Thank You

Thanks to all of you who voted, the band Metric won the Pepsi Refresh SXSW Challenge. As a result, Women's Funding Network will receive a $100,000 grant toward the national expansion of A FUTURE. NOT A PAST., a campaign to stop the commercial sexual exploitation of girls in the United States! Women's Funding Network is grateful to Metric and the Pepsi Refresh Project for making this possible. You can read the announcements at Spin Magazine and Pepsi's Refresh Blog.

Deborah Richardson, Women's Funding Network's Chief Program Officer, says, "It is estimated there are more than 200,000 children -- mostly girls -- being bought and sold in this country every year. Your clicks were for them!!"

A FUTURE. NOT A PAST. was created in 2007 to address and prevent the prostitution of girls in the state of Georgia. The campaign seeks to protect and inspire hope in girls who have survived commercial sexual exploitation, disable demand and prosecute and increase penalties for pimps and johns. The Georgia campaign has been so successful and the issue is so prevalent in states across the country that Women's Funding Network is launching the national expansion of A FUTURE. NOT A PAST. this Spring.

The $100,000 grant from Pepsi will support Women's Funding Network's efforts to:

• Collect data on the number of sexually exploited girls in target states to document the national scope of the issue
• Develop a plan of action for a nationwide comprehensive system of care for sexually exploited girls
• Create and implement public awareness and advocacy campaigns to decrease demand and provide support for survivors
• Increase programming that prepares girls to lead full and healthy lives

Vote for Us As Many Times as You Can in the Pepsi Refresh SXSW Challenge!

Vote here as many times as you can! Don't stop clicking until midnight Eastern tonight!

The band Metric approached us this month to be the recipient charity for the Pepsi Refresh SXSW Challenge. This is a challenge between the bands Metric and Broken Social Scene in partnership with Austin’s SXSW Challenge. If Metric gets the most votes we could receive $100,000. The winner will be announced March 31.



Metric chose Women’s Funding Network to support the launch of the national expansion of A Future. Not a Past. to end the prostitution of girls across the U.S. This phenomenal concept originated in Atlanta, where child sexual exploitation was running rampant before city officials partnered with Atlanta Women's Foundation and The Harold and Kayrita Anderson Family Foundation to create ways to prevent and end the trafficking of children. Women's Funding Network wants to take the work done in Atlanta and replicate it nationally to make all our communities safer.

Please visit the great Video about the Pepsi Refresh Challenge, Metric and Women’s Funding Network. Please take a couple of minutes to link to our Facebook page, too and VOTE! You can vote as many times as you want!

Vote here!