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Full Circle News

investing...informing...inspiring

February 2023


AAWGT doesn’t do dreary!

February is often the month when we’ve had enough of winter cold and gray skies. But AAWGT is busy engaging members and the wider community in interesting and meaningful things to do and TO LEARN! Our Grants team is responding to new grant applications coming in (see notification below for the application deadline and the opportunity for a few more members to serve as grant reviewers). We also continue to carry out another aspect of our mission – to engage and educate about the issues affecting women and families in our community. So please plan to join us for our February 8 program A View From the Inside (click here to register) and save the date for our Women in Leadership event on March 15. Looking ahead, stay tuned for more information about AAWGT’s annual Open House on April 19.

Sincerely,

Susan Cook
President		 Margaret Davis
Vice President

Grantee Spotlight: Charting Careers

Mentoring, College & Career Readiness and Family Partnership Services

Charting Careers is deeply grateful to have received a $20,000 AAWGT grant to support their Mentoring, College & Career Readiness and Family Partnership services. Programming includes long-term, wrap-around support for 45 young people and their families who face systemic inequities and who have been disproportionately and negatively impacted by the pandemic. The grant has helped make it possible to provide high-quality, in-person, after-school programming to their elementary and middle school students, including tutoring, skill development, outside play and more. This year they doubled the amount of time elementary and middle school students spend with them while sustaining their weekly high school sessions and adding more support for their college students.
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Here are a few outcomes and stories:

  • One of their current seniors has been working with her mentor and Charting Careers’ volunteer college advisor and has already been accepted into three colleges! She will be the first in her family to go to college.
  • One hundred percent of their students are setting and achieving goals, like improving their reading grades and trying a new school club.
  • Many caregivers are setting and achieving goals, like getting a new job and following through with mental health services.
  • All 11 of their high school graduates are in college! One is in her second year playing basketball at Elmira College, another is thriving at Towson University, one is studying engineering at UMBC, and eight are attending community college.
  • With the continued impact of the pandemic, Charting Careers has seen dramatic increases in family needs. Staff funded in part through the AAWGT grant have been hard at work to help meet those needs. For example, one family was in crisis. The family also did not have sufficient food, clothing or basic furniture and two of the children experienced a traumatic event. Charting Careers was able to help the family access immediate and ongoing counseling, provide social support, meet food and clothing needs and connect the family with another organization that is meeting their furniture needs.

This kind of long-term, wraparound support is possible because of AAWGT’s continued investment in the mission of Charting Careers

News from the Racial Equity Study Group

The Racial Equity Study Group (RESG) was formed following a presentation by the Racial Equity Institute to the Annapolis community in November 2018.  Initially a small group meeting in person, the RESG now meets on Zoom and has drawn over 70 members to its discussions. RESG has influenced AAWGT’s grant process, education programs, membership recruitment and the formation of a DEIA (Diversity, Equity Inclusion and Accessibility) committee.

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During the last four years, RESG has met monthly and incorporated a variety of opportunities to learn about how racism has and does impact our world. Field trips to museums and historic sites, speakers including historians, educators, and leaders in the local non-profit and development community as well as presentations from our own members have helped RESG members grow in broader understanding and knowledge.

Our January meeting touched on topics such as school redistricting, increased parent interest in school curriculum in some states and recently installed portraits of Black Maryland leaders in the Maryland State House. Plans for spring include visiting the Banneker-Douglass Museum, Frederick Douglass Museum and Cultural Center and Eltonia-Carr ’s Beach-Sparrow’s Beach, to be preserved as a city park.

We continue to seek out community members to share their perspectives on local and regional efforts to broaden our understanding of important issues. Many of our members volunteer in local organizations supporting youth education and civil rights.

AAWGT members who wish to join the Racial Equity Study Group may access information on our website, www.givingtogether.org.


► Save the Date!

Women in Leadership
Mental Health: The Impact on our Collective Psyche

March 15, 6-7 pm, via Zoom

Our speaker will be Aliya Jones, MD, Luminis Health medical director

► AAWGT Open House

April 19, 2023


Meet the 2023 Steering Committee


2023 Officers, Chairs and Assistant Chairs

President: Susan Cook
Vice President: Margaret Davis
Treasurer: Ellen Shiery
Assistant Treasurer: Mary Smith
Secretary: Kathleen Kryza
Assistant Secretary: Liz Gillette

Education and Program Committee: Kate Fritz, chair; Cassandra Moore, assistant chair
Event Logistics: Lisa Ausherman, chair; Nikki Morris, assistant chair
Governance Committee: Sue Russell, chair; Katherine Barnett and Barbara Goyette, assistant chairs
Grants Committee: Karen Smith, chair; Ginger From and Jean Mitchell, assistant chairs
Grants Systems Committee: Barbara Haight, chair; Cindy Whittle, assistant chair
Leadership Development and Nominating Committee: Michelle Hellstern, chair; Elaine Shanley, assistant chair
Marketing and Communications Committee: Linda Eggbeer, chair; Donna Anderson, assistant chair
Membership and Outreach Committee: Sue Pitchford, chair; Shelley Rubin and Cathleen Sparrow, assistant chairs
Post Grants Evaluation Committee: Caroline Purdy, chair; Bev Nash and Shari Friedman, assistant chairs Web/IT Systems: Maryann Gosnell; chair; Joyce Patten, assistant chair

The Steering Committee is comprised of the officers and the chairs and assistant chairs of all AAWGT Committees.

A Warm Welcome to Our Newest Members: Paula Abernethy, Shivaugn Ahem, Kathy Shearer, Ruth Trilli


Find us on Facebook:
Anne Arundel Women Giving Together | giving@givingtogether.org
AAWGT is a component fund of the Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County
AAWGT is a member of Philanos: Accelerating Philanthropy through Women’s Collective Giving


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