Violets’ Giving Circle is one of six giving circles in our giving circle network. It is a housed at the Marlborough School in Los Angeles, an independent day school for girls in grades 7-12.
Violets, all juniors and seniors at Marlborough, award grants every other year and since 2006 have awarded over $200,000. During their non-grantmaking years they host a large fundraiser to raise the funds for their grantmaking the following year.
Violets award grants to Los Angeles-based organizations that are working to improve the lives of underprivileged women and girls through education. This year they awarded $10,000 each to the following organizations:
Homeboy Industries (Homegirl Café)
Homegirl Café & Catering is one of Homeboy’s six social enterprises. The Café assists high-risk and formerly gang-involved young women—and a few young men—to become contributing members of their community through training in restaurant service and culinary arts. Homegirl Café has an 18-month training certificate program that empowers women to support themselves and their families as they work toward a better life.
New Village, an all-girls charter school, welcomes girls from Los Angeles who otherwise would have little hope of completing their education in traditional schools. Many are pregnant or parenting, have histories of trauma and abuse and are often far behind their peers in academic skills and credit completion. The grant New Village received from Violets’ Giving Circle is for their college transition program, which provides critical support for students as they prepare to graduate and move to post-secondary institutions. The program includes guidance, mentoring and financial assistance.
Women In Non Traditional Employment Roles (WINTER)
WINTER is an economic development agency and a national leader in diversity workforce development and education. WINTER works to extend opportunities to economically disadvantaged women and youth in Southern California and to empower them to achieve economic self-sufficiency.
WriteGirl leverages the professional skills of women writers to mentor girls and inspire them to develop critical writing and speaking skills and the confidence to make an impact on the world around them. For 14 years, WriteGirl has helped its participants, primarily girls from high density, low-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles County, to graduate from high school and enroll in college. The grant WriteGirl received from Violets’ Giving Circle will support the Bold Futures component of their successful mentoring program—it will provide college entrance guidance, internships, job skills training, leadership development and support for WriteGirl graduates who have enrolled in college.