Project: Women Pushing Forward (formerly "Whirlwind Women")
Grantee: The Tides Center
Grant Year: 2001
Award duration/amount: 3 years, $50,000 total

Women Pushing Forward (formerly Whirlwind Women) is an international women's wheel chair project. It was founded in 1997 to help disabled women in developing countries create economic opportunity and improve their own and other’s mobility by teaching Whirlwind wheelchair repair and design.  Women Pushing Forward also works with wheelchair manufacturers to create systemic change in the manufacture and distribution of appropriately designed wheelchairs.  The Whirlwind wheelchair is sturdy, appropriate technology that is rugged, easily repairable, and 1/10 cost of Western-made wheelchair.

By securing mobility and marketable skills, women with disabilities are obtaining greater access to economic and social self-sufficiency, as well as leadership and self-esteem.  Disabled women build and repair their own chairs, and earn additional income to support their families.  The program includes week-long training courses on wheelchair maintenance, tool use and repair, and addresses social issues pertaining to women with disabilities and wheelchair use.  Women Pushing Forward currently works with women and women's organizations in Uganda, Mexico, and Nicaragua.  WPF is fiscally sponsored by the Tides Center and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Women Pushing Forward is led by Alicia Contreras, a role model for the disability community.

3GF’s three-year $50,000 grant is helping Women Pushing Forward build capacity and identify best strategies for global impact.

For more information on this project visit womenpushingforward.org, call (510) 827-7747, or write to the following address:

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