Grant helps Oneida/Green Bay nonprofit expand youth services

GREEN BAY, Wis (WGBW) – More than a dozen nonprofits in Green Bay are getting a financial boost to help meet urgent community needs.

Along with community foundations serving Oshkosh and the Fox Valleys, the Green Bay Community Foundation is distributing funds from the Minnesota-based Otto Bremer Trust.

That money is being passed on to local nonprofits, including Wise Women Gathering Place in Green Bay.

The organization focuses on preventing and supporting people through domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, sex trafficking, and dating violence.

“Our mission is to promote peace, respect and belonging. We provide a Native American approach to healing, promoting healthy relationships, addressing historical trauma. A lot of the funding work we do is supporting people through domestic violence and sexual assault,” says Executive Director Beverly Scow.

26 years of healing and advocacy for Native populations

Scow says they’re open to anyone who comes to their door, but are focused on serving Wisconsin’s Native American communities. 

“A majority of our staff are Native American. It’s comforting for people who are Native American to see themselves reflected in the people who are providing services to them. It’s reassuring that they kind of already understand a lot of the things that Native Americans experience in community,” Scow tells Civic Media.

The organization’s been around for 26 years, growing from its start as an informal group of women around a kitchen table. Last year, the organization served over 700 people.

“Sometimes we’re the first intersection with a social service type agency. There’s been a lot of harm done in the past with social service agency and the such, like with residential schools, when they took 87% of our children from our homes. Then there was a wave during foster care, when they took a whole wave of our children from our home,” says Scow.

“So people have been pretty traumatized and don’t have a lot of trust with social service agencies. As a Native American nonprofit separate from those, we can establish relationships and build some trust, and be able to refer them to places that can help them in the long run for their healing journeys.”

Grant will help grow youth services

Now, Wise Women Gatherine Place is getting a $55,000 lift from the community foundation to expand youth services.

It will help grow their already active youth groups for young adults.

“Sometimes people are wary of other organizations, and if they’ve already built a relationship with us at our agency, being able to offer mental health counseling services at our location, removes a barrier of angst that can happen with people in going to a new place they’re not familiar with,” says Scow.

Funding comes amid challenge to keep other supports afloat

Wise Women also runs the Safe Place Parking Program, which has been running for about five years. It started during the pandemic to help people experiencing hidden homelessness.

The program allows people to sleep in their cars in a safe, monitored lot. There are portapotties, electricity, Wi-Fi, and portable batteries available for phones or medical devices like CPAP machines.

Scow says in doing so, they identified “a real gap in the continuum of housing needs in our community.”

The program was temporarily suspended last year due to insurance issues, but reopened in December. Now, after losing a major funder, the organization is working to raise $50,000 by October to keep the program running through the end of the year.

More information is available at wisewomengp.org.

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