Community Impact - Nurturing Children and Youth

Programs supported by The Community Foundation nurture the academic and social development of children and youth. Many grants awarded in this area support after school or out of school programming that cultivate self-determination, character and leadership abilities.

Highlights of the work we fund

New Haven-based Solar Youth engages young people in the environment and community

Earning while learning

STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) and environmental programs at Solar Youth and Peabody Museum combine deep educational opportunities with valuable employment experience.

Solar Youth provided about 200 youth with jobs and internships related to the environment, during a recent grant term. The afterschool and summer program offers environmental education and leadership development to primarily low income children and youth, ages 4-18 years.

The EVOLUTIONS afterschool program at The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History engaged high school students in curriculum designed to foster interest and understanding in STEM fields. The Sci.CORPS program has annually employed approximately 40 students as interpreters in science exhibition galleries.

Learn more about the EVOLUTIONS program.

Citywide Youth Coalition activists on the steps of New Haven City Hall rallying for sanctuary schools. Photo provided by Citywide Youth Coalition.

Devloping young leaders

Citywide Youth Coalition develops youth leadership opportunities and amplifies youth voice throughout the region. During a recent grant term, the coalition helped establish two student seats on the New Haven Board of Education

Youth coalition members also have a policy agenda in support of juvenile justice reform, sanctuary schools, and clean water advocacy. They also hold monthly “Dinner and Dialogue” meetings, which tackle a different issue each month at the public library and regularly attract 50 or more attendees.

Making a difference - stories from our grantees

Green Jobs Teach Life Skills »

04.08.2019

Young people working in Solar Youth’s Green Jobs program are not only earning money to work outside and beautify neighborhoods around New Haven. They are also developing valuable skills that will help them professionally and in life.

From the Start: LEAP »

12.17.2018

Now in its third decade, LEAP continues to mentor the inquisitive youth who come for after-school and summer programs.

Transforming Youth Justice »

12.13.2018

Professionals working with youth use the latest research and education to reform the way young people and families are treated throughout the juvenile justice system.

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Recent Grant Awards

Ability Beyond Disability - $15,000 to support Workforce Opportunities, an unemployment intervention program for young adults in Greater New Haven with disabilities who remain without jobs three-to-five years after high school graduation.
Branford Early Childhood Collaborative - $38,000 to to support the Early Childhood Community Outreach program.
Connecticut Students for a Dream - $50,000 to support in school and after school programming as well as youth organizing work for undocumented, immigrant, and first-generation American youth in Greater New Haven.
Girl Scouts of Connecticut Inc. - $10,000 to support a feasibility study to help build a capital campaign strategy.
LEAP - $150,000 to provide general operating support for year round, community-based programs designed to achieve positive academic and social outcomes for children living in high poverty urban neighborhoods in New Haven.
r'Kids - $110,000 to provide general operating support for services to children and families in transition and to promote permanency, safety and stability for children by providing nurturing services to biological, foster, adoptive and relative care families.
Spanish Community of Wallingford - $105,000 to support afterschool programming for Latino/Latina adolescents of immigrant families from Wallingford.
Youth Continuum - $24,800 to support the purchase of furniture for Winchester Manor, a supportive housing facility for homeless youth.