Crittenton Women's Union receives $200K award from Mabel Louise Riley Foundation
February 02, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Stephanie Nichols
Ofc: 617.259.2946; Cell: 617.365.5931
snichols@liveworkthrive.org
BOSTON—Crittenton Women’s Union (CWU), a nonprofit innovator dedicated to helping low-income women attain economic self-sufficiency, has received a two-year grant of $200,000 in support of its pioneering economic mobility program, Career Family Opportunity, the organization announced today.
“Career Family Opportunity is a pilot program designed to move single-parent low-income families to full economic self-sufficiency within five years,” said Elisabeth D. Babcock, CWU president/CEO. “It has shown increasingly impressive results since its launch in 2009. This generous award will enable even more families to benefit from our unique program model.”
The Mabel Louise Riley Foundation grant, disbursed in two installments of $100,000 each over two years, will support the program’s South Boston site, which serves 25 families. The Career Family Opportunity (CFO) program also serves 20 families in Cambridge, in partnership with the Cambridge Housing Authority.
CFO helps participants achieve, within five years, the program two major goals—a job that pays enough to support a family and $10,000 in savings. Key to the program is Mobility Mentoring™, CWU’s unique coaching model.Mobility Mentors work with program participants to develop personalized action plans, help them connect to resources, offer referrals to professional help, provide financial incentives (including matched savings), and facilitate group support among them.
Participants who have been in the program since its inception in June 2009 had, by the end of June 2011, increased their average monthly income by 14% and reduced their average monthly Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) subsidy by 26%. Seventy-seven percent were enrolled in education or training programs.
Established in 1972, the Mabel Louise Riley Foundation (Foundation) focuses on helping organizations address important community-wide concerns or critical issues. It seeks to achieve broad impact for the public’s benefit, rather than to meet routine needs. The Foundation’s donor, Boston-native and philanthropist Mabel Louise Riley, was born in 1883 and died in 1971 at the age of 88. In 2011, the Foundation awarded 40 grants totaling $2.8 million to nonprofit organizations in Greater Boston.
About Crittenton Women’s Union
Crittenton Women’s Union is a Boston-based nonprofit innovator dedicated to developing expanded pathways to economic self-sufficiency for low-income women. Its unique approach—combining direct service programs (housing, alternative education, workforce development, and family stabilization), independent research, and public advocacy—helps 1400 people a year break the cycle of poverty and build better futures for themselves and their families. For more information, visit www.liveworkthrive.org.
