Women's Wire ~ Issue 7, summer 2009

In this issue of Women's Wire...

Good Granting: Girl-Tech program shares resources
2009 grants awarded
A GUTSy! story
Did you know?
Ending payday lending
Donors, honorariums, bequests and memorials
New Advisory Committee members

Good Granting
Girl-Tech program shares resources

In 2008, the Women’s Foundation of Montana made its second grant to ExplorationWorks’ Girl-Tech program.  Girl-Tech, a program to mentor young girls in science and technology, specifically computer programming and robotics, went above and beyond their normal curriculum activities by sharing many of the materials and programs they developed with funding from the Women’s Foundation of Montana with other organizations around Helena.  Girl-Tech materials and programs were shared with underprivileged children in a Boulder after-school program, the boys and girls of Helena 4-H, and Helena’s Wakina Sky Indian afterschool Program. 

Girl-Tech Coordinator Dr. Liz Gunderson and 5th grade science teacher Sandy Jones continue to be an important resource on technology education in Montana.  They have been asked to contribute program ideas to the Missoula SpectrUM
Girl-Tech as well as many others.  “We have provided outreach to schools and teachers in electronic  Scratch Boards because of equipment provided by last year’s Women’s Foundation of Montana grant,” said Gunderson.  Gunderson and Jones have also presented their model of technology education at a state-wide conference held at MSU in May, in conjunction with a keynote speaker from Tufts Engineering Education Outreach.

As well, their work attracted the attention of Helena native Dr. Dava Newman, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT.  Gundersen and Director of Operations, Bethany Flint worked with Dr. Newman to develop a new partnership.  The new partnership resulted in a 4-year NASA grant which will fund a collaborative project entitled “Montana’s Big Sky Space Education: the NASA ExplorationSpace at ExplorationWorks”.  ExplorationSpace will facilitate, on a broad scale, the excitement of NASA’s space research and exploration activities in human–robotic missions.  The robotics-related hardware will be used in classes and teacher-training in Helena and around the state as a path for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education for grades 3 through 12.

Also included in the project is a Distinguished Space Speakers series that will bring astronauts and mission specialists to Montana twice a year, with an emphasis on women and minorities who work at NASA.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Dr. Newman.  She is a wonderful example of what girls can achieve with hard work, determination and imagination,” said Gunderson. 

A Girl-Tech participant creats a PicoCricket alarm clock

Grants Awarded
WFM awards $50,000 to agencies working for girls and women

Financial and technology literacy, family planning, and political leadership and advocacy for girls and women were advanced by this year’s round of granting from the Women’s Foundation of Montana. WFM advisory committee members reviewed 20 requests from nonprofit agencies throughout the state. In the end, they chose twelve of those agencies to receive grants.

NARAL Pro-Choice Montana Foundation, $8,000 to support public policy efforts to promote comprehensive sex education in Montana schools and improve guidelines on health education; the Montana Credit Unions for Community Development, $5,000, for operating assistance to support several financial education programs, including payday loan alternatives; Montana Women Vote, $5,000, to support efforts to engage unlikely women voters; Planned Parenthood of Montana, $5,000, to meet the increased demand for family planning services and expand education and outreach efforts; homeWORD, $2,500 to support the Financial Fitness Program in Billings and Missoula, and Blue Mountain Clinic, $2,000, to ensure that women in isolated and underserved communities gain increased awareness of comprehensive family planning services through targeted outreach efforts.

At the local level, WFM awarded grants to six agencies, including three in Missoula: the Missoula YWCA, $5,000, for its Girls Using Their Strengths (GUTS!) girls leadership project; Women’s Opportunity Resource & Development, Inc., $5,000 to support the Bridges to Learning Project, a vocational and educational preparation and support program for pregnant and or parenting young women who are at risk for dropping out of high school, have already dropped out or who are academically disadvantaged, and the Missoula Housing Authority, $1,000, to support the Essential Access Program, which helps low-income homeless women overcome barriers to accessing rental units.
Bozeman’s Big Sky Youth Empowerment Project received $3,000 for continuing support of its GirlPower program for disadvantaged teenage girls living in Gallatin and Park counties. The grant supports outdoor activity and life skills workshops this summer for 24 girls.

In Helena, ExplorationWorks, an interactive museum of science and culture, received $4,500 for its science and technology mentoring program for girls, Girl-Tech. Girl-Tech serves about a 24 girls, ages 9-11, from low income families in a class that meets twice a week during 12-week sessions.

In Great Falls, Rural Dynamics, Inc./Consumer Credit Counseling Service received $4,000 to expand the membership and program offerings of Prosperity Club, a financial literacy education and peer support group for low-income women and families.

A GUTSy! Story

In 2008, the Women’s Foundation of Montana awarded $10,000 to the YWCA of Missoula for the Girls Using Their Strengths (GUTS!) Program.  The GUTS! Program strives to grow and support future women leaders by working with more than 150 young women each year.  The following story is just one story from among the hundreds about the unique and amazing individuals as told by Jen Euell, the Program Director of GUTS!. 

Emily came to the GUTS! Program when she was eleven, from a home that was struggling.  Her mother was in prison and she along with her father were the primary caregivers to her three younger siblings.  Emily was forced to grow up quickly and many activities such as her school work and extracurricular opportunities were sacrificed to her mothering tasks.  When she first came to GUTS!, Emily struggled to identify any personal strengths or skills beyond her caregiver role.  She was quiet and withdrawn, and seldom laughed or fooled around with the other girls.  She was doing poorly in school, and had few friends. 

Emily is now 16 years old, and as the years have passed she grew and changed.  In the GUTS! Program, she has had a chance to just be a girl, interacting and learning with other girls in a supportive environment.  Through her involvement in GUTS! she began to speak out more and express her opinions.  As the years went by she became more able to voice her personal goals and dreams and express her confidence in her own personal strength and skills.  This year Emily is on the national honor role and is the vice-president of the student body at her high school.  Attaining this office was especially challenging for her because she had to prepare a speech and give it in front of the whole student body, a task she would have never dared to take on just a couple of years ago.  Emily has come a long way.  If you ask her what her goals are today, she will tell you that she plans to work as an advocate for abused and neglected children, knowing that her personal experiences have given her the passion, heart and personal knowledge for this work

The GUTS! Program is expanding their capacity to serve Missoula girls by establishing a new high school program, Young Women LEAD (Leadership Enhancement and Development) and writing a new curriculum to serve elementary girls, ages 9-11.  Both programs were supported by the Women’s Foundation of Montana.  We were delighted to support both programs which are building capacity to foster strong women leaders of tomorrow.

Did you know

• Women hold 54.5% of Montana's top state government positions--a percentage greater than the percentage of women in the state's overall population. Governor Schweitzer's appointments helped propel Montana to the number one spot (from 17th) in the nation.
• Women will earn close to 60% of the 3 million college degrees awarded to the Class of 2009, according to the US Department of Education. Women dominate men at every level of higher education in terms of degrees awarded.
• Women have earned more college degrees than men for all levels of higher education every year since the class of 1982.
• In May, President Barack Obama nominated Sonya Sotomayor for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice David Souter. Sotomayor is the Court's first Hispanic justice and its third female justice.

ENDING PAYDAY LENDING

It is our hope for all women that they are financially stable and have solid credit ratings; that they are able to pay bills on time, budget for expenses and plan for surprises; that if they see a train wreck coming, they can approach a banker and arrange for overdraft protection or take out a short-term loan with a reasonable  interest rate.

But for the nearly 35 percent of Montana’s single mothers who live in poverty and the working poor who live paycheck to paycheck, the resources most take for granted are not available. What is available is a debt trap called payday lending.

Here’s how they work: payday lenders use a post-dated check or electronic checking account information as collateral for a short-term loan. To qualify, borrowers need only personal identification, a checking account and income from either a job or government benefits like Social Security or disability payments.  No credit check is done. 

This industry deliberately targets borrowers who are in financial crisis.  For many borrowers a payday loan might seem like their only option.  But they quickly learn that the high interest rates charged will trap them in a cycle of debt that drains money from future paychecks before they are earned.

In 2007, nearly 39,000 Montanans took out over 181,000 loans totaling more than forty-seven million dollars. During that time Montanans paid nearly 8.5 million dollars in interest and fees to payday lenders. To make matters worse, there were an average of 4.7 loans per borrower and 21% of borrowers took out 13 or more loans. (2007 Composite Report of Operations of Montana Deferred Deposit Loan Licensees Division of Banking and Financial Institutions). 

The Women’s Foundation of Montana is committed to raising public awareness about the devastating impact payday lending has on Montanans.  We work with other organizations to address this issue on a statewide and national level.  This informal “Cap the Rate Alliance” meets for strategic discussions about potential policy changes to cap the allowable interest rate in Montana.  We will continue to work with other organizations and are growing our efforts.           

We also work with a grantee partner to support the development of an alternative product to predatory payday loans in Montana.  (See the Alternatives story below.)  Expanding women’s access to fair credit is an important step to securing women’s future economic self-sufficiency.  All Montanans deserve fair lending practices in these challenging economic times.

Alternatives are a Real Asset

In 2008, the Women’s Foundation of Montana awarded $10,000 to support the efforts of the Montana Credit Unions for Community Development (MCUCD) to develop alternative products for Montanans to predatory loans and expand other programmatic work. 

To that end, MCUCD provided free training and consulting to 16 credit unions across Montana wanting to offer an alternative product to payday loans.  There are currently ten Montana credit unions with active alternatives to payday loan products.  The alternative loan products vary from credit union to credit union, but generally most have an average APR of 18 percent or less.    

Julie Meister of Missoula Federal Credit Union said this about their new product. “We have had many members express their appreciation to us for offering this type of product. One member said ‘when I was in the middle of a serious hardship, it was so nice to know my credit union was able to help me with a loan that did not put me in a bigger hole!’ another comment was ‘I found out about the MFCU loan while standing in line at a title loan company so I turned around, drove to MFCU and had 500 dollars 15 minutes later! A much better value than what I would have received at the title loan place.’”

MCUCD understands that economic self-sufficiency for women and girls means they have the knowledge, skills and ability to make sound financial decisions on a long term basis.  Their work empowers women and girls to take control of their finances, increase their earnings and create wealth through assets.  We are delighted this fruitful partnership is creating a brighter economic future for women and girls and all Montanans.   

For more information about alternative products to payday loans contact Jeanne Saarinen at jeanne@mcun.org. 

Donors

Allegra Print & Imaging
Marilynn Anderson
Joan and Dick Bennett
BKBH Shareholders
Jean Bonde
Carol Bradley
Kathryn M. Bramer
John Buck
Nancy Butler
Susan Capdeville
Linda Carlson
Diane Carriere-Myrah
Chambers Family Fund
Sheila Conners
Mary Ann Cosgrove
The Honorable Patricia Cotter
Bonnie J. Cotton
Lou Ann Crowley
Elizabeth Danforth
Cathy and Bruce Day
Betsy de Leiris
Representative Sue Dickenson
Donald & Carol Roberts Foundation in Memory of Virginia K. Weston
Dorcie Dvarishkis
Mary Dykstra
The Honorable Dorothy Eck
Jo Ann Eder
Margery D. Eliason
Sarah Elliott
Tom E. Elliott
Representative Julie French
Eleanor S. Furbush
Rosella Gallegos
Mary B. Gibson
Angela Goodhope
Randy and Valerie Hanson
Linda Harris
Garth Haugland
Linda Henry
Pam A. Hillery
Sheila Hogan
Mary Ellen Holverson and Matthew Cohn
Lucretia Humphrey
Kay Jelinek
Gerry M. Jennings
Martha Katz
Representative Deb Kottel
Renee Kowalski
Linda and Paul Leimbach
Debra Lewis
Sol Lovas
Karen Lyncoln
Chantel McCormick
Judy Meadows
David A. and Ivanie Nelson
Virginia and Albert Niccolucci
Nancy Nicholson
Stuart and Janie Nicholson
Kim Obbink
Nancy Owens
Eva C. Patten
Jan Paustian
William B. Pratt
Jeanne Pugh
Robert R. Ream and Ann Brodsky
Linda E. Reed
Representative Michele Reinhart
Remmer Family Foundation
Sheena M. Rice
Sheila Rice
Maureen Rude
Jeanne Saarinen
Rachel Schaffer
Margaret F. Schoknecht
Mary Sexton
Barbara Shallenberger
Rosana Skelton
Mary Minor Smith
Virginia Stacey
Ed and Jessica Stickney
Alieda M. Stone
Lisa Stone
Susan and John Talbot
Norma Tirrell and Gordon R. Bennett
Cindy A. Utterback
Delores J. Van Zyl
Barbara Wagner
Mignon and Ron Waterman
Wendy Weissman
Senator Carol Williams
Jeanne E. Wolverton

Bequests
Russell Erickson

Honorariums
Sidney O. Armstrong in honor of Suzie Judge
Debra Duffner in honor of Marilyn Maddison
Margery D. Eliason in honor of Sally Marion
Representative Julie French in honor of Rebecca French
Lois Hart in honor of Susan B. Anthony
Garth Haugland in honor of Ruth Haugland
Barbara J. Hunter in honor of Linda Carlson
Alyce Kuehn in honor of Ellen Alweis, Jean Borer and Kathy Wallingford
Brian L. Lewis in honor of Lita M. Murray
Liz Marchi in honor of Sheila Rice
Teresa McKeon in honor of Erica McKeon-Hanson
Eva C. Patten in honor of Leslie Patten and Alisan Patten
Linda E. Reed in honor of Paulene Reed and Samantha Cooley
Sheila Rice in honor of Linda Reed and Jodi Medlar
Marion H. Rosa in honor of Maureen Rude
Mike Schechtman in honor of Sheila Rice
Edwin Strommen in honor of Ellen Strommen
Diana Talcott in honor of Beth Jensen Rice
Elizabeth Marchi in honor of Sheila Rice
Jerry Williams in honor of Judy Williams

Memorials
Sandra Anderson in memory of Teresa L. Anderson
Penny Copps in memory of Florence Clark
Randy and Valerie Hanson in memory of Marion Hanson
Patricia Jaffray in memory of Grale O'Leary
Deborah Kottel in memory of Marge Kottel
Pam Lemelin in memory of Peg Krivec
Virginia M. Piatt in memory of Blanche Murray
Diana Talcott in memory of Marian Austin
Franke Wilmer in memory of Elise Walden

New Advisory Committee members

In June the Women’s Foundation of Montana welcomed two new advisory committee members.  Mandy Smoker Broaddus of Helena works for the Office of Public Instruction in the Indian Education Division where her work focuses on Indian Student Academics and Achievement.  An enrolled member of the Fort Peck Sioux and Assiniboine tribes, Mandy earned her BA in English (minor in Education) from Pepperdine University, a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Montana, and has completed all course work towards a Masters degree in American Indian Studies from UCLA.  For three years she served as an Administrator in an all-Indian public school on the Fort Peck Reservation.  Mandy has also taught various college level courses in Montana and Colorado.  In addition, Mandy is a published author.  Her first collection of poetry entitled, “Another Attempt at Rescue” was published by Hanging Loose Press in 2005.    

Valerie Taliman, also of Helena, is an enrolled citizen of the Navajo Nation, and Director of Communications for the Indian Law Resource Center.  Ms. Taliman owns Three Sisters Publishing and is a former editor of Indian Country Today newspaper and former co-producer of Native America Calling, a nationally syndicated Native talk radio show.   She is currently a columnist for Indian Country Today.

In 2003, Ms. Taliman co-chaired Amnesty International’s Indigenous Peoples Task Force which issued a groundbreaking report on human rights violations against Native peoples in the United States, Canada, and South America.  Ms. Taliman served on the board of Montana Conservation Voters, and the organizing committee of Montana’s 2006 Conference on Race.  She is also the proud mother of four college students.