Community Foundation of Greater New Britain Concludes 2006 With $129,800 in Grants to Local Causes
4th Quarter Funding Brings Total Community Impact to More than $1 Million
The Community Foundation of Greater New Britain concluded its 2006 grantmaking year with fourth-quarter discretionary grants totaling $129,800. Discretionary grants – awards determined solely at the discretion of the Foundation’s board of directors with unrestricted funds – totaled more than $500,000 for the year.
Including all grants, either discretionary or those awarded through Foundation-managed funds targeted by specific donors, the total community-wide impact of Foundation grantmaking for 2006 topped $1 million.
Nearly 50 percent of the year’s discretionary funding benefited agencies and programs serving all four towns in the Foundation’s service area – Berlin, New Britain, Plainville and Southington. The funding supported a variety of initiatives in education, early childhood development, health and human services, community and economic development, and arts and humanities.
Fourth-quarter 2006 discretionary grant awards and recipients include:
- Capital Workforce Partners, $25,000. For start-up costs associated with the group’s New Britain Future Workforce Initiative System. The initiative is designed to create a comprehensive system to better prepare young people ages 16-24 to enter the workforce by increasing their exposure to positive work experiences that will ultimately led to self-sufficiency. Other participants in the initiative include the New Britain Chamber of Commerce, the City of New Britain, the Consolidated School District of New Britain, Central Connecticut State University and the Opportunities Industrialization Center.
- Housing Authority, City of New Britain, $20,000. To support Options and Choices, a collaborative program between the Housing Authority and the Opportunities Industrialization Center designed to offer educational and recreational programs for residents of the Oval Grove public housing development. The long-term goal of the Options and Choices program is to empower youth and parents with the necessary skills to graduate from high school, attend college, get a job and eventually move out of public housing.
- Trinity-On-Main, $20,000. To provide second-year support for the program’s executive director position. The former Trinity United Methodist Church on Main Street in New Britain has found new life as Trinity-On-Main, an arts center and community space. The program has grown substantially since the hiring of a part-time executive director in October, 2005.
- Greater New Britain Arts Alliance (GNBAA), $13,000. For 2007 operating support. The mission of the GNBAA is to stimulate, promote and coordinate general interest in the creative, performing and visual arts in New Britain, and to promote New Britain as a center for the arts.
- Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC), $10,000. To upgrade the Center’s existing computer systems and software. OIC is part of a national and international employment training network that has been in operation for 35 years. It provides clients with programs that enhance skills in job seeking and retention, customer service and computer training.
- Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), $10,000. To support LISC’s Children Investment Partnership. LISC, a leading national community development organization, created the Children’s Investment Partnership program five years ago in Connecticut to expand the supply and improve the quality of early care and education for low-income families. The funds will be used to provide targeted technical assistance and training on all aspects of early childhood center design, development and financing for providers in the Foundation’s service area.
- Friendship Service Center, $10,000. To support the Center’s emergency needs and assertive substance abuse programs. The emergency needs program helps those living in poverty to meet basic needs that will keep them living in their homes, thereby preventing homelessness. The assertive substance abuse program helps bring hard-core substance abusers back into the system of care in order to offer them food, clothing and health care, and present them with the option of treatment.
- Visiting Nurse Association of Central Connecticut, $10,000. To support the start-up of Hip Hop (Healthy Informed Proud Healthy Outlook Project), a new interactive program designed to prevent obesity among children ages 5-13. The HIP HOP Program will identify area children ages 5-13 at high risk for diabetes or other medical complications, and enroll them in fun, interactive, monthly workshops where they will learn to live a healthier lifestyle.
- Catherine McGee Middle School, $5,000. To support the Berlin school’s establishment of an on-site Wellness Center for students, faculty and the community. McGee Middle School is pursuing creation of the Wellness Center as a result of research indicating an increase in obesity among adolescents due to a lack of physical activity and proper nutrition. The Center is part of a district-wide wellness policy adopted by the Berlin Board of Education.
- Repertory Theater of New Britain, $4,000. For facility repairs. The all-volunteer theater, begun in 1946 and housed in a building dating to 1911, experienced significant water damage in 2006 due to leaking pipes.
- Southington Community Services, Town of Southington, $2,800. To design and produce a professional informational brochure on the range of services offered by Southington Community Services. The town’s Community Services Department offers fire/emergency assistance, federal energy assistance, a back-to-school program, a rent eviction program, summer camp, food pantry, holiday programs and assistance for residents in completing state forms.
In addition to its above-referenced discretionary grants, the Foundation’s Board of Directors also approved $42,550 in fourth-quarter grants from its pool of donor-advised funds (funds established by donors with a specific charitable intent), as well as $6,000 in scholarship awards.
Established in 1941, the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain connects donors who care with causes that matter in Berlin, New Britain, Plainville and Southington. It does this by raising resources and developing partnerships that make a measurable improvement in the quality of life in each of these communities.
For more information on the Foundation, please call 860.229.6018.
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