Support The Mimi Taylor Grimes Scholarship Fund

Created to honor the legacy of an extraordinary educator, advocate, and Center for Story & Witness supporter, The Mimi Taylor Grimes Scholarship Fund takes its inspiration from Mimi’s belief that in order to heal, we first need to be heard.

Every $1500 dollars raised will provide a full, two-day scholarship to a survivor of sexual violence or human trafficking waiting to take part in The Stories We Tell, Center for Story & Witness’s award-winning, global testimonial writing program. Thanks, in advance, for supporting our Mimi Taylor Grimes Scholars and giving the gift of change.

A life of love & service: About Melva “Mimi” Taylor Grimes.

Mimi Taylor Grimes was an educator who taught for three decades in suburban-area Chicago elementary schools before becoming a supervisor of teaching education at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“In many ways, our mom’s educational philosophy was her life’s philosophy,” said her son, Robert K. Ream, a Professor of Education at the University of California, Riverside. “She taught every student as if they were a member of her own family. And she was committed to fostering spaces where we listen to and learn from one another, and where differences are seen as a strength.” 

Working to create a world free of gender-based violence, an issue that had directly
impacted her family, was a labor of love for Mimi.

Mimi was a longstanding Speakers Bureau member at The Voices and Faces Project, a non-profit organization created to bring the stories of gender-based violence survivors to the attention of the public; served as an advisor to the board of directors of the Arkansas Coalition Against Sexual Assault; and established the Arkansas chapter of Threads of Compassion, a collective of knitters who crafted healing scarves for distribution to sexual violence victims in hospital emergency rooms.

In 2011, in recognition of her work to end gender-based violence, Mimi received the National Sexual Violence Resource Council’s “Visionary Voice Award,” which was presented to Mimi, alongside her daughter Anne K. Ream, at the Clinton Presidential Center.

“Our Mom was a ‘gentle activist,’” said Anne, Co-Founder of Center for Story & Witness. “She was able to meet people where they were, and then move them, through her quiet, kind, insistent example, towards justice.” 

A social justice-focused Methodist, Mimi was active in the national Reconciling Ministries Network, where she played a critical role in mobilizing the Methodist Church to embrace and respect those of all sexual orientations and gender identities; and a member of United Women in Faith, a national, faith-based organization that seeks to address climate, racial, and gender justice.

A pianist and singer from an early age, Mimi was also a proud member of the Riverside
California Resistance Choir; and took part in the 2017 Women’s March alongside her daughters. 

“Our Mom had a deep faith and spirituality, but it was not rules-based. For her, love was the highest law,” said her daughter, Kary Ream, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.

Following Mimi’s 2024 death, at age 84, her husband, Dave Grimes, and children Anne K. Ream, Robert Ream, and Kary Ream launched the Mimi Taylor Grimes Scholarship Fund to honor her life of love and service.

To donate click the green button or send checks to:
Center for Story & Witness
Attn: The Mimi Taylor Grimes Scholarship Fund
303 East Wacker Drive, Suite 2108
Chicago, IL 60601