Friday, October 23, 2015
NoVo Foundation Examines Unequal Funding for Women and Girls of Color
Question: If funding to support boys and men of color is a priority, with some two dozen foundations involved, why are women and girls of color not an equal priority?
The fact is that few new philanthropic efforts are aimed specifically at improving the lives of girls and young women of color.
This is one of the reasons that The Chronicle of Social Change and Inside Philanthropy are convening a webinar about impact giving for women and girls of color in early November.
The idea for the webinar grew out of an interview I did with NoVo Foundation’s Executive Director Pamela Shifman about the new Grantmakers for Girls of Color partnership. Hearing her speak about the research and the needs for this population got me questioning, as a social worker and advocate for social equity, whether we should be doing more to pay attention to women and girls of color.
“There’s a myth out there that for girls and women of color, everything is fine,” said Shifman in our recent interview. Shifman assumed the role of executive director of NoVo in 2014 after six years as NoVo’s director of Initiatives for Girls and Women. “But everything is not fine. Here at NoVo, we recognize that there is a huge need to focus on support for girls of color. ” . . .