DFW Supports Peace Corps’ Let Girls Learn Program
On March 8th – International Women’s Day – Dining for Women announced its first Strategic Partnership with a $100,000 commitment to the Peace Corps’ Let Girls Learn Fund in support of girls’ education. On that day, we were honored to participate in a special event with First Lady Michelle Obama in Washington DC to support the Let Girls Learn Initiative. (See White House Fact Sheet)
As you may recall, the First Lady launched the Let Girls Learn Initiative last year to address the challenges preventing 62 million girls from attending and completing school, and from realizing their potential as adults. Let Girls Learn is being implemented through the Peace Corps, Department of State, United States Agency for International Development, and Millennium Challenge Corporation.
DFW’s $100,000 commitment will fund grassroots, community-driven projects that address barriers to girls’ education and improve the quality of that education. One hundred percent of DFW’s donated dollars will be used on the ground to help adolescent girls in developing countries receive an education.
This partnership is only possible due to your generosity and your shared passion for helping women and girls. Last year, we exceeded $1 million in program donations for the first time ever in a single year! This surpassed our commitments to our featured and sustained grantees, which allowed us to award this grant to the Peace Corps’ Let Girls Learn Fund.
Girls’ education has always been one of the primary focus areas for DFW’s grants program. We know that educating girls is key to transforming lives, eradicating poverty and ensuring gender equity. We are now building upon our featured grants program and moving forward with our 2020 Vision by proactively investing in one of the most pressing issues affecting women and girls.
It is anticipated that, in total, the Peace Corps’ Let Girls Learn projects funded by DFW will impact more than 50,000 people both directly and indirectly.
Our partnership with the Peace Corps is an extremely good fit for Dining for Women as our missions and cultures align so well. We both work at the grassroots level, often at the “last mile” in the most remote and poverty-stricken communities in the world. We share the goal of creating sustainable change abroad by collaborating with local leaders on community-driven solutions, and by mobilizing people in the U.S. to become global citizens. Throughout our chapters, there are many DFW members who served in the Peace Corps – we are sure they are cheering right now!
This is an extremely proud moment for DFW and we share it all with you. By supporting the Peace Corps’ Let Girls Learn Fund, we are opening doors for learning, allowing girls to control their own destinies, and improving families, communities, and countries.
Thank you for helping us change the world!
Beth Ellen Holimon
Executive Director
Barb Collins
Co-Founder & Board Chair
Marsha Wallace
Co-Founder