The Women’s Fund, an endowment fund of Stark Community Foundation, recently announced the recipients of its 2025 grant cycle, with 11 nonprofits receiving nearly $40,000 to support local programs addressing the needs of underserved women and children in Stark County.
Chosen programs serve at least one of the fund’s three priority focus areas: economic stability and advancement, mental and emotional health support, and neighborhood-based programming.
This year’s grantees are:
- Access Health Stark County: $3,500 to empower community health workers through quarterly training events that educate on resources in the community, build on certification requirements and contribute to self-health and wellness.
- Akron Zoological Park: $4,000 to provide educational programming in elementary classrooms to help students strengthen their emotional intelligence to succeed in school and STEM.
- Canton Symphony Orchestra: $2,000 to present daily mindfulness prompts and classical music in Stark County schools through Mindful Music Moments.
- Chasing Hope House: $1,000 to support foster teen mothers by providing safe, stabling housing as they prepare for independent living.
- Child & Adolescent Behavioral Health: $1,602 to offer therapeutic books and workbooks to young clients as a tool to enhance traditional talk therapy.
- Feed Kids First: $2,500 to provide nutritious meal boxes for children in Massillon and Canton City school districts over the summer and holiday break from school.
- Heart of Ohio Diaper Bank: $4,850 to combat period poverty through the HER-Project by making period packs available for girls and women at no cost.
- JRC Learning Center: $4,000 to equip employees with behavior management techniques and support intervention services for the Learning Center’s six preschool classrooms.
- RAHAB Ministries Inc.: $5,000 to provide new experiences, confidence-building celebrations, transportation funding and food and hygiene supplies for sex trafficking survivors at its Canton Drop-In Home.
- Stark Community Support Network: $5,000 to support the Food is Medicine program by purchasing a commercial freezer for the food pantry to improve access to nutritious food and implement multi-media educational opportunities to promote healthy eating habits and wellness.
- Stark County District Library: $4,000 to keep children engaged and learning during the summer months through the Summer Fun School program, removing barriers to learning opportunities for children in vulnerable communities.
The Women’s Fund was created in 2006 by 12 visionary women out of concern for the growing poverty status of women and children in the community. They pooled their resources to create a charitable fund that would advance the status of Stark County women and children in perpetuity.
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