YOUNGSTOWN/WARREN, Ohio – Donors and supporters of the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley’s Fund for Women & Girls recently heard presentations from three local nonprofits and awarded the annual Impact Builder Grants to organizations working with young women in the Valley.
As a community-led fund, supporters of the Fund for Women & Girls have a say in how grants – this year totaling $2,900 – are awarded. After hearing presentations from three finalists, the roughly 25 attendees cast their vote and selected the winner of the $1,400 grand prize: Black House Farmz for its youth community gardening program. The program will help set up a community garden, give kids seeds and equipment to start small gardens at home, and run a series of workshops and community events over the next year and a half.
With the second-place prize, Girls on the Run East Central Ohio chapter will expand coach training for its cross-country running programs in Mahoning County. Part of a nationwide program, Girls on the Run uses running and outdoor activity as an entry point to help teenage girls with self-esteem, conflict resolution and teamwork skills. In third place was the Liberty Leopard Sports Hall of Fame, which will use its funding to support team-building and communication skills for its girls basketball teams.
“An important thread we saw between this year’s Impact Builder Grant finalists was that big change always starts somewhere small. Whether it’s one garden plot in Youngstown or building positive communication skills with teammates, those activities set the stage for bigger changes in communities,” says Mae Medore, staff liaison for the Fund for Women & Girls. “It’s always wonderful to see Fund for Women & Girls supporters engaging with the finalists and getting to know them beyond just their five-minute presentation, and this year was no different.”
Also presenting at the event was Anika Jacobs, the grand prize winner of the 2024 Impact Builder Grant, who spoke about the impact the funding had on Promise Community Hub’s Youngstown Summer Experience summer camp. Among the highlights, she said, was helping kids get certified in useful skills such as CPR, ServSafe and childcare.
As a community-led fund, every supporter to the Fund for Women & Girls – from donors to grantees to Gems of the Valley honorees – gets a voice in making grant awards. For the Microfunding Event, the fund’s Guiding Circle selects finalists from all received applications, with the finalists then giving a brief presentation and answering audience questions about the program they’re seeking funding for.
For more information on the Fund for Women & Girls or to make a donation, visit CFMV.org/fund-for-women-girls.
Pictured at top: Elaine Jacobs (Liberty Leopards), Ashlee Taylor (Black House Farmz) and Brian Ohm (Girls on the Run East Central Ohio chapter) were the finalists for the 2025 Fund for Women & Girls Impact Builder Grant.