Montclair Non-Profit Awarded National Business Grant

Investing In Women has awarded a $500 “stimulus package” to a woman owned business, The Underground Railroad To Success. The URS was started by Tanisha Cunningham to teach independence to foster children. This grant will give the non-profit a chance to market their business.

Montclair NJ, November 9, 2009- Investing In Women has awarded their first grant to a woman owned business in the USA. The recipient of the award is Tanisha Cunningham, founder of The Underground Railroad to Success (www.railroad2success.com). The URS is a non-profit that provides a service to foster children aging out of the system to live independently as adults while becoming an integral part of society. This is great for foster children and also has a positive affect on our society as a whole.

“Aging out” is the term used for children who go into foster care, but are never returned to their families of origin or adopted by others. They stay in the system until they turn 18, or graduate from high school, and for the most part, are left to fend for themselves as best they can.

Tanisha Cunningham started URS in January of 2009. A child of foster care herself, she saw the need for foster kids to have additional support when they were no longer eligible for state run services. Soon after her foster care ended, she began a career in child welfare “I wanted to stay there because my passion had always been to give back, because I knew the struggles of living in foster care, and the fear of leaving unprepared, not having a place to go or having the skills to obtain a job.”

Investing In Women (www.iiWomen.com) is a free business resource site, grant program and marketing venue for entrepreneurs. The organization plans to offer several micro grants in 2010, including grants that are not awarded based on gender.