I first learned of Web of Benefit as a student at Babson College. I applied for an internship and met Johanna Crawford, the Founder and now Executive Director, at a coffee shop where she explained that Web of Benefit strives to give women the chance to DREAM, after having survived domestic violence. I soon started working very closely with Johanna, or Jo as she likes to be called, as an intern and quickly found how passionate she is about the organization and how much she was able to accomplish with a small non-profit. Johanna found a niche for Web of Benefit that had yet to be filled in Massachusetts, and much of the rest of the country, in helping women with grants of up to $1,000 (averaging $500) to help them fulfill their Dream. Every woman has to be out of the their abusive relationship when applying for a grant and they also need to fill out a Dream Proposal. The Dream Proposal acts as a blue print for the woman's grant and Web of Benefit wants to be a first step in helping the woman achieve their dream. After working with Web of Benefit for a few months, I was shocked to hear the stories from Jo after her interviews with potential grantees of how many woman were incapable or somehow unwilling to fill out their Dream Proposals - so many of the women had forgot how to Dream. I have since graduated from Babson College, interning with Web of Benefit through my junior and senior years, and after graduation I was asked to be on the Board of Directors. Web of Benefit has grown from the greater Boston area to now support Cook County in Chicago, a Dream of Jo's since she first started Web of Benefit. The Dream Proposal is still the driving force behind a grantees application and it has been a great honor to see so many of the women's Dreams, once unimaginable, fostered and achieved through the work of Web of Benefit.
Review from Guidestar