The City Federation of Women's Organizations (CFWO) hosted the community at its Annual Meeting on Tuesday, May 15, entitled 'Women Are Building Community: New News & A Bold Future'. The gathering in the Tompkins County Public Library BorgWarner Room celebrated the fifth anniversary of CFWO's Women Building Community (WBC) Grants and included announcement of its future plans to make more resources and opportunities available.

President Diane Shafer remarked, "It has been an amazing first five years. The City Federation of Women's Organizations has some new and exciting plans for the future to help serve the community better and address the issues facing women and girls."

CFWO's purpose is to act as a catalyst for the improvement of the lives of all women and girls in Tompkins County, thus making a contribution to the community as a whole. In its first five annual cycles, CFWO awarded 52 grants totaling $134,245 to 29 different organizations.

Since last May CFWO made 12 WBC Grants in various amounts under $5,000 to 11 different organizations, and a WBC Innovation Grant of $10,000 to Mama's Comfort Camp. These grants totaled $31,690. However, the requests totaled over $125,185.

Shafer said, "What we know is that there are wonderful organizations in this community working hard to improve the lives of women and girls. What we learned is that there is never enough money to meet all these needs. We will be allocating twice as much next year because we've seen the impact WBC Grants can have, and because CFWO will now be operating as a private foundation.""

Next year a winter deadline for Innovation Grants will be added. A new type of grant becomes available this June. WBC Unexpected Needs Grants up to $1000 is a rolling-application opportunity to help not-for-profits fund unexpected needs or emergencies.

In addition, CFWO will be working with Tompkins Cortland Community College to establish a Legacy Endowed Scholarship for women students to use for tuition and fees and/or for childcare.

CFWO's Annual Meeting also included election of new officers: M. Elizabeth Colucci, president; Cora Yao, vice president; Susan Schattschneider, treasurer; Kathleen Yen, recording secretary and Diane Shafer, corresponding secretary. New board members were welcomed: Ruth Hopkins, Alene Wyatt, Ellen Hartman and Jennifer Kozlowski.

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