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Mainspring Schools
Literacy Austin
Educational Foundation (EF)
Legal Advocacy Fund (LAF)
Women's Legislative Days
Women In Transition: A Cross-Generational Survey
Doctoral Fellowships for Women at UT Austin
Expanding Your Horizons
Blood Bank Account
Formerly Austin Community Nursery Schools (ACNS)
The mission of Mainspring Schools is to provide and promote affordable, high quality, comprehensive early education and child care programs that establish patterns for lifelong learning.
AAUW Austin Branch founded the Chalmers School in 1941, which became the Austin Community Nursery Schools (ACNS). AAUW has continued its support throughout the years and has maintained a seat on the Board of Directors. To concentrate on the model program and to grow in the future, ACNS changed its name in 2002 to Mainspring Schools.
Mainspring serves infants and children, ages two months through five years, primarily from low income families whose parents are working, seeking work, in school, in job training, or referred from the TDHS Child Protective Services. Services are provided to families who live in the greater Austin metropolitan area.
Mainspring's primary population is low-income working families and families with special needs. The secondary population is any family desiring a diverse, high quality educational program for their young children. Mainspring offers its programs on an income-based sliding scale monthly fee of 10% of the family's gross monthly income.
Mainspring Schools is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which receives funding from the United Way / Capital Area, City of Austin, Travis County, Texas Department of Human Services, USDA Child Care Food Program, parent fees, corporate and foundation grants, and donations from individuals.
In order for Mainspring to receive continued funding from United Way, AAUW and others must maintain an active role in the schools.
Get Involved -- Volunteer!
Mainspring Schools is located at 1100 West Live Oak Street, 78704, phone 442-2301.
Mainspring always needs donations of art supplies, gently used Halloween costumes, and books. Building blocks are $25 each. Please make your checks payable to Mainspring Schools, specifying Building Blocks at the bottom of the check. You can also use your Randall's Remarkable Card to support Mainspring. The number for Mainspring Schools is 220.
Literacy Austin is a group of volunteers working together to combat illiteracy in their community. Literacy Austin is a nonprofit community based organization providing a one on one instructional plan for adults age 17 and older. The target population is adults who read at or below 5th grade level.
The program was started in 1985 when AAUW Austin Branch chose Literacy as a project. Since education is the focus of AAUW, the Branch members decided to concentrate on literacy in Travis County. Working with the Texas Education Agency, we began to organize and train tutors.
The paid staff is an executive director and two assistants who train volunteer tutors and assess students. There are four legs to the program:
Literacy Austin is a United Way recipient and is entitled to these funds because of their extensive volunteer effort. If you or someone you know would like to be a volunteer tutor, please telephone 478-7323 or 416-7214, or drop by their offices at 2002 Manor Road.
Mission: The AAUW Educational Foundation provides funds to advance education, research, and self-development for women and to foster equity and positive societal change.
The Educational Foundation is the oldest and one of the largest sources of private funding of graduate education for women. Foundation funds further professional careers, sponsor groundbreaking research, mentor younger women and girls, and foster broad-scale social change here and abroad.
The AAUW Educational Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the world's largest source of funding exclusively for graduate women -- supports aspiring scholars around the globe, teachers and activists in local communities, women at critical stages of their careers, and those pursuing professions where women are underrepresented. Foundation fellowships have helped more than 6,500 women earn advanced degrees. We award $3 million yearly. Grant applications and deadlines are available at: www.aauw.org.
The Foundation's cornerstone has always been the remarkable energy and commitment of AAUW members, other individuals, corporations, and foundations that make contributions and help raise money for the Foundation's work.
Contact Information
AAUW Educational Foundation
1111 Sixteenth St., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
202-728-7602
foundation@aauw.org
In principle and practice, the AAUW Educational Foundation values and seeks diversity. There shall be no barriers to full participation in this organization on the basis of gender, race, creed, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or class.
AAUW Austin Branch organizes fundraisers each year to support the AAUW Educational Foundation. For more information, contact our Educational Foundation VP, Anita Knight.
Mission: The AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund provides funding and a support system for women seeking judicial redress for sex discrimination.
The AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund is the nation's largest legal fund focused solely on sex discrimination in higher education.
Since 1981, AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund has helped students, faculty, staff, and administrators in higher education challenge discriminatory practices such as sexual harassment, denial of tenure or promotion, pay inequity, and inequality in women's athletics programs. LAF promotes equity for women in higher education by:
AAUW Austin Branch organizes fundraisers each year to support the AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund. For more information, contact our Legal Advocacy VP, Kay Watson.
People concerned about public education, equity in the workplace, violence against women, and reproductive rights met in Austin on January 28-30 for Women's Legislative Days. During this two-day conference, attendees learned about the issues, how they could help, and how to be effective in representing their views to legislators.
Women's Legislative Days is held every two years, in odd-numbered years. For more information, go to www.txwld.org.
Starting with the AAUW study, Gaining a Foothold: Women's Transitions Through Work and College, AAUW Austin Branch surveyed a microcosm of Austin-area women of all ages to study the similarities and differences across the generations. Using a survey entitled, Women in Transition: Cross Generational Survey (PDF), the Branch probed women's greatest concerns in life, by addressing career fulfillment and expectations, voting practices, inequity and harassment, abuse, expectations for retirement, most valuable aspect of higher education, volunteer work, and the care of children, spouses, and parents. After gathering our information from eleven diversified groups, the Branch analyzed the data and wrote a white paper, Analysis of Women in Transition: Cross-Generational Survey (PDF), describing the findings. The data was far more exciting than the Branch had anticipated.
To put the idea of four generations working toward a common goal in context, AAUW Austin Branch learned historical background from a program presented by Linda Conger, an Austin Branch member who serves AAUW Texas as Membership Vice-President. Taking a look at AAUW's first 100 years, we learned that during the first 50 years, our membership was homogeneous -- all white women, graduates from elite, mostly female institutions, all liberal arts degrees, most members were single, and most used volunteer organizations as a career path. Today, our challenge is to maintain an inner vitality and a volunteer spirit, now that women have increasing opportunities to advance individually and to contribute socially through mixed-gender groups. Women have become political activists; however, we still face the same old obstacles: achieving full equality (social, legal, educational, political, et cetera), achieving diversity in our membership, and thwarting threats of freedom to our country and to women around the world.
In 1934, AAUW Austin Branch established an endowment fund to provide fellowships to female doctoral candidates at The University of Texas at Austin. Contributions were made to this fund over a period of years, until the endowment reached sufficient size to support awarding of annual fellowships. Beginning with the 1985-1986 academic year, fifty-five women have received fellowships from our branch, to financially assist them in completing the final year of their doctoral studies.
For the 2007-2008 academic year, AAUW Austin Branch will award 1-3 fellowships, each in the amount of at least $2000, to female doctoral candidates at The University of Texas at Austin. The eligibility requirements are (1) formal admission to doctoral candidacy at The University of Texas at Austin, and (2) cumulative graduate school grade point average of 3.5 or better. Women pursuing doctoral studies in all fields are encouraged to apply for these fellowships. Both USA citizens and non-citizens are eligible.
The application deadline for the 2007-2008 academic year fellowships
has passed.
The 2007-2008 recipients will be announced here in May 2007.
The information and application form for the 2008-2009 academic year
fellowships will be available here in September 2007.
Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) is an all-day conference, at which girls in grades 6-8 (and their parents, teachers, and school counselors) participate in four hands-on workshops in math and science. The workshops are led by professional women in the Austin area whose careers require skills in math and/or science. The goals of the EYH conferences are to:
AAUW Austin Branch has been involved with the EYH conferences in Austin since their inception in 1990, providing both financial support and critical volunteer support, and our Branch continues to maintain a member representative on the EYH conference organizing committee. To volunteer as a helper on conference day in 2007, contact our EYH Liaison, Raemar Shown.
AAUW Austin Branch maintains an account at the Blood and Tissue Center of Central Texas at 4300 North Lamar Boulevard. Our account name is "Austin Branch of AAUW". Branch members who donate blood are encouraged to specify our account at the time of donation.
Prior to giving blood, it is recommended that you first check with the Blood and Tissue Center to ensure that you meet the current qualifications. They may be reached by phone at (512) 206-1266.
The center is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and Saturday, 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM. You should eat a good meal before you go and bring a photo ID with you to the center.
AAUW Austin Branch is grateful to the volunteers and corporate sponsors of the Metropolitan Austin Interactive Network (MAIN), who have made this web site possible.
This page was last updated on 19 March 2007.
Email comments and suggestions to
Austin Branch Webmaster.