Women’s Empowerment Receives $50K from Yocha Dehe Community Fund

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Women’s Empowerment Executive Director Lisa Culp meets with a program graduate at her home in the nonprofit’s Trellis Gardens transitional workforce housing program

Women’s Empowerment has received a grant of $50,000 from the Yocha Dehe Community Fund to provide transitional workforce housing for Sacramento women experiencing homelessness with their families.  

“We are so grateful for the generosity of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and their commitment to ensuring women who are working and have children also have safe, affordable housing as they work to increase their salaries and afford market-rate rent during Sacramento’s housing crisis,” said Lisa Culp, executive director, Women’s Empowerment. 

Women’s Empowerment created its Trellis Gardens transitional workforce housing community at an existing development in Sacramento this past year, subleasing 16 cottages to graduates of the program who have families and have secured employment but cannot afford market-rate housing. The gated community is just one mile from four schools, two parks and a grocery store, and close to public transportation. Children in the cottages receive developmental assessments, and local financial institutions provide financial education for residents so they can prepare to move into permanent housing when they are finished at Trellis Gardens. 

“Taking care of others and helping them thrive is how we honor our values as a native community,” said Mia Durham, Yocha Dehe tribal secretary and community fund chair. “Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation truly understands the struggle and stigma of being unhoused, and the detrimental impact it can have on women and children. We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with Women’s Empowerment to support this critical effort to provide local women and children with a safe place to live.”

Women’s Empowerment provides a two-month employment-readiness and empowerment program, paid job training, childcare and support services so women and their children can break the generational cycle of homelessness. Women’s Empowerment offers the most comprehensive job-readiness program in the Sacramento area designed specifically for women experiencing homelessness and their children. In 2023, 165 jobs were secured by graduates, and 189 women either secured or maintained housing. Since 2001, 1,903 women have graduated from the program with more than 4,000 children. Women’s Empowerment is funded through private donations from the community and grants. To make a donation: Womens-Empowerment.org.

The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation is committed to building strong communities and helping those in need, establishing the Community Fund to advance this mission. The Community Fund has established partnerships with more than 400 organizations throughout Yolo County, the state and nation, and granted nearly $40 million in philanthropic aid to support programs and initiatives dedicated to assisting people in need. The Community Fund prioritizes grants that help people help themselves in critical areas: education, Native arts and culture, environmental protection, Native rights and tribal sovereignty, and health and wellness. For more information: visit www.yochadehe.gov/giving/community-fund. 

Make It Happen Receives $25K from Yocha Dehe

Posted on by kthebaud
Cathi from Make It Happen holds a check while Liliana from Yocha Dehe points at the check enthusiastically

Local nonprofit Make It Happen for Yolo County has received a grant of $25,000 from the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation Community Fund to ensure local under-resourced transition age foster youth can become successful first-time renters. The grant will help the nonprofit increase the number of youth served as it expands from a volunteer-run organization to one with paid staff.

“We were honored when the Yocha Dehe Community Fund presented us with our first gift a couple years ago that allowed us to grow, and this increased gift will help us further expand and grow our services to reach more local underserved youth,” said Cathi Schmidt, executive director, Make It Happen for Yolo County. “We are tremendously grateful to the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation for trusting us with these funds and for showing these youth who often feel invisible that they are valuable to our community.”

Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Make It Happen for Yolo County provides local transition age youth ages 18-24, many of whom have been in foster care or experienced homelessness, with furniture, appliances and household items needed to move into their first apartments. The nonprofit receives furniture donations from the community and purchases new appliances and household items to help youth involved with the Yolo County child welfare, mental health and probation divisions, as well as the UC Davis Guardian Scholars program and other local nonprofits. Since its founding in 2014, Make It Happen for Yolo County has helped more than 250 transition age youth. To make a financial or furniture donation, visit www.MIHYolo.org.

The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation is committed to building strong communities and helping those in need, establishing the Community Fund to advance this mission. The Community Fund has established partnerships with more than 400 organizations throughout Yolo County, the state and nation, and granted nearly $40 million in philanthropic aid to support programs and initiatives dedicated to assisting people in need. The Community Fund prioritizes grants that help people help themselves in critical areas: education, Native arts and culture, environmental protection, Native rights and tribal sovereignty, and health and wellness. For more information: visit www.yochadehe.gov/giving/community-fund. 

Make It Happen for Yolo County Receives $10K from Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation

Posted on by kthebaud
A transition age youth wears a black shirt and stands with stacks of donated household items in her new apartment

Make It Happen for Yolo County has received a grant of $10,000 from the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation to provide local transition age youth in need, mostly foster youth ages 18-24, with the furnishings, household goods and resources needed to become successful first-time renters.

“Transition age youth, particularly those leaving foster care, are at very high risk of becoming homeless due to a lack of resources and support,” said Jan Judson, board president, Make It Happen for Yolo County. “While our partners help connect them to housing, there are no other organizations in Yolo County to ensure they have the tools, appliances and furniture to safely live in their new independent living environment. Renters with no resources to properly care for their apartments are much more likely to be evicted or develop a poor rental history, and that risk is even higher as we battle a housing crisis in the greater Sacramento area. We are grateful to the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation for helping set them up for success.”

Make It Happen for Yolo County is a volunteer-run nonprofit that receives furniture donations from the community and purchases new appliances and household items to help transition age youth involved with the Yolo County child welfare, mental health and probation divisions, as well as the UC Davis Guardian Scholars program for students who have experienced foster care, and other nonprofits serving foster youth. Since its founding in 2014, Make It Happen for Yolo County has served 160 Yolo County transition age youth. To make a financial or furniture donation, visit MIHYolo.org.

“Each of these young people, many of whom have already been through so much, deserves the opportunity to realize their full potential,” said the Tribal Council of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation. “We are pleased to help give them that opportunity.”

The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation is committed to building strong communities and developing effective partnerships. In 2000, the Tribe established the Community Fund to advance that mission. To date, the Community Fund has established partnerships with more than 400 diverse organizations throughout Yolo County, the state and nation. The Tribe has granted more than $37 million in philanthropic funding to support programs and initiatives dedicated to assisting communities in need. For more information, visit YochaDehe.org/CommunityFund.