Aurora Women and Girls Foundation

The Aurora Foundation currently focuses its grant making on greater hartford area Women's college success programs. Aurora's goal through its grant making is to empower more Women to complete their college education, therefore enabling them to better their lives and those of their families. Our aurora-funded college success programs give Women, especially low-income, Women of color, and first-generation college students the tools they need to navigate and pursue higher education. We have identified best practices for these programs, including one-on-one counseling and advising, mentoring and introducing Women to role models, building self-advocacy skills, addressing basic needs such as childcare and transportation--and now during the pandemic, help navigating online learning, unemployment, and needs for food and rental assistance. Aurora prides itself in not just funding effective programs, but also being a resource and partner to our grantees. Our essential equity report on the impact of covid-19 documented that for the first time, Women surpassed men in applying for unemployment benefits in Connecticut. Of those Women applying, 75% did not have a college degree. This data tells us that increasing access to and successful completion of higher education is an effective strategy to increase Women's economic mobility and protect them from the impact of health and economic crises. Aurora's enhanced college success program is a new initiative that deepens and extends our work to support a small number of students in aurora-funded college success programs who will receive access additional mentoring and educational opportunities, and wrap-around supports and funding for housing, childcare, technology, health (including mental health), transportation and tuition. With these barriers removed, the goal is for students to be able to focus on their studies and to have an effective support system to help them navigate any additional barriers. This represents a significant investment per student that will have a positive impact on individual success, but also a positive impact on their children, families and communities. Along side our existing college success programs, the new enhanced college success program will serve as a model for how financial support and barrier reduction, along with effective mentoring and case management, can increase college success for Women from underserved populations. In 2023, we successfully implemented this new program.

Aurora educates and engages Women and men in the power of philanthropy that is targeted to programs that specifically address the needs of Women and Girls. We invite community members to join us building better communities where Women and Girls thrive. In spring of 2023, Aurora's Women's giving circle focused on the ongoing effects of the pandemic on Women's economic security. Funds raised went to help 4 organizations on-the-ground, addressing childcare, entrepreneurship, period poverty, and job readiness. 50 Women joined the giving circle and raised $20,000 that went 100% to the organizations identified as meeting the community need. Aurora's 100 men campaign returned to trinity health stadium for a networking event, with male advocates for Aurora and for philanthropy directed to Women and Girls attending a fundraiser with the hartford athletic soccer team. 150 male community leaders participated in fundraising and effectively advocated for Women and Girls.

Aurora's research highlights the critical issues facing Women and Girls in the region. Beginning in 2019 and updated yearly, Aurora partnered with other Connecticut Women's funds and Connecticut data collaborative to create the Women and Girls data platform (wgdp), a cutting-edge tool to share information and equip nonprofits, government, and community members with information for the advancement of Women and Girls in Connecticut. An online, interactive tool, the wgdp provides access to publicly available data specific to regional, city, and statewide levels that is aggregated for gender and race. The data compares trends across regions and the state and aids in better understanding of local needs. Data is featured by demographics, health and safety, education, economic security, and civic engagement. The collaboration on the wgdp meant that we had the team in place to respond quickly to the data needs of the pandemic. In january 2021, Aurora published essential equity: Women, covid-19 and rebuilding Connecticut, a report that documented the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on Women of color. Aurora distributed and presented the report's information to the governor's council on Women and Girls, the Women's caucus of the Connecticut state legislature, the greater giving summit international conference held by the gates Foundation, the permanent commission on the status of Women in hartford, and numerous other local and statewide organizations to help center the needs of Women of color in planning for pandemic relief and recovery. We offered two training sessions on data literacy, with 50 organizations serving Women and Girls participating in education on how to use the wgdp and essential equity report to document the need, improve programming and secure funding. In 2022, Aurora produced exposing ct's eviction crisis, a research collaboration with ct data collaborative and ct's fair housing center that for the first time ever showed the gender and race of those facing eviction proceedings. An interactive map shows where evictions have been filed since 2017 and we are seeing a return to pre-pandemic levels, with Women of color disproportionately affected. The Connecticut legislature had this important information while they debated and ultimately passed new legislation guaranteeing tenants access to free legal counsel during eviction proceedings. We hope that this will result in more Women and their families staying safely housed. In 2023, Aurora published elusive equity: continuing effects of the pandemic on Women's economic security, a follow up to assess the continuing pandemic-related obstacles to Women's economic security in the state. The report was featured on an episode of national public radio's disrupted podcast, which reaches a statewide and national audience.

Aurora's Women's leadership forum brings together diverse Women students from hartford area colleges for a half-day conference that included a panel of professional Women of color offering their career and life advice, facilitated networking with Women professionals from our board, volunteers, and corporate partner organizations, a panel of students sharing their strategies for success, informational tables on internship and career opportunities with local employers and other academic programs and resources, and a facilitated exercise in movement and meditation for focus and stress relief. We have been proud to partner with capital community college and ywca hartford region to offer the program to Women students at capital, as well as to students from our aurora-funded college success programs at uconn hartford and university of hartford. In 2022 and 2023 we have welcomed 125 participants, which included students and volunteers. Volunteers participated by sharing their professional experience and advice with students during a facilitated networking session.