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GREENWICH — During a Thursday fundraiser with speakers including veteran journalist Jane Pauley, Fairfield County philanthropists collected $65,000 aimed at addressing gender and racial inequalities affecting local women and girls in one night.
“Many of the rights we previously fought so hard to achieve are at risk, serving as a solid reminder that we cannot afford for one instant to take our eyes off the goal. And a key barrier to reaching our goals comes down to one ingredient: money,” said Mary Grace Pagaduan, director of the Fund for Women & Girls.
Packed into a Greenwich Country Club ballroom to celebrate the 26th anniversary of the fund, Pagaduan outlined Fairfield County’s Community Foundation’s key mission for attendees — addressing disparities for women and girls in health care, the workplace and beyond, with a particular emphasis on Black women.
Founded in 1992, the nonprofit has distributed more than $10 million in grants under the Fund for Women & Girls, the largest women’s fund in New England.
Between the early supporter commitments, ticket sales, and the $65,000 raised that night, the Fund for Women & Girls received a total of $360,000.
According to Giving USA’s Annual Report on Philanthropy, U.S. charities received more than $499 billion in donations in 2022. But while women make up more than half of the global population, Pagaduan said, initiatives investing in women and girls make up just 1.8% of total U.S. philanthropic dollars.
Pauley, host of “CBS Sunday Morning” and the event’s keynote speaker, said organizations like ESPN, which garnered more than 18.9 million views this past weekend as the NCAA women’s basketball final surpassed the men’s viewership for the first time, should consider boosting that figure.
Throughout her 52-year career, Pauley has served as a role model for working mothers, women journalists, and those with mental health disorders following her bipolar disorder diagnosis at age 50. Mendi Blue Paca, president and CEO of the foundation, said the broadcaster is also a leader in federally qualified health centers.
Using reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid, the federally qualified health centers work to provide mental health, preventative, dental and medical care to those without insurance. Now operating 10 locations in central Indiana, Pauley said she didn’t fully comprehend the need for initiatives like the Jane Pauley Community Health Center until she opened her first location.
After posing for photos at her 2009 ribbon cutting ceremony, Pauley told the crowd, she gave local elementary students a tour of the clinic. She said she was taken aback when, in the middle of the tour, one of the 10-year-old girls asked her if patients needed insurance to receive care at the new center.
“I said, ‘No, you don’t have to have insurance.’ She says, ‘Is it starting today?’” Pauley recounted. “I was later told that her grandmother had been one of the first patients.”
Pauley said the students helped her realize how deeply health care disparities can impact people of all ages.
Partnering with federally qualified health centers, the foundation’s latest program, the Black Maternal Health Initiative, looks to improve health outcomes for Black mothers and babies by expanding access to doula care, advocating for legislative changes and educating communities on maternal health disparities.
According to Paca, Black women in the U.S. are nearly three times more likely to die from pregnancy and birth-related complications than white women. In Fairfield County, she said Black babies are three times more likely to die before their first birthday and twice as likely to be born with low birth weights. Per state data, Bridgeport holds the highest infant mortality rate in Fairfield County.
Another initiative by the foundation, the emme coalition, offers a combination of holistic and medical services with the help of Optimus Health Care. Open for Bridgeport women and girls ages 12 to 49, the coalition aims to teach participants how to self-advocate, understand their finances and navigate the health care system.
Katherine Golar, the chief medical, health care and wellness officer for Optimus, said lifelong empathy and passion for others led her to the federally qualified health center, and her work with the foundation has allowed her to blend clinical care with policy advocacy.
While studying to become a doctor at the Boston University School of Medicine, Golar said she could not understand why the medical system neglected people in need based on a lack of employment, education or insurance. After taking a break from her studies to explore Buddhism, she said she returned to school with the goal of healing patients with the power of community.
“The emme coalition has made a profound difference in the ability of Optimus’ clinical care teams to truly meet people where they are and give them the tools to move forward in their lives, not only by facilitating access to needed medications, lab evaluations and preventive care, but also … by addressing many of the issues that contribute to poor health outcomes like food and housing insecurity, anxiety and depression, financial and relationship challenges,” Golar said.
By treating patients without insurance with modern medicine and holistic practices, Golar said Optimus and the foundation are working to eliminate systematic racism and implicit gender bias in the health care system.
Event attendees donated more than $27,000 to the foundation. All funds were matched by the Barbara Benton Davis Fund, doubling the contributions to about $65,000.
Along with Pauley and Golar, foundation co-founder Charlotte Suhler, the recipients of the 2024 Anne S. Leonhardt Award, and Greenwich comedian Jane Condon were featured speakers at the Thursday fundraiser.