Inspire Atlanta 2023

Success isn't just about what you accomplish in life, it's what you inspire others to do!

In honor of my mom, I am participating in the Atlanta Women's Foundation Inspire Cohort class of 2023!

As many of you know, I unexpectedly lost my mom in April of 2022.  My Mom was known for her kindness and generosity, donating many hours of her time to organizations serving people in need.  The Central Iowa Shelter and Services organization is an organization that provides shelter to the homeless, but they also offer many services including case management, health and wellness programming, and educational opportunities for clients to utilize daily.  This organization was particularly important to my mom because my brother was the beneficiary of many of their services due to mental health and addiction issues.  

Since mom's passing, I've been looking for a way to honor her and carry on her legacy of kindness and generosity.  When I was nominated by the company I work for, Cox Enterprises, to be part of the 2023 Inspire Cohort with the Atlanta Women's Foundation (AWF), it seemed like the perfect fit!  AWF has made amazing strides for women over the past several years, providing access to workforce development, higher education, and asset building for tens of thousands of women living in poverty.  I'm sure you can see the obvious parallels to the work my mom did, but the work that AWF does also really resonates with me.  When my daughter Morgan was a toddler, I was a single mom and times were tough!  More than 1/2 of my income went towards rent.  To ensure that I had money for child care, groceries, car payment, insurance, utilities, and all the other things we needed for day-to-day life, I had to make really hard decisions about which bills were going to get paid and often times resorted to selling my belongings on eBay when my expenses exceeded my income.  I didn't have a college degree at the time, which was a barrier to jobs with higher income potential.  I was fortunate that I had an amazing support system in my family and I knew if things got really bad, I had help.  Many women in my situation aren't as fortunate.  I want to do my part to make a difference in the lives of women and girls in my community that find themselves in similar, or much worse, circumstances often times through no fault of their own.

There are hundreds of thousands of women and girls living in Atlanta – nearly a quarter of them are living below the poverty line. As the only public foundation in the state of Georgia solely dedicated to women and girls, The Atlanta Women’s Foundation (AWF) is uniquely positioned to address the barriers that women and girls in poverty face – barriers like access to life skills, education, workforce opportunities, and mental and physical wellbeing. 

I am fundraising on behalf of the AWF to fulfill its mission to be a catalyst for change in the lives of women and girls.  The largest demographic living in poverty in Atlanta are Females 25 – 34, followed by Females 18 – 24 and that is why I chose to make an impact right now – right here in our community. 

While the work to change women’s lives continues, AWF is making a 5-year commitment to girls living in poverty in our Metro Atlanta community. Our goal is to grant $500,000 annually in June to at least 10 girl-serving organizations with the launch of a new grant program, All Girls Forward.  That is a total of $2.5 million over the next five years invested in local girls’ education and wellbeing. Afterschool programs, college prep, health and wellness activities, pregnancy prevention programs and more will be funded through this grant.

I am honored to be a part of raising funds for the inaugural year of All Girls Forward and to help continue AWF’s work with women – I have personally donated $1000 to kick off my fundraising campaign.  I hope you’ll join me in donating to this very worthy cause and carrying on my mom's legacy!