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Aurora Women’s Empowerment Foundation Endowment Fund

Established 1991

The Aurora Women’s Empowerment Foundation Fund (originally named the YWCA Aurora Endowment Fund) was established in 1991 as a way for caring community members to help fund an impressive array of female-focused charitable programs benefitting the Aurora area.

The nonprofit foundation has served the Aurora community since 1893 when a group of forward-thinking Aurora women motivated to form an organization expressly for women, met in the Todd Building at 44 West Downer Place in Aurora. That first meeting led to the founding of the Young Women’s Christian Association of Aurora, Illinois in 1894, which years later became known as the Aurora YWCA.

Of particular note was that the organization’s first outreach program began in 1895 with a “noon rest for working girls” initiative. This outreach program helped to ensure that women working in area factories had one break each workday so they could eat something and use the washroom, something that was not offered at most businesses. The success of this first outreach program set in motion a series of focused activities on improving and enriching lives for Aurora women.

In 1906, the Aurora YWCA became a charter member of the YWCA of the USA and began decades of steady growth which included sponsored memberships for area youth to engage in special programs and camps designed to strengthen their life skills, leadership abilities, and employment opportunities.

Flash forward over a hundred years. When Aurora YWCA sold its building in 2018, the proceeds were used to form an endowment earmarked for the betterment of Aurora women and girls…and with that, Aurora YWCA transformed into the Aurora Women’s Empowerment Foundation (AWEF).

Today AWEF is an all-volunteer and board-run nonprofit that envisions a prosperous and vibrant Aurora that fully embraces and supports a reimagined women’s empowerment movement so that women and girls of all ages, races, ethnicities, and income levels feel respected and valued, and are nurtured to achieve their fullest potential.

AWEF’s mission is to elevate and empower Aurora-area women and future women by making grants to 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofits engaged in meaningful, measurable work that helps women over the hurdles of inequity and exclusion, propelling them forward with life-changing programs and services.

The leading core values at the center of AWEF’s work are to:

  • pay it forward so other women have the resources and are nurtured to grow into the fullest expressions of themselves
  • engage, collaborate, and partner with results-focused, tax-exempt nonprofits who work to empower and elevate women and girls
  • create diverse, equitable, and inclusive communities where women and girls feel that they belong
  • conduct all work with integrity, transparency, fairness, and compassion WITH a strong bias towards saying “yes” to those submitting letters of intent (LOIs) and grant proposals
  • serve as a catalyst for real and lasting change through funding programs that promote and engender the ethical, equitable treatment of women and girls now and in the future.

I am incredibly grateful for the generosity of the Zari Foundation Scholarship and the Community Foundation in supporting my education. I am majoring in mechanical engineering with a concentration in aerospace engineering at the Rose-Hulman Institue of Technology. In my spare time, I volunteer on campus, in the community and I’m also the principal violist in the symphony orchestra. I hope to make an impact on the next chapter of space exploration by eventually working at a groundbreaking aerospace company such as SpaceX or NASA.

Taytum Newell

Albert M. Zari Scholarship Recipient

Education is important to us. We support causes that touch our lives and align with our values. We believe in paying it forward. We are here for a short time,, and it is the next generation that will take on what we leave behind.

Michelle Emanuel

Donor and Past Scholarship Recipient

Grant funds from the Community Foundation helped provide updated technology. These upgrades were transformative. By creating new time saving processes, it turned us into a more efficient organization.

Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry

Grantee

YEP was a great experience to have in high school. I became a more confident person, someone with a lot more perspective. Coming from a small school, YEP allowed me to branch out into my community, meet students from other schools, and learn about their backgrounds. I made some great friends and still keep in touch with them today.

Abby Vagnoni

YEP Alumni

Give your gift of time and see what it means to the people you impact. Helping others is what life is all about.

Neal Ormond

Donor & Fund Advisor

Being a part of the Community Foundation scholarship committee is the highlight of my year. For many, a scholarship from the CFFRV is the reason they are able to continue reaching for their dreams and changing the future of our world. I hope each recipients knows just how inspirational they are to those of us who are lucky enough to read their stories.

Jessica Breugelmans

Scholarship Committee Member and Board Member

YEP has made me realize the importance of being involved in my community, and how to make a difference. There are a lot of problems in the world but if we can do everything that we can to help the world will become a better place. YEP has helped me realize this and encouraged me to help more people in the future.

Madi Porter

YEP Member

Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley

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