Allison Beggs, President & CEO – YWCA Great Lafayette (center) with Jeni Royalty and Nancy Harshbarger, Co-Presidents – Zonta Club of Frankfort

Release Date: January 31, 2020

 YWCA Greater Lafayette receives Zonta International Centennial Grant for their Domestic Violence Program Technology for Connectivity project

YWCA Greater Lafayette was recently announced as a winner of a $4,692 grant for their project Domestic Violence Program Technology for Connectivity in partnership with the Zonta Club of Frankfort.

The project, funded through the generosity of Zonta International, provided phone lines and the technology to program multi-line digital phone to offices on the second floor, and a projector in the meeting room of a 100-year-old house made of thick plaster. The original phone line was installed in the basement and an earlier attempt to use a wireless signal to upper floors was unsuccessful. The grant has made domestic violence advocates more accessible to victim families in crisis. The projector provided by the grant allows staff to show educational safety and recovery information in a classroom setting.

YWCA Greater Lafayette has been serving women and their families since 1929. Its domestic violence program was established in 1979. For more than 50 years, the program has not only kept victims safe, but also prepared them to become self-sufficient. DVIPP’s six-county service area includes Frankfort.

The Zonta Club of Frankfort is a community service club and part of a global network committed to equal rights and a life free of violence for all women and girls.  Our mission is to empower women worldwide through service and advocacy. Zonta envisions a world where women’s rights are recognized as human rights and where every woman has access to all resources and are represented in decision-making positions on an equal basis with men.

“With our Centennial Anniversary Grants we join forces with like-minded organizations in order to accelerate action on the path to gender equality,” says Zonta International President Susanne von Bassewitz on the occasion of the grants. “We don’t want to live through another 100 years to achieve this goal.”

YWCA Greater Lafayette is proud to be one of the 62 community-based organizations in 18 countries directly benefitting from Zonta International’s Centennial Anniversary Grants, created in honor of Zonta’s 100 years of service. These one-time grants, totaling US$296,271, recognize charitable organizations partnering with a Zonta club to improve the lives of women and girls in their local communities.

Zonta International is a worldwide organization that has empowered women and girls through service and advocacy for 100 years. Founded in 1919 in Buffalo, New York, Zonta’s nearly 1,200 clubs support local and regional initiatives in 63 countries worldwide.