The Women’s and Girls’ Fund

The Women’s and Girls’ Fund (WGF) is primarily a volunteer effort supported by Kern Community Foundation (KCF). The WGF is guided by the leadership of the Vision Committee and Community Advisors. The assets of the Fund are professionally managed and invested by KCF, providing oversight of Fund grant decisions.

WE will transform the lives of women and girls in Kern County by mobilizing the power and passion of women working together.

Women Educate to create awareness of women’s and girls’ needs unmet by current strategies.
Women Endow a permanent fund whose annual yield supports programs benefitting women and girls throughout Kern County.
Women Empower one another and our girls to become philanthropists and advocates of positive social change.

2020 Report on the Status of Women and Girls in Kern County

Full Report

Executive Summary

This report is a true labor of love, compiled as a gift to our community by The WGF at KCF.

Only published once every five years.

Grantmaking

$14,000 – Open Door Network: Teen Mothers Transcending. The funding will launch a pilot project to assist five teen mothers in Kern County by removing barriers to education. Teen mothers will be able to return to the classroom because they will have childcare, study hall, and life skills training to help them achieve their educational goals.
$25,000—The Mission at Kern County: From Bondage to Empowerment. The funding will provide ongoing support for a continuing program of The Mission—the transitional housing program for women with children. Women living in homelessness and addiction can bring their children into transitional housing after they spend one year in the Lee and Krystyna Jamieson Recovery Home for Women and Children. At the transitional housing unit, they are provided life skills training and vocational training, through Bakersfield College’s Project Hire-Up, which trains for living wage jobs.
$25,000—United Way of Kern County: Professional Development Internship Program. The funding will support two interns working at United Way as they develop the office and advocacy skills necessary to obtain a living wage job at a local nonprofit agency.
$19,000—Global Family Care Network: Fostering Academic Futures for High-Risk Foster Youth: This grant will fund supplies and equipment for the learning lab and salaries for tutors at the Daughter Project Girls Home, which is a Short Term Residential Treatment Facility for commercially sexually exploited girls.

WGF’s Grantmaking Page

Submit Letter of Interest (LOI)

Judi McCarthy Philanthropy Awards

This award is given to a young woman who has made exceptional contributions of her time, talent, and treasure to improve the quality of life in Kern County. The nominations for the 2024 Judi McCarthy Young Woman in Philanthropy Award and the 2024 Judi McCarthy Woman in Philanthropy Award will open at the end of 2023.

2023 Awardees

2023 Judi McCarthy Women’s Philanthropy Awardee – Stephanie Lynch
2023 Judi McCarthy Young Women’s Philanthropy Awardee – Jaiden Elyssa Bareng

Grow Our Giving: A Call to Action!

A strong endowment will ensure that The Women’s and Girls’ Fund will make an impact in Kern County in perpetuity. Your gift to the WGF is combined with hundreds of others and is invested to achieve long-term growth.

Looking forward, we increase community impact if we GROW OUR GIVING, our new fundraising call to action.

The principles of The WGF are that: Women Educate, Women Endow, and Women Empower….with the foundational belief that we transform the lives of women and girls in Kern County by mobilizing the power and passion of women working together. When our endowment grows, our giving grows and creates larger, more impactful grants that provide opportunities to directly affect some of the root causes impacting women and girls, thereby creating lasting and sustainable change within our community for generations to come.

Ready to get involved?

Donations may be made by personal or business check or by credit card (transaction fee applied). For more information, or if you have any questions, please write to us at WGF@kernfoundation.org. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

DONATE TODAY!