“Girls Write Now is honored to partner with The PIMCO Foundation to launch this important initiative. Together, as an ever-growing community, we will elevate the voices of the next generation of writers and leaders.” – Maya Nussbaum, Founder & Executive Director, Girls Write Now
The PIMCO Foundation Launches WomenForward
The Coalition focuses on empowering women and girls around the world
Newport Beach, California (March 1, 2017) – The PIMCO Foundation, PIMCO’s charitable arm, has launched WomenForward, a coalition that includes 12 nonprofit partners working to empower girls and women around the world through inspired investment, amplified voices, and collective action.
On March 8, the group will call on the global community to commit to or increase investments in the lives of women and girls as part of International Women’s Day.
WomenForward partners work with diverse populations on a host of issues as they tackle the many obstacles preventing gender equality, including deeply ingrained societal behaviors and barriers. Initiatives include facilitating access to education for young women in post-conflict and developing countries; combatting rape culture by empowering survivors; championing girls’ voices by providing mentors; and helping low-income and immigrant women launch new careers and start or scale new businesses.
Although progress has been made toward gender equality, much work remains. Globally, women’s participation in the workforce is unequal to men’s; one in three women still experience physical or sexual violence; and twice as many girls as boys will never start school.
“The PIMCO Foundation and 12 of its female-focused grantees have come together as WomenForward – a coalition for change – because we believe partnerships are key to advancing rights for women and girls,” says Sarah Middleton, Executive Director of the PIMCO Foundation. “We can no longer rely on incremental change as stand-alone organizations; instead, we must team up, take action, and make the desired change happen.”
WomenForward coalition members include:
Callisto
Figure Skating in Harlem
Girls Write Now
Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance (GAIA)
Hot Bread Kitchen
Mercado Global
Plan International USA
Rising Tide Capital
SHE-CAN
Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE)
Thistle Farms
Trickle Up
To learn more, please visit: https://www.pimco.com/en-us/our-firm/foundation/introducing-womenforward and https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/53511-womenforward?locale=en.
About the PIMCO Foundation
The PIMCO Foundation is the philanthropic arm of PIMCO, based in Newport Beach, California, which helps people around the world to reach their full potential by engaging, empowering and investing in communities. It carries out its mission by identifying areas of urgent community need and volunteering time and financial resources to support high impact projects and programs. The Foundation’s website can be accessed directly at www.pimco.com/pimcofoundation and on social media @PIMCOFoundation.
About Girls Write Now
For nearly twenty years, Girls Write Now has been a global leader in the arts education space as the first writing and mentoring organization for girls. Girls Write Now has been distinguished three times by the White House as one of the nation’s top youth programs, twice by the Nonprofit Excellence Awards as one of New York’s top ten nonprofits, and a founder of the New City Council’s groundbreaking STARS Citywide Girls Initiative for funding parity of women’s programming. Recipient of the Youth INC Innovators Award, NBC Universal’s 21st Century Solutions prize for social innovation through media arts, and the Diane von Furstenberg (DVF) People’s Choice nomination, Girls Write Now has been named a Time Out New York top place to volunteer, and featured in The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Nation, Good Morning America, BuzzFeed, Forbes, Glamour Spain, and countless other major outlets. Girls Write Now mentees — over 95% girls of color and 90% high need — have performed from Lincoln Center to the United Nations, earned hundreds of Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and published original work in Newsweek, Elle India, AOL Cambio/Huffington Post, Chime for Change, The Toast, and Girls Write Now’s award-winning annual anthology. 100% of Girls Write Now seniors graduate and attend college, armed with portfolios and a strong sense of self. Girls Write Now mentors underserved young women to find their voices through the power of writing and community.
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