OUR ROOTS

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Meliorism is the belief that we can contribute to Positive Change and make the World a Better Place through Human Effort, Knowledge, & Kindness.

“When you get, give. When you learn, teach.” - Maya Angelou

Shreya and Sahana Mantha learned from their family that they can play a role in making the world a better place. Their paternal and maternal great-grandparents helped the underprivileged through education and charitable medical clinics in India. Learning about their grandparents' stories of impact was their first spark for helping and giving back to their community.

The idea of Foundation For Girls began in early 2012.

Our paternal grandmother’s wish and our parents’ desire for us to understand life beyond our bubble led to planting early seeds of Foundation For Girls. They are our inspiration, and their focus on giving us a strong foundation is where the name “Foundation For Girls” originated. At an early age, our parents encouraged us to expand our horizons by actively engaging in our broader community beyond our school, family, and friends, and emphasized the importance of compassion, character, core values in realizing our fullest potential and making a contribution to the world.

In late 2014, our paternal grandmother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Her last wish was that we help young women, including those in India. We promised to fulfill that wish and keep her memory alive. At that point, we decided to expand our work, and in December 2014, FFG was established as a 501(c)3.

It took us a while to decide how we wanted to proceed and where we wanted to focus first. It was important to us, while we were still in school, to ensure that we could be hands-on with the work. Moreover, while there are many marginalized women and children in developing countries that need help, we chose to focus first on making a difference in our Charlotte community, where we were born and brought up, with the goal of expanding nationally over time. We started in a very small way, working with a local non-profit partner and the girls who lived in shelters and safe homes. This experience was pivotal to helping us understand the needs of the vulnerable and those who have no families or scaffolding for success.

Over time, we learned that while there are issues that are unique to marginalized young women, many of the barriers to economic mobility do not discriminate. Recognizing the importance of taking a holistic and inclusive approach to our work, in 2016, we chose to expand our programming to focus on marginalized women within our community. As girls moved out of the shelters where we first met them, FFG grew organically and expanded to many states across the US. By the fall of 2019, our programs had transitioned to work with participants anywhere in the country. This was great opportunity for us to stretch our minds and leverage technology-enabled services.

Foundation For Girls is a multigenerational collaboration with a multigenerational impact. FFG invests in homeless single mothers, focusing on knowledge, skills, opportunities, and a nurturing community of support for financial resilience and economic mobility. Through FFG’s group and 1-on-1 coaching and Circle of Care, we created a community of support for homeless single mothers and their children.

As we continue our learning and philanthropy journey, FFG will be our way of giving back to our community.

Looking forward to your partnership and investment!