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Mission
The Bettie Brand Mothers' Empowerment Fund (BBMEF) gives stipends to “provide women in need with a hand up, not a handout, so they may live with dignity and independence.”
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Since 2013, the Bettie Brand Mothers' Empowerment Fund has awarded Spirit Award stipends (up to $10,000 each and to be used within three years) to Georgia women (17 years or older) who need a hand up to help them journey towards a life of independence and dignity.
The Spirit Award stipends must be used for services, activities, and programs for self-development. Stipend examples include education tuition, education certification fees, education materials/supplies/books, tutoring expenses, work materials, business equipment, childcare reimbursement during education/certification training, medical expense reimbursement, therapy reimbursement, exercise equipment/fees, medical adaptive devices, and office/work medical adaptive room modifications.
The Spirit Award stipends do not go directly to the applicant but to the entity or service for which the stipend is being requested.
Each year 1-5 Spirit Award stipends are awarded.
We ask Spirit Award stipend awardees to make a commitment to pay it forward in the future by helping, mentoring, or caring for others in need.
History
The organization began in 2009 as the Bettie Brand Mothers’ Empowerment Fund, by daughter, Candace Brand Kaspers (former Chair of the Atlanta YWCA Board of Directors) and son, Jeffrey Brand, to honor their mother and all mothers and special others who contribute so much to their families and communities.
After incubating for five and a half years at the Atlanta Metro YWCA, The Bettie Brand Mothers' Empowerment Fund amicably went out on its own in June, 2015 to become an independent, non-sectarian non-profit organization, serving Georgia women in need. The organization incorporated in July, 2015 as the “Bettie Brand Mothers’ Empowerment Fund, Inc.” and, in February, 2016, received its non-profit 501C3 designation.
