PAST EVENTS

Sixty-seven Women United members, guests, and presenters attended the 2017 Grant Finalists Presentation on Tuesday, August 29 at the CAAR Conference Center. This is the largest audience at this event.

Representatives from the five grant finalist organizations each spoke for five minutes and were allowed time to answer questions from the audience.

All current Women United members have been sent an email with a link for voting for the award recipients. Voting closes on September 11, 2017. Awards will be announced on October 5th at the 2017 Grant Award Luncheon at Farmington Country Club.

Thanks to all committee members who helped make this event a success! And, thanks most of all to finalist organizations for their time with our group, as well as for the important work they do in our community.

Thanks to everyone who came out on May 3rd for our Immigration in Charlottesville event. It was a lively panel discussion, and just one example of the kind of community programming Women United hopes to continue.

A very special thanks to our panelists for making it so engaging and educational. Please click through to their organizations’ websites to learn more about what they do and how they serve our community:

• Rebekah Compton, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, Associate Medical Director, Family Medicine Clinic, University of Virginia
• Harriet Kuhr, Executive Director, International Rescue Committee
• Jon Nafziger, Executive Director, Jefferson Area CHIP
• Ellen Osborne, Executive Director, Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle
• Deena Sharuk, JD, Immigration Attorney, Law Office of Edward Summers, PLLC

If you enjoyed this event, please consider volunteering on our Events & Programming Committee. We need creative, passionate people to continue our mission!

On January 18, 2017, more than 80 women gathered in Downtown Charlottesville to learn more about Women United and the non-profits we support.

Our 2015 grant recipients were there and told us more about the impact a Women United grant has made. Those non-profits include Charlottesville Works Initiative, City of Promise, and Foothills Child Advocacy Center. Just in the last year, Women United has helped local women train for and find jobs, provided academic coaching for youth in one of Charlottesville’s struggling neighborhoods, and helped our community battle human trafficking.

In addition to hearing from our non-profits, we learn more about the 2017 Grant Cycle, which begins right away. We also enjoyed terrific food from Feast! and had the opportunity to engage with many kile-minded women.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this event so wonderful!

CLICK HERE to visit our Facebook page and see more photos from the night.

Dorrie Fontaine, Dean, UVA School of Nursing

On Tuesday, March 29, 2016, over 100 Women United members and guests gathered at the Omni hotel for Dorrie Fontaine’s exceptional presentation on mindfulness.  Dorrie Fontaine, RN, PhD, FAAN, is the dean and Sadie Health Cabaniss professor at the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Nursing and Associate Chief Nursing Officer at the UVA Medical Center.

Founder of UVA’s Compassionate Care Initiative, Dorrie has more than 40 years’ experience as a critical care and trauma nurse and a distinguished record of leadership at the nation’s top nursing schools including University of Maryland, Georgetown University, and the University of California, San Francisco. She is a tireless champion of healthy work environments, training nurses and physicians together and creating resilient nurses and healthcare leaders through compassionate care.

Dorrie believes that nurturing resilience, teaching compassion, and augmenting wisdom through mindful leadership will truly transform cultures in clinical and academic settings.

Dorrie is a past-president of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses and current president of the Virginia Association of Colleges of Nursing. She earned a BSN from Villanova, an MS from the University of Maryland, and a PhD from the Catholic University of America. Inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 1995, she received the Presidential Citation from the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Villanova honored her with a Medallion for Contributions to the Profession. In 2012, she received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Maryland. She received the Martin Luther King award for championing diversity and inclusion at the Health System at the University of Virginia in 2015.

Tuesday, September 22nd, 5:00-7:00pm

Omni Hotel Charlottesville, Salon C

This year on our 10th Anniversary, we are thrilled to be awarding $60,000 in grants to local human service organizations!  Our Grant Committee received 12 excellent proposals, and has carefully reviewed and narrowed down to a selective group of 5 finalists:

Charlottesville Works:

In the Charlottesville region, 5,281 families (17 percent), mostly single mothers and their children, do not make enough money to pay for the essentials of life—food, shelter, clothing and utilities—and the added costs associated with working—childcare and transportation.  The goal of the Charlottesville Works Initiative is to identify these families and increase their income to a level of self-sufficiency by identifying jobs within their reach and positioning them to secure and excel in those jobs.

City of Promise:

Charlottesville’s City of Promise (CoP) is seeking a grant to provide evidence-based academic coaching for 20 youth ages 12-17 in the City of Promise Neighborhood (Westhaven, 10th& Page, Starr Hill). Students will be selected on the basis of need, and will also receive wrap-around supports through City of Promise and its community partners to ensure their ability to thrive academically, personally and eventually professionally.

Club Yancey:

The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors and the Albemarle School Board created a workgroup through charter to explore and recommend potential community wide use of B.F Yancey Elementary School. This application is based on the nine- month process of that workgroup to identify needs, interests and potential partners to create an intergenerational education center for the Southern Albemarle Community and funding to support these expansion efforts.

Foothills CAC:

Foothills Child Advocacy Center respectfully requests a grant to provide training for professionals who serve child abuse victims and their families so that they can continue to provide a coordinated, evidence-based, culturally competent, and compassionate response that helps reduce trauma for these children, ensure their healing, and keep them safe. These trainings will address two new and significant challenges in child abuse intervention: (1) identifying and providing an appropriate response to victims of human trafficking under the age of 18 in the Charlottesville/Albemarle area and (2) improving medical care of child abuse victims in the community.

Piedmont CASA:

Piedmont CASA recruits, screens, trains, supervises and supports community Volunteers who advocate in Court for abused and neglected children. CASA Volunteers conduct independent investigations and make recommendations to the judges regarding the children’s best interest, always promoting safe, permanent, and nurturing homes.