August 7, 2024 | West Hartford – The Aurora Women and Girls Foundation has awarded $100,000 to five programs providing an array of support and services to enhance female students’ college success.
These College Success grants build educational and economic opportunity, with more than 230 women in Greater Hartford receiving mentoring, leadership training, referrals for academic support, and connections to wrap-around services for other needs like housing and childcare to increase their likelihood of graduation.
According to the Aurora-funded Women and Girls Data Platform produced by the CT Data Collaborative, CT women with bachelor’s degrees earn 84% more than those with only a high school diploma.
Since 2004, Aurora has awarded $2 million in grants to Hartford-area organizations supporting women and girls.
“Aurora and the women we serve see education as a route out of poverty,” said Executive Director Jenny Steadman, Ph.D. “The programs we fund help women navigate higher education. It can be a system that doesn’t take their needs and perspective into account. We want women to graduate and reap the benefits of a higher paycheck. Their success benefits their families, their communities— all of us.”
Minu Mathews, a senior majoring in Accounting at the University of Hartford, is benefiting from one of the Aurora-funded programs — the Women’s Advancement Initiative Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) program.
“I see LEAD as a community of women who are understanding and supportive of each other,” said Mathews. “I have been able to meet high-achieving women through LEAD, and it has given me the motivation to work hard and set new goals for myself.”
(Members of the Aurora-supported LEAD Program, which is part of the Women’s Advancement Initiative at the University of Hartford.)
The awardees are:
- Women in Transition Program, Charter Oak State College ($22,500). This program addresses the financial, physical, and psychological barriers that can prevent single moms from attending college and completing their degrees. It will provide tuition, fees, technology, textbooks and other educational materials, telehealth services, and workshops on goal setting, budgeting, resume writing, and interviewing, to name just a few. The funding will help nine single mothers from Greater Hartford.
- Women’s Advancement Initiative LEAD Program, University of Hartford ($15,000). The Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) program provides a diverse group of 100+ female students with 50 leadership and professional development sessions annually. LEAD offers students practical life skills training, resilience and opportunity coaching, career readiness sessions, a network of mentors, and development workshops. The program provides academic and social supports to help students gain the confidence and acquire the tools they need to overcome challenges and successfully navigate the journey into and through college to life, careers, and community leadership.
- Barriers Can’t Stop Us: Building Immigrant Women’s Success, Hartford Public Library ($20,000). This program focuses on the college retention of female graduates of the library’s English Learner Success program, all of whom immigrated to the United States during high school and are the first in their families to attend college in the United States. Funding will support 50 current and prospective college students from countries including Africa, Jamaica, Thailand, the Middle East, and Central and Latin America. Participants will receive one-on-one advising and coaching; assistance with financial aid applications; and connections to on-campus resources and peer mentoring groups with students from similar racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds.
- YW Career Women, YWCA Hartford ($22,500) The YWCW program provides individualized case management and barrier reduction to 40 women who are pursuing degrees at the Capital and Manchester campuses of CT State Community College. Participants – most of whom are single mothers of color – receive wellness support, mentoring, and career coaching. The goal is for the women to graduate with an associate degree and to complete required licensing exams (if applicable); to secure a job within their field of study; and to hone their financial literacy to achieve long-term economic security.
- Dreaming with Kids Program, Manchester Community College Foundation ($20,000) Aurora’s funding will help to launch this brand-new program at CT State Manchester that will initially target 30 student mothers and will build resources for an additional 300 student mothers on campus. In addition to offering guidance through the complex world of state, federal, and institutional financial aid, the program will create an online collaborative space for student mothers to share information, resources, and encouragement. The school will also increase communication about other important resources, such as on-site childcare, the Cougar Cub food pantry (which includes diapers, formula, baby food, period supplies, etc.) and a biannual career and baby clothes swap event.
Funds for Aurora’s grants are generously provided by individual and institutional donors, including the following Community Partners: Ares Management; Barnes Group; the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity, and Opportunity (CWCSEO); Cowdery, Murphy & Healy; Eastern CT State University; Family First Life; the Goss Family; the Green & Blue Foundation; Liberty Bank; Max Cares Foundation; NBT Bank; Jennifer W. Pennoyer, MD; PeoplesBank; PNT Data; Pullman and Comley; Robinson + Cole; Ruel Ruel Burns Feldman & Britt; Symetra; Tokio Marine HHC; UConn Health Disparities; The Village for Families and Children; Wealthspire; Whittlesey; YWCA Hartford Region.