WREF is strongly committed to ensuring providing a safe and educational environment for children by seeking funds to support quality programs for children. To that end and thanks to the Lanza Family Foundation, WREF has secured funds and oversights the following programs:
Child Care in the Courts – prior to 1997, children often accompanied their parents to scheduled court appearances, in the White Plains Courthouse where their presence was often a distraction from judicial business. The NYS Unified Court System developed the nation's first statewide system of cheerful and welcoming centers with an opportunity for positive interventions in the lives of vulnerable children. The largest percentage of these children presently using the child care center are five years old or younger, poor and not recieving vital services which they all now receive through the YWCA of White Plains and Central Westchester which has the contract for the center. The recently received grant will allow the YWCA to fund the creation of a volunteer supervisor position whose job it is to coordinate the activies of the Center's volunteers in order to supplement staffing needs and get community members involved in the child care center. CHILD CARE SCHOLARSHIPS: More than ever before, parents of young children are working outside the home. A majority of our children will spend some of their most critical developmental years in the care of adults other than their parents. While balancing work and family responsibilities is in itself enormously difficult, parents also face what is for many an insurmountable barrier – the cost of quality, regulated child care. The Lanza Family Foundation has funded through the WREF a scholarship program called the Lanza Family Foundation Future Leader Scholarships for Child Care. Award determinations are based on household size, family income, age of the child and the type of regulated chld care being used. The Program will be run through the Child Care Council of Westchester. For further information call the Child Care Council of Westchester at 914-761-3456. |
Work-Related Programs
WREF is committed to helping women achieve economic independence. Programs WREF funds to achieve giving women opportunities to garner the skills necessary to succeed in today's workforce include: Operation Talent Bank – A hands-on training program held at Westchester Community College to help women returning to the world of work and/or women in crisis gain skills to work and to become economically self-sufficient. For more information, email Barbara Loixeaux (barbara.loizeaux@sunywcc.edu). This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Project Transition for Domestic Violence Victims – As part of a grant awarded by the Avon Empowerment Self-Sufficiency Program, WREF has funded a special program for eligible women victims of domestic violence who have accessed the Family Justice Center in the White Plains Courthouse. Project Transition at Westchester Community College – Provides services to displaced homemakers who are divorced, widowed, separated, single parents, or whose spouses are disabled or unemployed. For more information, contact by e-mail Mia Fienemann at mia.fienemann@sunywcc.edu This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and Ruby Ulloa (rulloa@mspny.org). This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The LEAP Program - The Lanza Enterprise Awards Program is a grants program for women business owners who have successfully completed the Women's Enterprise Development Center's 15 week starting/expanding your small business program. Funded by the Lanza Family Foundation through the WREF, the LEAP's grants are for $5,000 each. For more information, call WEDC at 914 948-6098, or email WEDC (info@wedcbiz.org). Check back often for our leads to employment opportunities. |
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