Filing deadline for empowerment grants is June 1

from the Detroit Free Press

Under a new award program announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, two $500,000 grants have been established to empower women.

The deadline to apply for the Secretary's Innovation Awards for Women's and Girl's Empowerment is June 1.

According to the U.S. Department of State's website:

"The Innovation Award seeks to find and bring to scale the most pioneering approaches to the political, economic and social empowerment of women and girls around the globe.

"The award is part of the State Department’s continuing emphasis on public-private partnerships, and is administered by its Office of Global Women’s Issues. The award, and the office, is founded on the premise that the major economic, security, governance and environmental challenges of our time cannot be solved without the full participation of women at all levels of society. The Rockefeller Foundation, as part of its mission to expand opportunity and promote more equitable growth, seeks to identify innovative approaches that can be scaled to address these challenges."

Rodin told Free Press columnist Carol Cain, "Women still do two-thirds of all the work in the world, but earln only about 5% of the income. They farm 90% of the world's food, yet own only 1% of the world's land. It's critical we do more, and do it with more urgency, to empower women."

Applicants must first submit a concept paper that describes innovations that have proven to have a positive impact on the lives of women and girls politically, socially, or economically. The concept paper should: (1) describe the innovation, (2) how it has been successful, and, (3) how it can be supported and enlarged with additional financial support to empower women and girls in their communities.

All concept papers will be reviewed by State Department staff, and selected applicants will be invited to submit full proposals. The full proposal will include detailed implementation and budget plans.

A jury panel will include Rodin, Cherie Blair, an attorney and wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair; Dr. Paul Farmer, medical anthropologist and United Nations deputy special envoy to Haiti; and Anne Mulcahy, former CEO of Xerox among others.

Winners will be announced at the end of the year.

To learn more about submission procedures, click here.