Manchester, N.H. (August 9, 2018) – Girls Inc. of New Hampshire announced today that is has received a $10,000 Targeted Grant from Eastern Bank, America’s oldest and largest mutual bank. The grant will support Girls Inc.’s Young Women’s Leadership (YWL) Program. Girls Inc.’s YWL Program is a research-based curriculum with an emphasis on leadership and advocacy. It empowers girls as they transition from teens to young women. Girls develop the skills, independence, and self-reliance to plan for their future and create goals. The program assists each girl in gaining self-confidence and an understanding of her unique, valuable place in her community so that she will lead others to improve the community. The goal of the program is to empower girls to take ideas, knowledge, and inspiration and turn it into action and create results.
Each year, the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation’s Targeted Grant program supports hundreds of community-based organizations working for progress on a specific issue in Eastern’s New England footprint. In 2018, in celebration of the Bank’s 200th anniversary and to honor its first depositor, Rebecca Sutton, Targeted Grants have been designated to support organizations addressing a range of issues that disproportionately impact women, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, human trafficking, health care, pay equity, and senior management and board representation. Girls Inc. of New Hampshire is among 170 nonprofits each receiving a $10,000 grant. In total, Eastern is granting $1.7 million in Targeted Grants this year to nonprofits in communities from New Hampshire to Cape Cod and throughout the South Shore, North Shore, Metro West, Merrimack Valley and Greater Boston.
“All girls have leadership potential and opportunities in all aspects of their lives. The Young Women’s Leadership Program is designed to give girls the tools to recognize their leadership skills and use them to enrich their communities,” said Cathy Duffy Cullity, CEO of Girls Inc. of New Hampshire. “Fuel her fire and she will change the world!”
Eastern’s Targeted Grant program this year creates new opportunities and resource for women in areas where assistance is needed the most. The facts are staggering:
– A woman is assaulted every nine seconds in the U.S. and one in three women has been a victim of physical brutality by an intimate partner, making intimate partner violence the single greatest cause of injury to women.
– In New Hampshire, women earn 76 cents for every dollar a man earns.
– In the sciences, women represent less than 25% of those employed in computer and mathematical occupations and only 15% in architecture and engineering. For women of color, this gap is even wider. Asian women, African-American women, and Latinas make up less than 10% of working scientists and engineers in the U.S.
– Only 32 women run Fortune 500 companies and only two are women of color. Less than 20% of all board seats in Fortune 1,000 companies are held by women.
“We believe in breaking down the barriers that stand between people and prosperity. That’s why Eastern is a strong advocate for the advancement of women,” said Bob Rivers, Chair and CEO of Eastern Bank. “With each Targeted Grant, we aim to enhance the lives of our neighbors and contribute to real progress around the advancement of women in our local communities. On behalf of everyone at Eastern, we congratulate this year’s Targeted Grant recipients and thank them for working to level the playing field.”
For a complete list of the 2018 Targeted Grant recipients, click here.
About Eastern Bank
Founded in 1818 and celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2018, Boston-based Eastern Bank is America’s oldest and largest mutual bank, with $11 billion in assets and over 120 locations serving communities in eastern Massachusetts, southern and coastal New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Eastern provides exceptional access to fairly priced banking, investment and insurance products and services for consumers and businesses of all sizes, and for the eighth consecutive year is the #1 U.S. Small Business Administration lender in New England. Eastern Bank, which includes Eastern Wealth Management and Eastern Insurance, is known for its outspoken advocacy and community support that has exceeded more than $110 million in charitable giving since 1999. The Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation is a leader in corporate philanthropy and serves as the charitable arm of Eastern Bank. An inclusive company, Eastern employs 1,900+ deeply committed professionals who value relationships with their customers, colleagues and communities. Join us for good at www.easternbank.com and follow Eastern on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
About Girls Inc.
Girls Inc. of New Hampshire is a non-profit organization for girls ages 5 to 18 that inspires all girls to be strong (through healthy living), smart (through education), and bold (through independence). It provides thousands of girls with life-changing experiences and solutions to the unique challenges girls face. The Girls Inc. experience consists of people, an environment, and programming that empower girls to succeed.
The organization’s programs address critical areas such as math and science education, pregnancy and drug abuse prevention, media and economic literacy, adolescent health, violence prevention, week summer leadership program and activities and field trips during school vacation weeks.
To learn more about Girls Inc. of New Hampshire, visit www.girlsincnewhampshire.org.