Nonprofits Receive Almost $2.7 Million from Foundation

Grants awarded for Operational Support Sustain Crucial Services
New Opportunities for 2010

New Haven, CT (October 16, 2009) – The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven (The Foundation) announces today that $2,668,249 was approved by its Board of Directors last night, in its annual, competitive grants process. Grants are distributed to nonprofits serving The Foundation’s 20 town region, spanning Connecticut’s Lower Naugatuck Valley to Wallingford, from all towns adjacent to New Haven and from Orange north to Madison on the shoreline. The 52 grantees that received funding were drawn from an original pool of 176 pre-applications.

“As we expected and confirmed through our outreach to nonprofits earlier this year, the economic downturn created extraordinary challenges for the local non-profit sector which have, in turn, shaped our grantmaking this year in many ways” said William Ginsberg, President and CEO of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.  “Much more of our funding went to operational support for the most vital organizations in our region.” The Foundation decided to limit funding capital, new program, or program expansion grant requests, except those that address downturn-related issues or for whom forward momentum would be difficult to recapture without funding, Ginsberg said.

As a complement to operating support, The Foundation also funded the development and marketing operations of several agencies, such as Area Congregations Together, All Our Kin, Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, and Lower Naugatuck Valley Parent Child Resource Center, as well as supporting mergers between nonprofits, such as ALSO-Cornerstone and The Connection Inc. Supporting capacity building efforts of nonprofits has always been a Foundation strategy “because connecting local donors with worthy organizations to stimulate giving is a priority of The Foundation,” said Ginsberg. Throughout the year, The Foundation held technical assistance workshops, sponsored professional development forums, and provided scholarships for nonprofit development training in addition to these most recent grants. 

“Support for building the nonprofit sector’s fundraising capability is particularly valuable in this environment.  In a survey we conducted earlier in the year, we learned that nonprofits in our area are heavily reliant on state funding.  These vital organizations which are experiencing a large increase of demand for their services must diversify revenue sources and build committed constituents who will support their work in good times and in bad,” Ginsberg said.

 “Once again this was a very competitive process,” said Dr. Priscilla Canny, Senior Vice President for Grantmaking and Strategy. “Sixteen million dollars was requested for programs running the gamut of interest areas, providing services to all ages and across a large swath of our region.  Five times as much was requested in funding than The Foundation had available to distribute. What quickly became evident is that The Foundation, although the largest grantmaker in the region cannot replace reductions in State funding to nonprofits. Community institutions and philanthropists are also needed to close the gaps.”

Included among the total grants awarded were 25 multi-year grants totaling more than $1.7 million. Funds distributed through these grants will reach across a broad range of community interests: mental and behavioral health (such as Lower Naugatuck Valley Parent Child Resource Center Inc. and Jewish Family Services); arts and culture (such as the Arts Council of Greater New Haven and New Haven Symphony Orchestra); food and shelter (such as Beth El Center and Master’s Manna); education (such as All Our Kin and Empower New Haven); environmental conservation and education (such as Schooner Inc. and Solar Youth); substance abuse and violence (such as Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance and Rape Crisis Center of Milford).

“Many tough decisions had to be made but we’re confident in our choices to help sustain critical nonprofits in this region,” said Ginsberg. “This crisis has caused us to look at the nonprofit infrastructure in a new way. We’re also optimistic that 2010 will bring new opportunities through expanded collaboration, increased donor engagement and community dialogue. We will continue to invest in strengthening our nonprofits and will encourage others to do the same.”

The Foundation’s Board considers applications for responsive new grants in one competitive process each October to maximize its ability to compare grant applications to one another and thus to achieve maximum beneficial community impact. Once again, The Foundation engaged a diverse group of community volunteers, as well as staff, in reviewing applications to make the competitive grantmaking process more accessible, transparent, and equitable for local nonprofit organizations. These reviewers represented funding colleagues, professionals in higher education, practitioners, donors, and community leaders.
 
Since 1928, donors to The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven have built the community's endowment of 700 named funds valued at approximately $270 million. For more information about the work of The Community Foundation visit www.cfgnh.org.

2009 NEW RESPONSIVE COMPETITIVE GRANTS

All Our Kin
$50,000
1st year: $30,000; 2nd year: $20,000
To support and expand fundraising capacity and to strengthen services to train, support and sustain community child care providers, ensuring that children and families have the foundation they need to succeed in school and life.

ALSO-Cornerstone Inc.
$50,000
To provide financial resources to complete a merger with The Connection Inc., a Connecticut-based nonprofit that works to strengthen the collective ability to build and sustain safe, healthy and caring communities.

Ansonia Public Schools
$25,000
1st year - $12,500; 2nd year - $12,500
To support the Ansonia High School Human Relations Club, a group of students who lead their peers, teachers, members of the community, and students throughout Connecticut to participate in activities that reduce prejudice and discrimination and increase cultural, religious, racial, and ethnic awareness.

Area Congregations Together Inc.
$150,000
1st year: $50,000; 2nd year: $50,000; 3rd year: $50,000
To establish a development program.

Arts Council of Greater New Haven
$50,000
1st year - $25,000; 2nd year - $25,000
To provide general operating support for audience development and regional arts and culture promotion, foster community access and engagement in the arts, provide professional development training for artists and organizations and spearhead advocacy initiatives at the regional, state and national levels.

Audubon Connecticut
$75,000
1st year: $25,000; 2nd year: $25,000; 3rd year: $25,000
To support the Important Bird Area (IBA) program identifying and protecting land tracts as critical bird habitats or migratory stopovers.

Beth El Center Inc.
$25,000
To provide general operating support for transitional shelter programs for homeless individuals and families and a soup kitchen/food pantry that feeds individuals and families from Greater New Haven and Lower Naugatuck Valley.

Birmingham Group Health Services
$130,000
1st year: $60,000; 2nd year: $40,000; 3rd year: $30,000
To support the operations of the Domestic Violence Services of Greater New Haven program.

Boys & Girls Club of New Haven
$60,000
1st year: $20,000; 2nd year: $20,000; 3rd year: $20,000
To provide general operating support for educational and enrichment programs for children and families, especially those from low-income households.

Citywide Youth Coalition
$40,000
1st year: $20,000; 2nd year: $20,000
To provide general operating support to sustain and expand programming and services to youth-serving organizations so they can better meet the needs and to enhance the lives of children, youth and families in Greater New Haven.

Communicare Inc.
$40,000
To support Communicare members (Birmingham Group Health Services, Bridges…A Community Support System and Harbor Health Services) to develop a plan that will bring their current partnership to a new level of integration.

Community Action Agency (Community Fuel Bank) 
$30,000 
To support the Community Fuel Bank of Greater New Haven to assist at least 1500 working poor and/or elderly households with energy assistance grants to prevent shut off through out the year.

Connecticut Association for Human Services
$25,000
1st year - $15,000; 2nd year - $10,000
To support the Online Benefits Screening Initiative that improves access to work-supports for low-wage New Haven residents through the adaptation of EarnBenefits, an electronic benefits tool.

Connecticut Association for the Performing Arts
$15,000
To support community programming.

Connecticut Children's Museum - Parents and Community for Kids
$165,000
1st year: $85,000; 2nd year: $50,000; 3rd year: $30,000
To support the Parents and Communities for Kids (PACK) Initiative which promotes family learning for underserved parents and children by providing literacy-based learning opportunities at fifteen community classrooms in New Haven, Hamden and Ansonia.

Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance - Regional Youth/Adult Substance Abuse Program Inc.
$15,000
To provide general operating support for the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance to reduce the number of children and youth entering the juvenile justice system through legislative education and advocacy, strategic communications, community organizing and national, state and local partnerships.

Consultation Center
$40,515
1st year: $13,505; 2nd year: $13,505 3rd year: $13,505
To support respite to Grandfamilies in the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Program.

Creative Arts Workshop
$25,000
To provide general operating support for educational programming in fine arts and crafts for children and adults and free art exhibitions of a variety of visual arts media.

Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen 
$20,000 
To provide 60,000 free hot evening meals, 6,000 free bag lunches, and 18,000 free food pantry bags to the homeless, working poor and underprivileged citizens and families of the Greater New Haven area.

Empower New Haven Inc.
$50,000
1st year: $25,000; 2nd year: $25,000
To support The New Haven Nonprofit Academy which provides training and technical assistance based programming that builds the capacity of and promotes growth and sustainability for Greater New Haven nonprofits. Community Foundation funds help meet the match to be eligible for federal funds.

FISH of Greater New Haven 
$12,500 
To continue direct homebound distribution of food to 10,000 individuals who are ill, aged, disabled (temporarily or long-term). 

Habitat for Humanity of Greater New Haven
$30,000
To support the Skills for Life program which provides construction skills training and job readiness programming for young adults from New Haven who are under the guardianship of Connecticut's Foster Care system.

Hamden Public Schools
$28,500
To support a needs assessment for the in-school clinic at Church Street Elementary for the purpose of providing integrated prevention services, multidisciplinary assessments, and treatments for vulnerable and at-risk preschool to sixth grade students who struggle with learning disabilities in combination with social, emotional and behavioral problems.

Harbor Health Services Inc.
$40,000
To implement a nationally proven, evidence-based, process change and improvement model that impacts administrative and clinical processes and business care.

Housatonic Council, Boy Scouts of America
$32,500
To support the construction of a handicapped-accessible shower and lavatory facility capable of serving both male and female campers at Strang Scout Reservation.

Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS)
$40,000
To provide general operating support for outreach and educational programming to help refugees and other displaced people achieve self-sufficiency.

International Festival of Arts & Ideas
$75,000
To provide general operating support for community-building civic engagement programs for the 2010 Festival.

Jewish Family Service of New Haven
$60,000
1st year: $20,000; 2nd year: $20,000; 3rd year: $20,000
To provide general operating support for integrated programming of mental health services for the Greater New Haven community.

Junta for Progressive Action
$15,000
To provide general operating support for services, programs and advocacy that improve the social, political, and economic conditions of the Latino community in Greater New Haven.

LEAP
$60,000
1st year - $20,000; 2nd year - $20,000; 3rd year- $20,000
To provide general operating support for youth development and community engagement activities.

Lower Naugatuck Valley Parent Child Resource Center Inc.
$135,000
1st year: $70,000; 2nd year: $35,000; 3rd year: $30,000
To provide general operating support to promote, enhance and maintain positive behavioral health of children and families in Lower Naugatuck Valley. 

Master's Manna Inc.
$21,000
1st year - $10,500; 2nd year - $10,500
To provide general operating support to continue to serve the basic needs of the community through a food pantry, free medical clinic, soup kitchen, clothes closet and a diaper bank and eventually relocate to a larger site.

New Haven Home Ownership Center
$20,000
To provide general operating support for comprehensive counseling and financial services to low- and moderate-income residents of the Greater New Haven area who seek help navigating the process of buying their first home, securing additional loans for home improvement projects, and avoiding foreclosure.

New Haven Symphony Orchestra
$70,000
1st year - $35,000; 2nd year - $35,000
To provide general operating support to continue the current schedule of concerts, broadcasts, education and community engagement activities in the Greater New Haven region.

Patrons of the New Haven Free Public Library
$10,000
To provide general operating support for the Readmobile.

Planned Parenthood of CT Inc.
$20,000
To support Teen Talk, a teen pregnancy prevention program.

Prevent Blindness Tri-State
$40,000
1st year - $20,000; 2nd year $20,000
To support the Healthy Eyes for Connecticut Kids Project which provides vision screening, referral and follow up services for preschool children from New Haven, Ansonia, Seymour, Derby and Shelton.

Project Access New Haven
$50,000
To support a coordinated system of donated specialty healthcare for eligible uninsured adults.

Rape Crisis Center of Milford Inc.
$45,000
1st year: $15,000; 2nd year: $15,000; 3rd year: $15,000
To provide general operating support for educational programming to end sexual assault and for comprehensive and culturally competent sexual assault victim services.

Salvation Army Ansonia Corps
$15,000
To provide general operating support for comprehensive emergency assistance in the forms of food, clothing, utilities and furniture vouchers.

Schooner Inc.
$25,000
To provide operating support for hands-on marine science educational experiences on Long Island Sound and sailing programs on the tall ship, the Quinnipiack.

Solar Youth
$65,000
1st year - $25,000; 2nd year - $20,000; 3rd year - $20,000
To provide general operating support for environmental exploration, leadership and community service programming for youth.

Street Outreach Worker Program - City of New Haven
$185,000
1st year: $70,000; 2nd year: $60,000; 3rd year: $55,000
To support the Street Outreach Worker Program, a youth advocacy program to prevent and reduce youth violence.  This initiative is a collaboration of the City of New Haven Community Services Administration, the New Haven Police Department and New Haven Family Alliance.

STRIVE - New Haven
$70,000
1st year: $35,000; 2nd year: $35,000
To provide general operating support to prepare, train, place and support Greater New Haven residents in securing employment.

Student Parenting and Family Services Inc.
$35,000
1st year: $20,000 2nd year: $15,000
To support the Education for Independence Project which provides child care, academic counseling and life skills education for teenage parents in New Haven public schools.

TEAM Inc.
$67,500
1st year: $37,500; 2nd year: $30,000
To support the Valley Family Resource Center which promotes strong networks of resource, referral, and advocacy among families, schools, and agencies to focus on quality and healthy development for all children.

Valley Council for Health & Human Services - Valley United Way
$20,000
To support the CARES (Community Assessment Research & Education for Solutions) Initiative, a long-term project designed to track critical information about community well-being in the Lower Naugatuck Valley and utilize this information to address residents' needs.

Visiting Nurse Association of South Central CT
$135,734
To support the Home Health Aide Training Program which creates easily accessible and affordable means for low-income workers to be trained as Certified Nurse's Aides or home health aides.

VNA Services 
$45,000 
To support the Phelps Community Project which provides financial assistance and health services in the form of counseling, home-health aid, therapy and medical supplies for emergency assistance to Hamden residents 60 years of age and older.

Women and Family Life Center
$15,000
To provide general operating support to help women, youth and families meet the challenges of daily living and personal development through education, enrichment, support and referral services.

Workplace Inc.
$45,000
To support an Emergency Grant Fund which will provide jobseekers and under-employed Lower Naugatuck Valley residents with food, shelter, clothing and other critical needs that can jeopardize their ability to seek or retain employment.

Yale New Haven Hospital
$60,000
1st year: $30,000; 2nd year: $30,000
To support care coordination services to pregnant women, particularly African American women to improve birth outcomes as part of the New Haven Healthy Start program.