Ms. Foundation identified the need to focus resources and efforts in the U.S. Midwest, a politically influential region of the country that receives the second-lowest level of support (with the South coming in first) at $2.99 per woman or girl of color (WGOC) per year, per the Foundation’s 2020 Pocket Change report.
Given the critical nature of and underinvestment in WGOC-led social change work in the Midwest, we launched Ms. Midwest, an outgrowth of our broader strategy (for which our Ms. South strategy, now in its fourth year, paved the way). This new initiative funds WGOC-led movement building and organizing work in 12 key states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
In launching our Midwest portfolio, our hope is to uplift what we know to be true: that funding and resourcing multi-issue movement-building work led by women, girls, and gender-expansive people of color is a winning strategy in the Midwest and beyond.
