In honor of Women’s History Month, the Blank Foundation is celebrating the legacy of our chairman’s mother, Molly Blank, and our many grantee partners led by exceptional women. In 2023, the Molly Blank Fund awarded a $500,000 grant to Nana Grants, an organization that covers 100% of childcare costs for low-income mothers attending a college, university or training program in Georgia.

Nana Grants believes that helping these women with the burden of childcare will help them get the education they need to provide an economically stable home for themselves and their families. “Our goal is to remove the uncertainty associated with continuous, quality childcare so that student mothers can focus on their studies, graduate and have rewarding, well-compensated careers,” said Erica Stephens, founder and executive director of Nana Grants.

Even though they face many challenges, Nana Grants recipients maintain an impressive 3.4 GPA. Not only does the organization help many mothers graduate with advanced degrees and certificates, it provides their children with safe, high-quality early childhood education that will have a lasting impact on their future.

In 1975, Alana and Harold Shepherd founded the Shepherd Center after their son James sustained a paralyzing spinal cord injury. Because of their own experience, they wanted to bring better rehabilitation care options to Atlanta. Today, the Shepherd Center is a renowned rehabilitation hospital providing world-class clinical care, research and family support for those with complex conditions such as spinal cord and brain injuries, traumatic amputations, strokes and multiple sclerosis.

Alana has also worked tirelessly as an advocate for people with disabilities. She helped make Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport one of the most accessible airports in the nation, put ADA-compliant wheelchair lifts in Atlanta’s MARTA bus system, brought the 1996 Paralympic Games to Atlanta and ensured all future sites of the Olympic Games were accessible to all. In 2022, the Blank Foundation gave a $50 million grant to the Shepherd Center so it could add 160 family housing units, doubling its capacity and enabling more families and caregivers to be close to their loved ones during their rehabilitation.