The 2007 Leadership Awards recognize nonprofits whose work improves the health and safety of low-income women and girls. The awards focus public attention on these programs and help them gain additional funding and grow.

Washington Area Women’s Foundation chose to focus on health and safety because the need is so great and because improving health contributes to women’s economic security. The District has the highest incidence of AIDS of any other state and a rate 10 times the national average. About 14 percent of women in the region are uninsured. In D.C., 46 percent of women did not receive prenatal care in the first trimesters of their pregnancies, more than triple the national average. And in the overall region, the infant mortality rate remains above the national rate.

The award winners are:

Ascensions Community Services
Ascensions helps children and families in D.C.’s Wards 7 and 8 rise above past and current difficulties to a place of renewed wellness, competency, and stability via holistic psychological interventions. Because Ascensions believes mental health is often overlooked, it focuses on stress, depression, and decision making. http://www.2ascend.org/

A Wider Circle
A Wider Circle empowers children and adults to break the cycles of poverty and poor health throughout the Washington metropolitan region. http://www.awidercircle.org/index-1.html

DC Abortion Fund
The DC Abortion Fund is improving the health and safety of women and girls in the Washington metropolitan region by covering the gap between what they can afford and the cost of an abortion. http://dcaf.nnaf.org/

Divine Images Network, Inc.
Divine Images, Inc. works with at-risk youth and their families living in Ward 8 to strengthen and enhance their community, and to prevent violent crime, substance abuse, and dropping out of school. http://www.divineimagesnetwork.org/

FAIR Fund
Fair Fund engages youth, especially younger women, in civic activism to prevent sexual assault, human trafficking, and domestic violence in their own lives and communities. It operates internationally and in D.C. http://www.fairfund.org/

Nueva Vida
Nueva Vida supports, informs, and empowers Latina cancer patients in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia and helps them to advocate for and access quality medical care. http://www.nueva-vida.org/index2.htmm

Pregnancy AID Center
Pregnancy AID Center serves low-income, uninsured pregnant adolescents and women in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties and in the District. The center offers counseling, support, family planning services, emergency food and adoption assistance, among other services. http://www.pregnancyaidcenter.com/html/

The Women’s Collective
The Women’s Collective in D.C. serves women and families living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS by providing case management, counseling, HIV testing, emergency financial assistance and family social activities, among other services. It is led by women with HIV and their allies. http://www.womenscollective.org/

Read more about the awards and the organization at the Women’s Foundation website.

Post from: EveryJoe

Washington Area Women’s Foundation Announces Local Nonprofit Winners of 2007 Leadership Awards