FASHION SCHOLARSHIP FUND ADVANCING

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Equity Initiative

The Fashion Scholarship Fund (FSF) works directly with some of the country’s most talented young students from diverse backgrounds, awarding over $1 million each year in scholarships. They also provide scholars with a wide range of internship and career opportunities, strong mentoring, networking, professional development and unprecedented access to the industry’s most influential leaders and companies. The FSF partnership with The VF Foundation centers on advancing equity and inclusion in the talent pipeline specifically for the apparel, fashion and retail industries. Through this past year’s grant support, the FSF matched 256 industry professionals and FSF Alumni with one-on-one mentoring to foster long-term career success for these students. Of the mentors, 52% self-identified as underrepresented by race, gender or first generation college student status themselves. Additionally, funding from The VF Foundation supported The FSF Community College Talent Initiative, reaching a racially and economically diverse student population and recruiting them for career awareness and pre-professional educational experiences modeled after the FSF’s programming for four-year colleges.

RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATES WERE MATCHED WITH INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL MENTORS

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MENTORING SESSIONS TOOK PLACE DURING THE GRANT PERIOD

MENTEES AND ALUMNI ATTENDED EVENTS DURING THE GRANT PERIOD

The VF Foundation and Kipling® partnered with FSF to create a summer program for community college students to visit their Jersey City office to learn more about the fashion industry. Two students were selected for an all-expenses-paid pilot program where they spent three days job shadowing, learning about product lifecycles and building relationships. Dickies® hosted a FSF scholar as an intern over the summer.

Designer Fund Raisefashion

Black entrepreneurs start with less capital, on average, than their non-Black competitors. They are also more likely to be denied financing and have their profitability affected by a lack of access to capital. That’s what inspired RAISEfashion to create a Designer Fund to provide funding and advising to Black-owned emerging fashion businesses. They bring together a diverse network of fashion industry professionals committed to promoting diversity and inclusivity and offering their expertise to elevate emerging brands. With the support of funds from The VF Foundation, RAISEfashion has disbursed grants to qualifying US-based, Black-owned fashion brands to help offset production costs, scale growth and support capital needs. Each designer is paired with up to four volunteer mentors from within the RAISEfashion network. Customer demand already exists for these designers, but many are unable to fulfill outstanding orders due to insufficient funding. “We provide a combination of funding and mentorship,” said Alexa Geovanos, Executive Director of RAISEfashion. “Those two things together help us to make the biggest positive impact and offer them the greatest chance for industry success.”

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT

We help fuel social movements to elevate women’s rights, fight for their economic resilience, create equitable health and education resources and provide opportunities for women and girls to thrive.

15,248 HOUSEHOLDS CONNECTED TO NEW PIPED WATER SUPPLY SYSTEMS

CHAMPIONING WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP FOR INCLUSIVE WASH SERVICES

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PRIVATE WATER OPERATORS TRAINED TO OPERATE THE NEW SYSTEMS

WaterAid is a “gender justice champion” aiming to decrease inequalities and promote access to climate-resilient water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services for marginalized communities. With the support of The VF Foundation, WaterAid has increased access to inclusive WASH services for the most marginalized people in the Kandal Province of Cambodia, where some of VF’s products are manufactured, reaching over 85,970 community members living in flood-prone areas. The organization prioritizes women’s leadership throughout the design and implementation of this project and ensures that WASH services are sustainable and resilient to the impacts of climate change.

Despite a growing tourism industry, Cambodia remains one of the poorest nations in Southeast Asia. One in five people don’t have access to safe drinking water, and one in five people don’t have access to a toilet.

Even when WASH services are available, women, girls and people living with a disability are further disenfranchised as they face greater obstacles in accessing equitable and inclusive WASH services to fit their unique needs.

With this funding, WaterAid also provided coaching sessions to Private Water

Operators (PWOs) and local authorities on water quality monitoring to improve and sustain water service quality. PWOs received coaching and a test kit to conduct daily testing and they are now able to monitor and track daily water quality and share data with customers. They are also working to coach the commune chief and village chief to continue reaching marginalized households without piped water connections. Additionally, they educated trainers to conduct door-to-door meetings in order to promote community awareness on the benefits of using piped water supply and climate-resilient WASH. PWOs worked to empower government counterparts at the sub-national level to promote communications and menstrual hygiene awareness to community members.

1,552

6 HOUSEHOLDS WITH ACCESS TO NEW LATRINES

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AWARENESS SESSIONS REACHING 3,475 PEOPLE WITH MESSAGES ON WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE PRACTICES

$250,000 2021 GRANT $250,000 2022 GRANT

Unicef

SUPPORTING CHILD RIGHTS & EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT

UNICEF Bangladesh works with the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs to ensure an inclusive and accessible Early Childhood Development (ECD) program for every young child in Bangladesh. With funding from The VF Foundation, UNICEF is strengthening systems, supporting implementation of programming on the local level and developing a database and monitoring system to ensure interventions reach the most vulnerable children. Justine Feighery, Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships Development for UNICEF, explains that there is clear evidence that the foundation for a healthy and productive life is set in early childhood. “The brain develops most rapidly in the first years of life,” she said. “However, in Bangladesh, the majority of children lack access to quality ECD services. Only 13.4 percent of children aged three to five attend early childhood education and only 8.8 percent of Bangladeshi children under five have three or more books in their home.” Lack of access to stimulating ECD deprives these children of opportunities to expand their language skills and social and emotional development, which can lead to issues later in life including exploitation, difficulty finding employment, increased rates of poverty, declines in health and more. With this funding, UNICEF is working to ensure effective ECD delivery, sustainability and scalability, giving each child their best chance at fulfilling their potential.