Grant Distribution
If you know, or are part of an amazing group that could do great things with
a Women’s Legacy Fund grant, please click the button below to apply!
Grants Awarded Over the Years
Girls Self-Esteem & Empowerment + Women’s Financial Stability
$83,800 Total
El Camino Homeless Organization - $28,800
Welcome Home Program
ECHO's Welcome Home Program focuses on the needs of female head-of-household clients who are experiencing homelessness. The Welcome Home Program will provide security deposits and move-in baskets of essential items for women moving from one of ECHO's shelters into a new home either on their own or with their children.
Childcare Services for Survivors of Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner Violence
Lumina Alliance will provide a drop-inchildcare option for SA and IPV survivorswho seek services in person and havechildren in their care. The project will offerthe opportunity for survivors to privatelyand confidentially access Lumina Alliance services without the additional stress of finding childcare.
Black Girl Wellness & Embracing Texture
R.A.C.E. Matters SLO is providing a workshop series centered around identity, self-care including hair care, self-esteem, and community making for Black identified girls ages 12-17. Black Girl Wellness is a Black-led program based out of Texture salon and multi-use space in San Luis Obispo.
Women’s Financial Stability, Childcare Assistance & Mental Health
$65,000 Total
Lumina Alliance - $20,000
Childcare Services for Survivors of Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner Violence
This program is peer led and 100% focused on teen’s mental health. A non-profit organization serving San Luis Obispo and North Santa Barbara Counties, Transitions-Mental Health Association is dedicated to eliminating stigma and promoting recovery and wellness for people with mental illness through work, housing, community, and family support services.
Transitions Mental Health Association -$24,000
Teen Support Group
Youth Treatment Program residential treatment program for girls ages 12-18. An 8-week program that incorporates
the Be Body Positive Model Curriculum, yoga and journaling.
Boys & Girls Club of South SLO County - $11,000
Access to Childcare for Single Mother Low Income Families
Providing therapeutic early childhood education and mental health programs for children ages
2-5 and their families who are committed to strengthening their family.
SLO Casa - $10,000
Additional Support for Volunteers Assigned to Girls with Mental Health Challenges/LGBTQAI+
Women’s Financial Literacy, Childcare & Girls’ Mental Health
$70,000
The Center for Family Strengthening $40,000
Promotores Latina Fiscal Literacy Program
Designed to educate Spanish and Mixteco Latinas on how to establish a financial plan. This program will serve 30 individuals within the first year, expanding into 4 programs across SLO county and enrolling 50 individuals by the second year.
People’s Self Help Housing - $20,000
Camino Scholars Education Program
Serves 78 under-resourced students and their families with 218 days of free afterschool childcare and tutoring in literacy and math.
Boys & Girls Club Mid Central Coast (SMART Girls) - $10,000
SMART Girls is a mentor driven program serving girls in 3 different age groups, which is designed to explore values, build skills, and develop positive relationships with peers and adults.
Girls Self-Esteem & Empowerment + Women’s Financial Stability
$62,500 total
Jack’s Helping Hand - $20,000
To provide single mothers with children with special needs financial assistance and support with the responsibility of caring for a child with special needs independently. The program provides financial assistance to offset the costs of medical and travel expenses for 220 families in San Luis Obispo County. Of those families, 20% are being cared for by a single mother and 43% of those
women are Latina.
Community Action Partnership of
San Luis Obispo County - $15,000
CALM (Cultivating Awareness, Living Mindfully) Program
To support young women at Nipomo High School by using a small-group health coaching curriculum to teach strategies for overcoming adversity and building resiliency. Participants will work with a CAPSLO Health Educator and their peers to learn skills for identifying and managing emotions like stress and depression, develop positive support systems, and serve as role models to peers and family members using the Mind Matters curriculum from the Dibble Institute.
People’s Self Help Housing, CELEBRE Program - $10,000
(College Enrollment for Latinas Entering Bright Rewarding Educations)
CELEBRE College Prep and Retention for First Generation Latina College Students is a free program that coordinates students, family, and program staff in support of participants’ academic progress and matches students with Latina women mentors who have graduated college and reached professional success to provide information, resources, and inspiration to first-generation college enrollees.
RISE (now Lumina Alliance) - $10,000
To support funding for the Sexual Assault & Domestic Violence Counseling Program that provides no cost therapy in both English and Spanish, to survivors of sexual assault/abuse and
intimate partner violence.
Friends Of Camp Natoma - $5,000
To support the operations of Camp Natoma, a rustic, overnight experience for youth. Campers connect with the natural world through outdoor living and hands-on nature exploration, setting goals to try new things, express their creativity, develop self-esteem, foster cooperation, and interact with
positive adult mentors.
Emergency Relief Grant Spring 2021
San Luis Obispo County YMCA - $2,500
To support Camp CARE (Childcare Assistance in Response to Emergency), a program which opened in 2020 to bridge the gaps created while schools were virtual, along with safe youth sports camps to be continued through Summer of 2020. The Summer camps also address learning loss affecting students reading ability, academic skills, and overall achievement which have the strongest impact on students in low income families who lack access to summer learning opportunities.
Girls Self-Esteem & Empowerment + Women’s Financial Stability Focus
$61,500 total
Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County - $20,000
CALM (Cultivating Awareness, Living Mindfully) Project
To support young women at Nipomo High School but using a small-group health coaching curriculum to teach strategies for overcoming adversity and building resiliency. Participants will work with a CAPSLO Health Educator and their peers to learn skills for identifying and managing emotions like stress and depression, develop positive support systems, and serve as role models to peers and family members using the Mind Matters curriculum from the Dibble Institute.
RISE (now Lumina Alliance) - $20,000
To support funding for the Sexual Assault & Domestic Violence Counseling Program that provides no cost therapy in both English and Spanish, to survivors of sexual assault/abuse and
intimate partner violence.
SLO Noor Foundation - $11,500
To support women's health and preventive care for uninsured women ineligible for government or employer coverage in San Luis Obispo County, by providing free primary, specialty, and supportive care including diagnostic testing and disease screenings for women from Hispanic and other at-risk backgrounds; prevention and chronic disease management through relevant health education and healthy living tool provisions; and quality healthcare access through applied outreach and development efforts.
Aspire Academy - $5,000
To provide at-risk girls, ages 14-17 years a learning environment that is free from gender discrimination and will foster greater confidence. The girls will learn about career paths that they might not otherwise be exposed to, as well as important topics such as financial responsibility, conflict resolution, positive influences, and situational awareness.
Emergency Relief Grant Winter 2020
South San Luis Obispo County Womenade - $5,000
To provide urgent financial assistance to individuals and families struggling with meeting their rent/housing utilities and urgent needs not met by other traditional avenues. Most clients are below the poverty line and many are immigrants, have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 and are
having difficulty surviving.
Girls Self-Esteem & Empowerment Focus
$60,000 total
Boys & Girls Club of North SLO County - $10,000
Funding to continue a fourth year of the current SMART Girls curriculum. The program is structured to include education on healthy lifestyles, relationship management, and sexual health and peer pressure bullying for two ages groups of girls,
ages 8-12 and ages 13-17.
Boys & Girls Club of South San Luis Obispo County - $10,000
To support another year programing through SMART Girls Curriculum with Cal Poly Students using SMART Girls curriculum targeting 40 girls ages 8-16 from Lucia Mar School District.
Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County, Inc - $10,000
To support Dads with Daughters program which offers fathers/father figures with daughters Parent Café curriculum in three groups of 8 sessions in English and Spanish countywide. Topics will include child development; positive parenting and communication skills; key principles of raising daughters; co-parenting; peer support; and community resources.
French Hospital Medical Center Foundation - $7,500
To support Dove Girl’s Self Esteem Workshops being offered at 10 San Luis Obispo county schools to approximately 240 girls ages 8-12 from low-income families to build body confidence and self-esteem. This includes a weeklong self-esteem workshop and a monthly self-esteem support groups.
Peoples’ Self-Help Housing, CELEBRE Program - $20,000
(College Enrollment for Latinas Entering Bright Rewarding Educations)
Continued funding for CELEBRE which coordinates students, family, and program staff in support of participants’ academic progress and matches students with mentors who work one-on-one, providing support needed by first-generation college enrollees.
Transitions Mental Health Association - $2,500
Youth Treatment Program residential treatment program for girls ages 12-18. An 8-week program that incorporates the Be Body Positive Model Curriculum, yoga and journaling.
Girls Self-Esteem & Empowerment Focus
$65,000 total
RISE (now Lumina Alliance) - $40,000 over 2 years
To support funding for the Sexual Assault & Domestic Violence Counseling Program that provides no cost therapy to survivors of sexual assault/abuse and intimate partner violence. Projected that 130 girls under the age of 18 will receive small group and individual counseling services.
Peoples’ Self-Help Housing, CELEBRE Program - $25,000
(College Enrollment for Latinas Entering Bright Rewarding Educations)
Funding for C.E.L.E.B.R.E. program that will pair 25 community volunteer mentors with 25 low-income Latina girls with a focus on college preparation.
Girls Self-Esteem & Empowerment Focus
$45,000 total
Big Brothers Big Sisters School Based Program in Nipomo - $10,000
To support “Girlstart” STEM curriculum to Nipomo Elementary girls with high school and college students mentoring once per week for one year.
Boys & Girls Club of South San Luis Obispo County - $15,500
To support 12-month mentorship programing through SMART Girls Curriculum with Cal Poly Students using SMART Girls curriculum targeting 40 girls ages 8-16 from Lucia Mar School District.
Affordable Housing Paso Robles Oak Park Coding Club - $4,000
To support an after-school coding and application building program for girls in 4th through 10th grade from a low-income neighborhood in Paso Robles. Girls will meet once per week with mentoring by college engineering students.
French Hospital Medical Center Foundation - $15,500 over 2 years
To support 16 Dove Girl’s Self Esteem Workshops being offered at two San Luis Obispo schools (Pacheco and C.L. Smith) to 192 girls ages 8-12 from low-income families to build body confidence
and self-esteem.
Girls Self-Esteem & Empowerment Focus
$55,000 total
Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County - $15,000
Single year program providing support for collaboration with Soroptimist International of San Luis Obispo to implement a one-year self-esteem building program, Dream It, Be It, to increase positive identity assets in girls.
Boys & Girls Club of North SLO County - $40,000 over three years
This three-year plan to strengthen and expand the current Boys & Girls Club of America SMART Girls curriculum. The program is structured to include education on healthy lifestyles, relationship management, and sexual health and peer pressure bullying, which is in congruence with WLF priorities.
Mental Health Focus
$31,820 total
Big Brothers Big Sisters - $5,000
To enhance self-esteem for Latina elementary school girls through their partnering with high school and college aged role models in the Nipomo School Based Mentoring program.
Community Counseling Center - $5,000
To provide therapy for low-income women and girls through individual and group therapy strategies. Services will be targeted toward college aged young adults, adolescents (ages 14-17), Latinas and older women age 65+.
RISE ( now Lumina Alliance)- $5,000
To provide no/low cost, individual and group counseling by MFT therapists to sexual assault/abuse and intimate partner violence survivors and their loved ones.
South County Youth Coalition - $6,820
The Latina Empowerment Program, to train current bilingual, bicultural community health educators to assist other Latinas in the Oceano community to recognize mental health issues and connect them with mental health resources.
Women’s Shelter Program (now Lumina Alliance) - $10,000
To address depression and stress in traumatized Spanish-speaking domestic violence victims through peer-driven, culturally competent counseling services.
Education Focus
$25,000 total
Big Brothers Big Sisters - $5,000
To support approximately 25 Latina elementary and high school students’ participation in the Nipomo School-Based Mentoring Program.
Bakari Project at Cal Poly - $7,500
To develop and implement a year-long college preparation component for 18 at-risk and underserved SLO County high school females.
Paso Robles Housing Authority - $1,500
To support job training for girls and young women in the Youth Works after-school
and summer programs.
SLO County Child Abuse Prevention Program - $6,000
To provide three Promotoras with role models/mentoring and financial assistance to attend college preparation classes and to participate in college re-entry programs.
UC Cooperative Extension SLO County - $5,000
To increase opportunities for 40 Latina youth and adult mentors in SLO County to enrich their science and leadership skills through “SLO Scientists” and participate in the annual
Leadership, Education and Development Conference.
Economic Independence Focus
$20,000
Community Action Partnership Child Care Resource Connection - $5,160
To nurture quality child care with rich educational curriculum in the sciences and math. Fifteen child care providers will be trained in “Mighty Math” to build mathematic skills in home-based
child care programs.
Peoples’ Self-Help Housing - $9,600
To hire an educator for two years to provide quality after school care and education for an additional 20 K-5 children in the Canyon Creek Apartment complex in Paso Robles.
Women’s Shelter Program of SLO County (now Lumina Alliance) - $5,240
To support the “Economic Independence Program” for female domestic violence victims, providing job skills development and financial literacy education.
Basic Needs Focus
$51,075
Pregnancy and Parenting Support of San Luis Obispo - $1,500
To assist 400 low-income mothers with emergency-need for diapers for newborns &
up to one year olds.
Assistance League - $3,000
To support Sue’s Stars – a program providing school clothing for 7th and 8th grade students which will assist 30 girls from low-income families
North County Women’s Shelter (now Lumina Alliance) - $1,500
To provide childcare for mothers residing in shelters so they can attend counseling, case management and other appointments in order to achieve self-sufficiency
Transitional Food & Shelter - $4,000
To provide 258 shelter nights of temporary, emergency shelter for homeless women and girls in medically fragile families
Tenth Anniversary Impact Grant (2012)
CAPSLO - Child Care Resource Connection - $41,075
To support Business Management Training for Child Care Providers through group training for English and Spanish speaking child care provider business owners who currently operate family child care homes or center-based programs. These will be followed by individualized consultations and assistance provided by CCRC staff.
Women & Health Focus
$10,000
Pregnancy and Parenting Support of San Luis Obispo - $1,500
To support outreach and educational resources in English and Spanish for the Postpartum Depression Support Line.
North County Women’s Shelter & Resource Center (now Lumina Alliance) - $3,000
To provide Individual and Group Counseling for women and their children who are survivors of domestic violence and residing in shelters.
Sexual Assault Recovery & Prevention Center - $2,000
To support the Sexual Assault Counseling Program to restore individuals to a level of functioning that predates the assault through a process of empowerment and risk-reduction education
SLO County Child Abuse Prevention Council - $1,500
To launch Beginnings Shared Leadership, a pilot project targeting mothers in substance use recovery, which will hone their leadership, communication and team-work skills to serve as a Beginnings Community Representative.
Women’s Shelter Program of SLO (now Lumina Alliance) - $2,000
To provide mental health counseling for female domestic violence victims.
Women & Education Focus
$8,000
American Association of University Women-SLO - $1,500
To provide 2 scholarships for girls to attend Tech Trek — an AAUW Statewide science and
math camp for girls.
Avila Beach Sea Life Center - $3,500
To underwrite a new one-week marine science camp for girls ages 12-16 to be
implemented in June 2011.
Big Brothers Big Sisters - $3,000
To support girls through a School-Based Mentoring Program pairing 30 high school and college aged mentors with elementary school students.
Women & Economic Independence Focus
$8,000
Community Action Partnership of SLO County-$1,500
“North County Self-Sufficiency Project for Women” to assist the region’s unemployed homeless women in preparing for job interviews and entering the workforce by providing them with bus tokens and vouchers to receive clothing and a haircut.
Transitional Food & Shelter Program - $4,000
“Emergency Shelter for Medically Disabled Homeless Women” to provide 238 shelter nights for homeless,
medically fragile women and their families.
Women’s Shelter Program of SLO (now Lumina Alliance) -$2,500
“Women’s Self-Sufficiency Program” to address the financial planning and management needs of domestic violence victims in order to better secure these individuals’ safety, self-sufficiency and economic independence.
Women’s Role in Society Focus
$10,000
Big Brothers Big Sisters - $3,500
“Nipomo High School Bigs Mentoring Initiative” to support a new program utilizing high school girls to mentor elementary school girls in Nipomo.
EOC of SLO County - $2,500
“Y-CARE? Peer Education Project” to develop teen leaders and educators focused on reducing teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and HIV disease.
Sexual Assault Recovery & Prevention Center - $2,500
“Girls Empowerment After-School Enrichment Program” to empower middle school and high school girls through awareness, assertiveness and physical skills.
SLO County Child Abuse Prevention - $1,500
“Strengthening the Family” to support mentoring groups for women on probation to develop their roles as parents.
Women & the Social Environment Focus
$6,950
Central Coast Commission for Senior Citizens - $450
To fund Healthcare ID Program facilitating timely and appropriate care for persons with
memory impairment.
Sexual Assault Recovery & Prevention Program - $2,500
To help fund a Women's Empowerment and Self Defense Program supporting self-defense and empowerment workshops for women and girls.
SLO Legal Alternatives - $2,000
To fund a restraining order program providing restraining orders for senior women clients who are victims of elder abuse.
Transitional Food & Shelter, Inc.- $2,000
To fund a Motel Voucher/Apartment Program providing shelter for medically frail or
disabled homeless women.
Economic Independence Focus
$6,000 total
EOC Childcare Resource Connection - $2,400
To conduct Early Childhood Education credited training for childcare providers focusing on infants and toddlers, which will increase quality childcare slots.
Mission Community Services Corporation - $3,000
To support training costs for "From Vision to Venture", a 14-week self-employment training class for low to moderate income women.
Peoples’ Self-Help Housing Corporation - $600
To support a social worker to work with single mothers and their teenage daughters who reside at the Schoolhouse Lane Apartments affordable housing complex.
Women’s Health Focus
$7,500 total
Community Counseling Center $2,000
To support therapy services for women who are low income and uninsured.
Planned Parenthood - $2,500
To support “Amiga a Amiga” which will recruit, train, and supervise teen Latinos to share family planning and reproductive health information and referrals with high-risk peers toward the prevention of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
Women’s Shelter of SLO County (now Lumina Alliance) - $3,000
To fund start-up of "Safe and Sober" support groups for women struggling with depression/anxiety and substance abuse issues.
Education Focus
$4,000 total
Cinco de Mayo Scholarship Committee de Paso Robles - $3,000
To support Bound for College, a college preparation program that targets 9th grade Latinas in the Paso Robles School District with tutoring, skill building, mother-daughter workshops, and college field trips in order to increase college attendance.
Soroptimists of San Luis Obispo - $1,000
To support the Women’s Opportunity Award. This award program identifies and awards head of household women from around the county who need financial assistance as they pursue education or skill building in preparation to re-enter the workforce
