Over the last 35 years, the Women’s Fund has invested more than $59 million in grants to programs addressing gender-based inequities in Nebraska. In the beginning, the Women’s Fund of Omaha functioned like other women’s foundations by utilizing a grants committee and providing smaller grants to more organizations. In 1993, some of the first grant dollars were provided to childcare providers. A decade later, a five-year, $20,000 pledge to the Latina Resource Center was completed. By 2005, more than $100,000 in grants were rewarded annually and in 2009, the total awarded community grants since its inception exceeded $1 million.
Now, the Women’s Fund has two grant-making projects: Freedom from Violence and the Adolescent Health Project––both rooted in the belief that all people deserve to live with safety, dignity and knowledge that allows them to thrive.
Freedom from Violence has been central to the Women’s Fund since its founding in 1990. Concerned that programs supporting survivors of domestic violence were not receiving sufficient funding locally, a group of visionary women took action. Within five years, they published a research report titled “Can We Stop the Violence?” Today, the goals of the project remain largely the same: to create a community where everyone can live free from gender-based violence. We fund organizations who are working on crisis response, prevention and support for survivors of domestic violence, sex trafficking, sexual harassment and sexual assault.
Applicants for the Freedom from Violence grant are specifically asked how the funding would be used to support survivors, including in ways that are not connected to the criminal legal system. Now more than ever, we recognize the importance of survivor-led programs, programs that center those most impacted by gender-based violence such as immigrants and refugees, and programs using a restorative and transformative justice framework.
The organizations receiving Freedom from Violence grants in 2025 include:
- Black & Pink
- Center for Holistic Development
- Center for Immigrant and Refugee Advancement
- Heartland Family Service
- International Council for Refugees and Immigrants
- Nebraska Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence
- Nebraska Tribes Addressing Violence Coalition
- RISE
- Women’s Center for Advancement (WCA)
- Youth Emergency Services (YES)
- YouTurn
Each organization plays a unique role––from providing survivors with coaching, case consultations and shelter, to informing legislation. They gather three times a year in what we call “Community of Practice” meetings to build relationships and learn from one another, ensuring that our goals and strategies are aligned.
Creating a community where everyone can live free from violence starts with education; education about consent, healthy relationships and more has been proven to prevent violence, enabling young people to make informed choices about their bodies and futures. Unfortunately, access to this education isn’t universal. That’s where the Adolescent Health Project comes in.
When the Adolescent Health Project launched in 2015, there had been no major update of the Omaha Public School Human Growth & Development (HGD) curriculum in 30 years. We recognize that effective sex education is critical in creating healthy outcomes for students, so, with support and guidance from engaged youth, parents/caregivers and community partners, we mobilized Omaha Public Schools to adopt new, inclusive, science-based HGD curricula within one year.
Today, the Adolescent Health Project and its youth-facing brand, Access Granted, partner with local health centers to provide:
- Free condoms at over 160 locations in the Omaha metro
- Free STI testing and treatment for all genders ages 15-24
- Free and low-cost emergency contraception
- Complete, honest and inclusive education in schools, community-based agencies and online.
The health centers receiving Adolescent Health Project grants in 2025 include:
- Nebraska AIDS Project
- Nebraska Medicine (UNO, UNL, Girls Inc and Fontenelle health centers)
- Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition
- OneWorld Community Health Centers
- Planned Parenthood North Central States
- Pottawattamie County (Iowa) Public Health
- Pride Health Clinic
Together, these health centers––which make up another “Community of Practice”––have distributed more than 5.6 million condoms in 10 years and worked tirelessly to end stigma and fearmongering around sex, STIs, birth control and more. Additionally, the Adolescent Health Project funds two education groups: OneWorld Teen Generation and Planned Parenthood Teen Council, recognizing that young people are best positioned to understand and address the needs of their peers. That’s why we also collaborate with educators in our Community of Practice to provide trainings like “Askable Adults Matter”––because when we support both youth and youth-supporting professionals, we create a network of care that has a lasting impact on our community.
By investing in organizations that meet people where they are—without shame or judgment—and by centering those most impacted, our grant-making projects help create the conditions for a more just future. When survivors are supported, young people are informed and communities are connected, we all thrive.