We’re thrilled to announce that Posada Esperanza was awarded a $7,000 grant from Girls Giving Grants! g3, as they are commonly known, is a youth initiative of Impact Austin that strives to improve the lives of youth in our community through a grant-making process that “relies upon cooperative giving, research and analysis.” With this gracious grant, Posada plans to bring on board an additional national service program case manager (AmeriCorps) at a cost of $6,500/year, along with using the remaining $500 to assist with direct client needs.

Ami Kane, Girls Giving Grants Committee Chair and Impact Austin member, explains:

“When we visited the Casa Marianella’s Posada Esperanza houses on April 9th, it was a really powerful experience that deeply impacted the girls. This is not your traditional shelter; these are actual homes that Patti McCabe, the Program Director, and her team of case managers run to help the families with everything they need.”

About 50 of the 70 Girls Giving Grants participants came out to Posada to learn about the mission and vision for Posada, along with hearing first-hand resident stories and visiting all four houses. After receiving an overview of the agency, they broke into four groups. Posada Director, Patti McCabe, weighed in on the experience,

“The leadership group interviewed me.  They had so many questions- a thoughtful and well prepared group.  The other groups were circulated through the Posada houses to learn from the Posada staff and residents.  Two of our Somali ladies talked with the girls about the painful realities that push them to leave their countries in Africa.  One of our Honduran women spoke to them about her personal and painful experience with gang violence in Central America.  And one of our staff lead up a dynamic exercise to help the girls think about what it must be like to prepare to travel across the globe in search of safety. It felt very hopeful to see so many young people interested in the problems in our community and in our world and wishing to be a part of the solutions.”

Once again, we are truly honored to receive such a generous grant, and look forward to keeping a close relationship with Girls Giving Grants, and witnessing all the exciting projects they work on in the future.
Read more on Girls Giving Grants blog page: http://bit.ly/1TCX4oi