelter that houses and feeds homeless families during the winter while at the same time offering them comprehensive case management.

REGION 3
Parenting Skill Training
Single-Parenting Empowerment Skills, $5,000
Jordan New Life Community Church (3G), Minneapolis, Minnesota
Focusing on single-parent families, this program offers training and education in parenting skills for mothers, many of whom are teenagers. Its purpose is to instill a sense of self-worth, respect, and discipline in both mother and child, and to provide a support network for one another.

Prison Ministry
"Denver Blitz," $1,000
Prison Congregations of America (3C), Vermillion, South Dakota
Through the "Denver Blitz" project, Prison Congregations of America encourages local Lutheran and Episcopal congregations to support the New Beginnings Church, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in the Women's Correctional Facility in Denver, Colorado.

Rural and Urban Youth
Common Ground: Metro and Rural Youth, $2,000
Shalom Hill Farm (3F), Windom, Minnesota
Common Ground pairs urban and suburban youth groups with rural youth groups to learn about rural culture, justice concerns, and environmental issues, and to provide opportunities for developing relationships among the youth.

Sexual Exploitation Prevention
Regional Coordinator Training and Support Program, $3,000
Adults Saving Kids (3G), Minneapolis, Minnesota
This project provides training and support for Women of the ELCA participants who will become regional coordinators for Adults Saving Kids, a national organization dedicated to the prevention of commercial sexual exploitation.

REGION 4
Immigrant Services
AmeriCorps Immigration Outreach, $4,000
Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska (4A), Omaha, Nebraska
The mission of this project is to assist Hispanic immigrant women and their families who are eligible for Immigration and Naturalization Service benefits to receive those benefits and become integrated into the community.

Job Training
Wichita-Archer-Clay Christian Women's Job Corp, $3,000
Interfaith Ministries Inc. (4D), Wichita Falls, Texas
In a community in which 22 percent of residents live below the federal poverty level, the Women's Job Corp provides women with training in life and employment skills, computers, financial management, parenting, and adult literacy, while at the same time responding to spiritual needs through Bible study.

Prevention Program for At-Risk Girls
CHOICES, $4,000
Lutheran Family Services of Missouri (4B), St. Louis, Missouri
CHOICES is a mentoring program for adolescent at-risk girls that focuses on promoting Career development, Health and wellness, Opportunities, Image-building, Cultural enrichment, Educational growth, and Self-esteem.

REGION 5
After-Prison Support
Prisoner and Family Ministry's Women's Referral Center, $4,000
Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (5A), Des Plaines, Illinois
LSSI's Women's Referral Center offers resource information and case manager support to women returning to the south side of Chicago upon their release from prison. It provides encouragement and support as women create a personal plan for reintegrating into their communities.

Art Therapy for Children
Arts for Kids: Relationships with a Purpose, $1,500
Bremwood Lutheran Services (5F), Waverly, Iowa
Based on the premise that the development of creative abilities can help at-risk children and families to heal, this program matches a student with a volunteer teacher who assists the student in susing art as a means of telling their story, expressing their relationship with God, and as a way of healing themselves.

Asset-Based Community Development
Strengthening Families and Communities, $1,000
Center for Theology and Land (5F), Dubuque, Iowa
Under the auspices of Wartburg Theological Seminary, this project teaches asset-based community development and provides leadership training for laypeople, pastors, and seminary faculty members who are new to rural cultures. The project's goal is to strengthen rural congregations, communities, and families.

Court Advocates for Children
Recruitment and Training of Volunteer Advocates, $3,000
Court Appointed Special Advocates of Will County (5B), Joliet, Illinois
The mission of this project is to recruit and train volunteers from the community to advocate within the Will County juvenile court system for abused and neglected children so that they find a safe, permanent home as soon as possible.

Empowerment and Skill-Building
Racine Vocational Ministry, Inc., $4,000
Racine Vocational Ministry, Inc. (5J), Racine, Wisconsin
Racine Vocational Ministry, Inc., is an ecumenical organization that helps individuals discover God's presence and action in all aspects of life, including work. The ministry also helps these individuals to develop habits and skills reflective of human dignity.

Mentoring
Project Lifeline, $2,000
WINGS Program, Inc., (5A), Palatine, Illinois
A joint project between WINGS and the Metropolitan Chicago Synodical Women's Organization, Project Lifeline trains mentors to provide support, encouragement, and advocacy for homeless suburban Chicago women who are striving for independence.

Skill-Training and Nutrition
Project Outreach, $2,100
First Slice: A Community Kitchen (5A), Chicago, Illinois
This unique congregation-based food service provides gourmet meals for paying customers and uses the profit to offer the same meals at no cost to families in need who assist in preparing the meals.

Support for At-Risk Families
Building Families Boutique, $2,000
Lutheran Social Service of Iowa (5E), Council Bluffs, Iowa
Families who participate in this program earn "points" for participating in positive and healthy activities with their children. They can use the points to purchase products such as cribs, diapers, books, and other infant and toddler items at the Building Families Boutique.

Training of Child Care Workers
Family Child Care Careers Training Program, $5,000
Lutheran Family Mission (5A), Chicago, Illinois
Located in an economically disadvantaged community, this program trains women as childcare providers and, in doing so, creates jobs in the community. The program also provides safe and affordable child care options for working families.

REGION 6
Day Camp for Children
Summer Day Camp 2003, $3,000
ABC Childcare Center of First Lutheran Church (6E), Shelby, Ohio
In a community where low-income families are in great need of summer care for their school-age children, this summer day camp provides a structured daily program of quality care. The program is designed to support school-related skills by connecting families to the camp activities the children experience.

Support for Low-Income Families
Passages Program, $500
Jeremiah's Letter Inc. (6F), Dayton, Ohio
The Passages Program mentors individuals and families as they learn how to successfully manage their own households as they move toward self-sufficiency.

Vocational Counseling
Vocational Awareness Program for Young Women, $3,000
Oesterlen Services for Youth, Inc. (6F), Springfield, Ohio
Funding from Women of the ELCA will help disadvantaged teen-aged young women struggling with emotional, behavioral, and psychological problems to broaden their future vocational perspectives. This program introduces them to a variety of vocational and career choices and gives them personal guidance, inspiration, and tools for pursuing those choices.

REGION 7
AIDS Prevention
AFRUS-AIDS Grassroots African Women's Project, $1,500
National Council of Churches of Christ (7C), New York, New York
A project of the NCC Justice for Women Working Group, this program enables grassroots African women to develop long-term funding strategies so that they can play a more significant role in reversing the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS on their communities.

English Classes
English as a Second Language, $4,000
Hispanic Community Lutheran Ministry (7D), Rochester, New York
In its ongoing efforts to reach out to the surrounding Hispanic community, this ministry will use the grant to offer practical, reality-based English classes to newly-arrived immigrants so they can more easily survive within an English-speaking community.

Mentoring At-Risk Teens
YoungLives Bridgeport/Norwalk, $3,500
Young Life (7B), Norwalk, Connecticut
The mission of the YoungLives ministry is to mentor teen mothers and girls at risk for pregnancy as they learn positive parenting and life skills in a Christian environment of unconditional love and guidance.

Mentoring Parenting Teens
Young Parents Support Network, $4,000
The Center Foundation (7F), Media, Pennsylvania
The Young Parents Support Network provides volunteer mentors, educational and cultural events, and life-skills training for pregnant and parenting teens in low-income communities.

Support for Abused Refugee Women
New Start, $4,000
Immigrant and Refugee Services (7B), Worcester, Massachusetts
New Start is a support group for refugee women who have been tortured and abused in their native country or have been abused since arriving in the United States. Women receive culturally- and linguistically-sensitive social therapy in a safe and supportive environment.

REGION 8
Advocacy in Colombia
Voices for Peace in Colombia, $1,500
Lutheran World Relief (8F), Baltimore, Maryland
Addressing the current military conflict in Colombia and its resulting massive humanitarian crisis, this Lutheran World Relief project will train five local Women of the ELCA groups to become advocates for social justice in Colombia.

Camp for At-Risk Children
Amazing Kid's Summer Camp, $3,000
Amazing Grace Lutheran Church (8F), Baltimore, Maryland
This summer camp is an opportunity for children who live in low-income, high-crime communities to have an experience that nurtures and facilitates the individual's growth, health, and leadership potential.

Educational Enhancement
Moms & Tots GED, $4,500
Moms & Tots GED (8G), Washington, District of Columbia
This program offers classes to African American women without a high school diploma so they can seek employment, advance in their current employment, or further their education and thus break the poverty cycle in their families.

Educational Enhancement
Wind and Wings Alternative Day Program, $4,000
Eagles' Wings Girls Home (8H), Kearneysville, West Virginia
Wind and Wings Alternative Day Program provides academic, social, and spiritual education in a creative learning environment for 13 to 18-year-oldgirls with behavior disorders, using biblical application, horsemanship, gardening, and group sessions and discussions.

Transitional Housing for Abused Victims
DoVE Project, $3,000
Delaware-Maryland Synod Women of the ELCA (8F), Crownsville, Maryland
The DoVE Project supports the development and operation of a transitional shelter for abused women and their children that will open in July 2003. A committee from the synodical women's organization identified the need and found the necessary partners in the community. It will continue to offer support for the shelter and to encourage pastors and congregations to be supportive as well.

REGION 9
Educational Enrichment
Young Women and Children Succeeding, $4,000
Anderson Interfaith Ministries (9C), Anderson, South Carolina
This project provides funding and support services such as mentoring, child care, and transportation to pregnant and parenting teens as they continue their education. Mentors are recruited from churches in the area.

Financial Literacy Education
Welfare to Work Childcare Services, $3,000
Lutheran Ministries of Georgia, Inc. (9D), Atlanta, Georgia
The project offers a six-week course on financial literacy to individuals who are enrolled in the Welfare to Work Childcare Services Program. At the end of the course, participants establish a savings account and receive a refurbished computer.

Support for Community Ministries
Community Crossroads: Where People and Purpose Meet, $4,000
Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas (9B), Raleigh, North Carolina
Community Crossroads offers technical assistance and training for Lutheran congregations in the Carolinas who wish to develop social ministries in response to community needs and opportunities.

Support for Recovering Addicted Women
Mary House Program, $2,000
Mary House Ministry (9E), Bradenton, Florida
For women recovering from substance abuse addictions, Mary House offers a safe and supportive environment, education assistance, counseling, parenting classes, and assistance in obtaining employment.

INTERNATIONAL GRANTS
Arts Enrichment through Music
Proyecto de capacitación en música, $2,200
Comunidad La Paz, Iglesia Evangélica Luterana en Chile
This project helps low-income at-risk children in the community by teaching them music.

Economic Empowerment
HIV/AIDS Control through Life Skills and Enterprise Development and Micro-Finance for Youth & Women, $5,000
SERO Business Women Association, Tanzania
This project provides economic and social empowerment to women and youth in poverty-ridden communities by offering business management skills, life skills, and a revolving loan fund through which families can generate their own income through small businesses.

Educational Enrichment
Widows and Orphans Welfare Society, $2,500
Widows and Orphans Welfare Society, Kenya
This society of women offers paralegal training to widows who can then serve as advocates in promoting legal enforcement of human rights, especially for widows and orphans.

Employment through Quilting
Tlamacazapa Quilting Project, $2,000
Caminamos Juntos Para Salud u Desarollo, A.C., Mexico
This grant supports a quilt production workshop in a large, indigenous village located in rural Mexico. Women not only learn how to design and produce quilts, which they can offer for sale; they also take literacy classes focusing on reading pattern instructions and marketing techniques.

Job Training and Support
New Life Grace Tailoring Center and New Life Grace Orphanage, $2,000
New Life Grace Ministries, India
This project provides tailoring and embroidery courses to widows and abandoned women so they can generate income. It also feeds, shelters, educates, and offers financial and medical aid to orphaned children.

Human Rights for Girls
Protection of the Rights of the Girl-Child, $4,0000
Sunrise Women's Group, Kenya
Addressing the reality that girls often face discrimination in Kenya, the Sunrise Women's Group tackles issues such as high school dropout rates for girls, female genital mutilation, forced marriages, rape, domestic violence, and child labor.

Micro-Enterprises
Improvement of Rural Livelihood through the Provision of Water, $4,200
Rachuonyo Wise Women Group, Kenya
Funding supports a revolving loan fund to encourage income-generating projects and a well-drilling project that will drastically reduce the four hours a day that women and girls now spend fetching water.

Midwife Training
Midwifery Training Scholarships, $5,000
Lutheran School of Nursing, Papua New Guinea
Located in a rural area of Papua New Guinea where there are few midwives and a high maternal mortality rate, this program provides scholarships to the Lutheran School of Nursing for women to train as midwives.

Skill-Training for Children
Vocational Training, $2,000
Ndejje Academic School, Uganda
The Ndejje Academic School offers practical skills training to vulnerable children lacking support for academic education, girls who have dropped out of school, and youth and women from the community who have never had a chance to go to school.

Vocational Training
Vulnerable Groups Empowerment Programme, $4,000
Caregivers Self-Help Organization, Kenya
People who have become widows and orphans due to AIDS in this local community are given job-skills training to enable them to set up small-scale businesses for self-support.

INDIA ENDOWMENT FUND RECIPIENTS
In addition to funds awarded through the Women of the ELCA grants program, special grants to programs in India are awarded each year through the India Endowment Funds—a legacy of predecessor women's organizations. Grants from these funds are designated for health care, women's medical and nursing training, women's high school and higher education, and support for laywomen evangelists.

Bethesda Hospital, $5,200
for primary health care, education, and preventive care in the area surrounding the hospital

Karunalaya Hospital, $3,907
for a community-based primary health care program for the people of the villages around Wandoor

Kugler School of Nursing, $2,000
for scholarships for women living in poverty

Martha Maria Bible School of the Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church, $600
for scholarships

Mohulpahari Christian Hospital, $7,936
for programs of AIDS awareness and testing

Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church in India, $9,000
to support three girls high schools