The Valley Community Foundation recently announced $595,000 in grants to Valley groups and programs.
The grants support programs that focus on financial literacy, unemployment, the arts, health, and education.
“Valley organizations which received funding through our responsive program made their way through a rigorous application and review process,” said Carla Supersano Sullivan, director of donor service and grantmaking. “We are proud to partner with these worthy organizations to address community needs, and are confident that these Grants will make an immediate impact in the areas of youth, health, arts, culture and community development.”
The grants went to 19 non profit organizations that serve the Naugatuck Valley region.
The following grants were awarded:
- Ansonia Public Schools $45,000 to help support a partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley to provide literacy and recreational support to 70 children attending the after school programs at the Tinney Community Center and Ansonia Community Action.
- Area Congregations Together, Inc. $12,500 to provide general operating supoprt for the Spooner House, a homeless shelter that serves the Valley.
- Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Hartford $50,000 to support the Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic, a program for Valley children 7 to 18 with emotional and behavioural disorders.
- Center Stage Theatre, Inc. $25,000 to support the Youth Connection, an eight-week summer theater program, and the Center Stage Teen Theatre Workshop, a fall theatre program for high school students.
- City of Derby $15,000 to support the completion of construction documents for the Sterling Opera House renovation.
- Griffin Hospital $40,000 to support the development and evaluation of a pilot Cancer Survivorship Program.
- Housatonic Council, Boy Scouts of America $15,000 to complete the construction of a handicapped accessible shower and lavatory facility at the Strang Scout Reservation.
- International Institute of Connecticut, Inc. $7,500 to support the expansion of a volunteer management program that helps refugees transitioning from assistance to self-sufficiency.
- Junior Achievement of Western Connecticut Inc. $75,000 to support financial literacy, workforce readiness and entrepreneurship programs for students in Seymour, Derby, Ansonia and Shelton.
- Lower Naugatuck Valley Parent Child Resource Center Inc. $30,000 to support a major capacity-building initiative to ensure the delivery of critical behavioral health services to over 1,200 children and families in the Valley.
- Literacy Volunteers of Greater New Haven $30,000 to support the Valley program to increase the reading, writing and English speaking skills of low literacy Valley adult so they can participate more fully as parents, as employees and as members of their community.
- Prevent Blindness Tri-State $4,000 to support the Healthy Eyes for Connecticut Kids Project which provides free vision screening, referral and follow up services for preschool children from low income communities in Ansonia, Derby, Seymour and Shelton.
- Salvation Army — Greater Valley Corps $10,000 to provide general operating support for comprehensive emergency assistance in the forms of food, clothing, utilities and furniture vouchers to 125 individuals.
- Shelton Economic Development Corporation $45,000 to support the implementation of a new 5‑year comprehensive economic development strategy
- TEAM Inc. $88,000 to support a program evaluation and monitoring of financial literacy training and asset development programs, helping clients obtain financial self-sufficiency
- Valley Council for Health and Human Services $20,000 to improve quality of life in the Valley by building community coalitions and action plans to address employment training and preparation among Valley youth and adults, and promoting healthy behaviors among Valley residents.
- Valley YMCA $24,000 to support financial assistance for members and facility development.
- Wesley Heights Inc. $9,500 to primarily support assisted living services for low-income elderly male residents.
- Workplace, Inc. $50,000 to support the Platform to Employment project which provides short term paid interships for individuals from the Valley who have exhausted 99 weeks of unemployment benefits to re-enter the workforce.
For more information, visit the Valley Community Foundation website.
