At February 9’s education session, “The Geography and Color of Anne Arundel County Poverty,” this question was posted to the Q&A: What is AAWGT Doing About All of This?

That question really caught my attention. And so, what are we doing?

First off, we give grants to 7 or 8 local nonprofits each year. In total, over 15 years, we have awarded over $1.4 million in grants. If you look at who has gotten grants over the years, you will see the depth and variety of societal issues addressed. Grantees’ programs have included elementary-school reading tutoring, homeless shelters, immigration, housing and homelessness, post-incarceration, foster care, technology accessibility, job training, academic and career training, empowerment for teenage girls, after-school arts, crisis intervention, and health screening, to name just a few. A complete list of our grantees can be found here.  

A second important part of AAWGT’s mission is our education sessions. We hold three sessions each year on topics that are relevant to our community. Over the years, we’ve held sessions about issues facing women veterans, food security, transportation in our county, early childhood, health inequity, gaps in education, affordable housing, maternal and infant mortality. Our ultimate goal of these sessions is to explain an issue and present an action plan for our attendees to address the issue.

The homepage of our website shows how we Invest, Inform and Inspire. Those three words guide us when we answer the question, “What are we doing about all of this?”