Strut Your Stuff teaches women about cars, helps low-income women with transportation

Empowering women through economic self-sufficiency is the primary goal of The Women’s Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation.
 
“We don’t deliver direct services, but we lead the conversation and help make some macro changes through research and convening different groups together to talk about it,” says Meghan Cummings, Development Officer for The Women’s Fund.
 
Some of the organization’s latest research efforts are aimed at addressing the root causes of children’s poverty—which stems from the issue that many of these children are living in single female-headed households—in addition to a phenomenon known as “the cliff effect.”
 
“As a woman or man works up this ladder of self-sufficiency—perhaps they’re on some public supports for that—they reach these arbitrary limits when they’re just starting to make it; and instead of benefits peeling off, they drop off all at once,” Cummings says.
 
“Sometimes a $2,000 dollar raise a year—90 cents an hour—can trigger a childcare loss of $12,000 dollars a year. It’s just unbelievable, and the net is that these people aren’t moving out of poverty. They’re probably at a situation worse than where they were, and something needs to be done about it, so we’re taking a leadership role to say, 'OK let’s figure this out.'”
 
In addition to research and leadership efforts, Cummings says it’s also important that The Women’s Fund provides opportunities for friends and donors to also feel empowered by learning something while continuing to give back.
 
So for the third year, the foundation will host Strut Your Stuff—an annual event that helps women gain knowledge and confidence about issues regarding cars and transportation, while also benefitting the Samaritan Car Care program for low-income women in Northern Kentucky.
 
“We partnered with Bruce Kintner who helps women get car maintenance—he does oil changes and changes the fluids just to keep them going,” Cummings says. “So we have an event where we teach women how to interact about their car, and then the proceeds help low-income women keep their cars in order, because if they don’t have that car, transportation is a huge barrier. Can they get to work everyday and drop their kids off, or not? So it was a natural tie-in.” 

Do Good: 

• Sign up to attend Strut Your Stuff.

• Donate to The Women's Fund.

• Listen to Dale Donovan, who volunteers his time and knowledge of cars to The Women's Fund each year at Strut Your Stuff, on 55KRC.

By Brittany York
Brittany York is a professor of English composition at both the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.