Melissa Flores: Imagine all the amazing things that women could do if we just spoke up a little bit more. Diana Rivera: Yeah. It's like basically about using our voices because we have them and we just need to be pushed to use them Alexandra Sossa: Latina helping and empower other Latinas. Maggie Sifuentes: And it's a safe environment to make mistakes and grow from them. Diane Moca: Their backgrounds, their ages, and their talents may be different, but these women all have the same goal, inspiring other women to rise to their challenges and fulfill their potential. They all tapped into a critical resource to achieve their mission. Aisha McBurrows: We are so, first of all, appreciative to receive the grant dollars. Alyssa Edwards: We're bringing them to the people instead of having them come to us. Diane Moca: And one special organization is bringing needed dollars to some amazing people running programs that lift up women so they can shine. The Aurora Women's Empowerment Foundation awarded grants to 10 worthy nonprofits devoted to the same collective cause. Madelyn Schotz: We really just wanted to create a safe space for anyone in our school really to come and discuss feminine issues. Nisha Floyd: Empowering these young girls now, so when it's their time to start the banking process, they feel really comfortable. Diane Moca: At Talking Cities Aurora, we want to share how each grant recipient is changing the world, like the first three focused on financial, legal, and business education. Nisha Floyd: Studies show that we talk about money way too late in life when you're making it. We believe through our own analysis, through our own readings and understanding of financial literacy, it should be spoken about and learned at a very early age. Diane Moca: Nisha Floyd is the community development relationship manager at Woodforest National Bank and a board member for the Aurora Public Library Foundation, which received a grant to launch a financial education series called Imagine The Possibilities. Nisha Floyd: Financial literacy isn't necessarily directly spoken about in school. Our goal is to kind of target the 15 to 19 year old age group, young women typically in marginalized communities, either immigrant families, low to moderate income census tracks, where they can come in via choice, like a club, where they come to the library. From 8:30 in the morning until 2:30, we will go through in a very interactive manner financial literacy. We'll talk about budgeting, needs versus wants, investing. When you get a paycheck, what are all the taxes mean? How do you open a bank account? And maybe the last session would be, the last hour of our class to talk about if you wanted to get a loan for a car or for a home. Diane Moca: When women are earning money, they need to protect themselves from exploitation in the workplace. That's the battle Alexandra Sossa is fighting. She's the executive director of the Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project, or FLAP, which helps improve conditions for low income women who work in various labor intensive industries. FLAP used the grant to create new women's circles that provide emergency financial assistance, legal support, and critical education. Alexandra Sossa: With the woman circles, what we do is empower Latino women to know what their rights are. Many of these women had been abused at work. They are discriminated, no getting paid for overtime, minimum wage, and have a lot of injuries at work. We are empowering them, giving the tools they need to fight for their rights. They are the ones who are from workers in the field. They are the ones in the restaurants. They are the ones in the greenhouse, in the nursery house. They are the ones in the factories, the food factories, providing the food that we eat every day. They are the ones supporting the economy in the United States. Unfortunately, it took a pandemic for people to realize how important are those essential workers who bring those resources to us. Thanks to them, many of us could be working from home when they are in the field risking their lives. We run into issues when the woman has been brought to this country from different countries like in Latin America, like Mexico, Colombia, other countries, with the promise that, for example, they're going to be working in a restaurant as a waitress. But once they are here, they end be human labor trafficking or sex trafficking. It's our mission to create awareness for these Latin women around those issues. Diane Moca: Do you know anyone in particular whose story you can share that your organization helped? Alexandra Sossa: Yes, of course. I always share this story that is close to my heart is this young lady that I met many years ago and she was in a farm working. Unfortunately, she was raped by the owner of the farm every day until I ran close to her and she attended a community legal education workshop. We empowered her and we let her know that it is not right and you need to run away from this situation. We partner with the Mexican counselor at the time and we're able to take this woman out of that situation. She actually lives now in California and now she's an attorney. Diane Moca: She's an attorney? Alexandra Sossa: Yes. Diane Moca: Wow! Without your resources, money, encouragement, expertise, she would not have been able to rise up. Alexandra Sossa: She never will know that she has rights and she will be always thinking that, "I'm undocumented. I'm working for this person. He's kind of like my owner and he can do whatever he wants with me." It took for us sometime to educate her, but finally, she got it and now she's a successful for professional. Diane Moca: But so many women cannot even go to work unless they have a reliable place to bring their children. As the director of the Women's Business Development Center, Aisha McBurrows supports the women who own those childcare businesses. The center used the grant for an early childhood education entrepreneurial program, offering guidance to childcare providers who want to expand to fill the growing need for quality childcare in Aurora. What do those women business owners need that maybe they're not getting now? Aisha McBurrows: Well, a lot of them are looking to now move from a home-based daycare to a center. A lot of times that transition can be very challenging. We set up these classes where it's about three hours a week and they come together with other childcare, whether they're in the home or a center base, and they come together and we talk about the different challenges, and we talk about the different resources. Give them resources, talk about them, and connect them with other professionals that can kind of take them even a little bit further. Small businesses really are the backbone of our country. If we don't zone in and help our small businesses, then we're in trouble. How do we increase that economic growth? Well, people have to go to work. And then if you're working and you have children, which I'm a parent, I'm a mom of two teenagers, so whew! But you need that support, especially when they're younger. You need to have a daycare center or a place where you feel that your child is safe and taken care of and learning and growing, while you can take that focus and go work and make the money that you need so that you can recycle that money into the neighborhood and things like that to keep the city going. Diane Moca: The next two grant recipients are helping women facing tough times. Alyssa Edwards: You can just see the relief on like their faces, like just how excited and happy they are to have these products. Because for people who can't afford these products, it might be the choice between food or menstrual hygiene products. That's like something that no one should have to choose between. Diane Moca: The Aurora Interfaith Food Pantry is working to make sure no woman has to face that dilemma. Alyssa Edwards is the marketing manager for the pantry, which used the foundation money to expand its pantry popups for women that offer feminine hygiene and other specialty products. One in five girls can't afford tampons and pads that often aren't available at a traditional pantry. Alyssa Edwards: The need is very great, and it's important because this could be the reason a young girl can go to school or a woman could go to an interview or possibly to work. Some people have to call off if they don't have these hygiene products. When we purchase these products, we purchase them at full price, compared to when we get food in. It's way more costly for us to do this. And plus, we wouldn't be able to drive to different locations either. Diane Moca: The grant made a big difference. Alyssa Edwards: Oh yes, yes. We are so thankful for this, being able to grow this program, to be able to do this once a month, to be able to provide women and children and infants with things that they all need. Diane Moca: Women need more than just doctors when they're facing a health crisis. Omar Ramos is the program development and operations manager for the Waterford Place Cancer Resource Center, which runs a salon providing free services to those undergoing treatment. The center used the grant to expand its selection of medical wigs. How a person feels about themselves and how they look and feel about the way they look when they go out in the community, does that impact their health and their ability to recover? Omar Ramos: Very much so. I think that the psychosocial aspect of integrating these services into their existing medical treatments is what is a game changer. By obtaining one of these specialized wigs, they can look just like they've always looked and feel like they've always felt without having the need to disclose the very private nature of their medical condition. For people of color to be represented in medical hair loss specifically, that is the challenge. We really often recommend synthetic wigs, primarily because they're easier to care for as someone's going through the cancer treatment. Since the receipt of this grant, we've received about 90 individuals who've come to our salon, and over 40% of those individuals were people of color. We even had an individual drive three hours from Madison, Wisconsin to come to Aurora, Illinois to obtain one of these very specialized coils to locs wigs. Diane Moca: The importance of representation is paramount to the next two grantees. Paul-Jordan Jansen: The fact that we can bring her work and bring it to a place where it's fully realized I just think is incredible. Now with the help of the Women's Empowerment Foundation, we're able to do it tenfold and create an opportunity for Nancy to really take the time to write something and try something she hasn't done before and writing a musical. Diane Moca: When women write and direct, they do it through the lens of the female perspective, something that's been lacking in the world of theater, but the grant is helping to shine a spotlight on it. Paul-Jordan Jansen is the associate artistic producer for the Paramount Theater and the musical theater administrator for the Paramount School of the Arts. They're using the money to support two female focused theater programs. Paul-Jordan Jansen: The first one is through the Paramount School of the Arts, and that is our theater for young audiences program. We're featuring a show that is featuring a female protagonist in the play Adalita. The whole purpose of this theater for young audiences program is to be able to tour this production once it's fully developed across all of Aurora, to all these different schools that exist around here at no cost to the school. I personally am eternally grateful for this funding and to be able to share this opportunity with the Paramount or share in this opportunity with Paramount to tip the scales and to be able to support this work and to support these writers like Nancy García Loza, who is our commissioned writer for the Inception Project, who's working on a musical adaptation of her audio play that is going to be produced by Paramount. Diane Moca: It's so important girls see women on stage and in leadership roles, which they can do in Girl Scouts. Maggie Sifuentes is finding those leaders. She is a community program specialist with Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois. I know a lot about girl Scouts because I was a Girl Scout, and I was a leader of Girl Scouts for many years. I was surprised to learn that 4% of the adult volunteers in Girl Scouts identify as Latina. Only 4%. The grant is going to help create Latina's Taking the Lead in this Girl Scout organization. What is that? Maggie Sifuentes: Latina's Taking the Lead is a program for adult women who are looking to empower themselves and their families and create an environment where they can grow together. Diane Moca: How is this grant and this program going to address the disparity of adult leaders and volunteers in Girl Scouts where there isn't sufficient representation for the Latina community? Maggie Sifuentes: It's all about getting our program to families who haven't done it before. If you don't know about it, you're not exactly connecting with it. Really it's educating our communities in programs that are for everybody. Through the grant, we were able to provide six sessions for women who came in and learned a lot about their community. A lot of people who came to the presentations to deliver these presentations really created an environment where people felt comfortable asking the questions that they don't otherwise. Girl Scouts really focuses on developing women of confidence and character who make the world a better place. We see that not just in our girls, but our leaders and adult participants that you see that growth. And it's amazing. Diane Moca: But none of it would be possible without the foundation. Linda Pilmer: The board of directors are volunteers whom are all working full-time in the community. The executive director then is able to work with the organizations to implement ideas, do some planning. Diane Moca: We are with Linda Pilmer and she is a secretary for the board of directors for the Aurora Women's Empowerment Foundation. They give out grants to nonprofits that help empower women. The organization was founded in 2018. Linda, what was the origin story? Why was the organization founded? Linda Pilmer: The capital for the investment fund is the proceeds from the sale of the Aurora YWCA property, which was formerly located at 201 North River Street in Aurora. The YWCA was an integral part of the Aurora community for nearly a hundred years, offering programs to women and children, in addition to working towards elimination of racism. Diane Moca: Why is this important to you to spend your time volunteering for this organization? Linda Pilmer: My first volunteer role out of college was with the Aurora YWCA. I truly believe in the mission, that I was given opportunities, which has helped me grow in the community, in my career, in my everyday life, that I'm hoping other women and girls can and will take advantage of. Diane Moca: The final three remarkable young ladies recognize the value of community in supporting their peers. Madelyn Schotz: I feel a lot safer in my school knowing I have this community, and it just feels great to have an impact on people. So many people have come up to me and other members of the board just to thank us for starting this club and giving them a safe environment as well. It just makes me feel like I've really accomplished something important, and like I'm really helping the community at my school. Diane Moca: Madelyn Schotz helped her classmates at Metea Valley High School by creating a safe space to talk about feminine issues as the co-founder and co-president of Educate, Elevate, and Empower Club. Madelyn Schotz: Well, a lot of people think that in high school, you don't face as many problems as you do in the real world, but women still face so many issues, even at a high school age. I faced issues where I felt unsafe in my own schools. It's just really nice to have a club where it's judgment free. You can make friends with anyone. Well, we had a big event actually earlier in the month for women's empowerment. It was a big brunch. We had speakers come in. We had crafts. Regina Wardrobe came and spoke. She's so inspiring. We used a lot of our money on that. A self-defense company came in. It was really important to us to find someone who was super qualified and really just fit like all the right descriptions and we found strictly self-defense. Diane Moca: Learning how to be strong in the face of a threat is important both physically and emotionally. Diana Rivera wanted to help girls boost their mental strength by fostering a supportive environment. That's why she's the co-leader for the new Dare to be Rare Girl Empowerment Club at the Alive Center for teens. Diana Rivera: Basically our goal is to empower young girls and to create a sense of belonging. Diane Moca: How do you do that? What is the grant going to provide that will help you to do that? Diana Rivera: The grant basically funds all of our activities that we do and each activity has like open-ended questions. Diane Moca: Why do you think it was important to you to have a girl empowerment club? Diana Rivera: Well, it's important to me because I see young girls who are going through the same things that I went through at that age. It's important for girls to have advice, like be given advice, and a support group so that they feel confident in themselves and what they want to do in the future. Diane Moca: What did you go through? Do you mind sharing a little? Diana Rivera: Yeah. I think something that's like pretty common for a lot of teens and young girls is like depression. I guess I felt unmotivated and I guess I felt that I didn't have something important to give to others. I think right now my dream is to be an OBGYN. Diane Moca: That's a big dream. Wow! How do you think some of the things that you're doing as a leader at Alive Center are helping you towards that dream? Diana Rivera: I guess building my confidence and my leadership skills, my communication skills, which I only recently started doing, but I've seen an improvement. Diane Moca: A whole room full of girls can learn how to build those critical skills and create their own lofty goals when they are inspired by a successful woman. That's why Melissa Flores helped develop a new lunch and learn program as the co-president of the Empowered Women of the Future Club at West Aurora High School. Melissa Flores: Every month, our club uses the grant money to fund for a hundred lunches to be served during lunch for girls, and then we bring in someone to mentor these girls. High school is like really like a big time for self-discovery. You're figuring out who you want to be in life, and you're getting a lot of harmful messages, whether it's from school gossip or girl on girl hey or being discouraged by your current boyfriend or partner or whoever you're talking to really. On the back of the shirts that we have, that we hand to every single girl who comes to an Empowered Women of the Future meeting is a shirt that says "Empowered Women of the Future." And on the back, it says "Dream Bigger," reminding girls that you don't have to limit yourself just because of where you are right now. You have the opportunity for so much growth. And that's really what we want girls to know. You're powerful. Diane Moca: You could have all these ideas, but without those resources and that grant, you might not have been able to implement it. Melissa Flores: Yeah. Diane Moca: It's wonderful that you've taken that money and really done something great with it. Melissa Flores: I have two younger sisters who are going into high school right as I leave and they tell me that they really like the work that I do. They'll steal my Empowered Women of the Future shirts. They'll fight over it and they'll take it to school and their friends talk about it too. I think I am making a bit of an impact. Diane Moca: Like Melissa, all of the grantees are making a difference in our community thanks to their passions and the money from the foundation. The Aurora Women's Empowerment Foundation has only been around a few short years. But in that time, they have given grants to nonprofit organizations that have impacted thousands of girls and women in the Aurora area and those impacts will continue for years to come. For Talking Cities, I'm Diane Moca.