COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF HOWARD COUNTY AWARDS GRANTS
Grants awarded during second half of 2010 bring year's total to more than $100,000 distributed to nonprofit agencies in Howard County
December 10, 2010 — Local nonprofit organizations were awarded more than $26,200 in competitive grants by the Community Foundation of Howard County during the second half of 2010. This amount boosts the year's total of competitive grants awarded to Howard County nonprofits to more than $100,000.
"As a community, we are fortunate our donors care about where they live and share their financial resources to establish endowed funds through the Foundation," said Joe Dunbar, Chairman of the Community Foundation of Howard County Grants Committee. "Their donations created a legacy of giving that allows us to support the nonprofit organizations that are providing services to Howard County residents. We thank the donors and the organizations for helping to meet the diverse needs of this community."
The following agencies and programs were awarded grants:
$2,320 to the Howard County Historical Society will provide support to collect, preserve and share interviews on the Ryan White story. The purpose of the project is to examine the impact the Ryan White story had on Howard County. Grant funding will assist the Historical Society in covering the costs of transcribing 20 oral history interviews.
$4,500 to Mental Health America will provide funding to repair the agency's van that is used for client transportation, and picking up and delivering donated goods. Mental Health America assists a diverse population with a central focus on clients with a mental and/or physical disability.
$10,000 to Bona Vista will provide support for Bona Vista's Child Care Solution's Family Care and Education Enhancement project. Funding will be used to improve services to families by extending the lending library services that provides families with educationally appropriate toys, home health and safety materials, and parent resource literature. The grant will also be used to market the lending library making it available to 500 Howard County families. Training, education and support material topics include safe sleeping, reducing the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), preventing positional suffocation and strangulation, creating child safe environments, and appropriate guidance and discipline.
$1,000 to Howard County 4-H for the Carver Center 4-H Club provides support for the Carver Center's 4-H Club's Life Skills project. The funding will be used to purchase supplies for the life skills program that will be offered to youth in neighborhoods near the Carver Community Center. Projects selected to expand the opportunities for the club include reading, Lego-type models, foods, sewing, electricity and photography. The purpose of the program is to give youth in an under served community of Howard County the opportunity to develop essential life skills through hands-on projects that will be displayed and honored at the 2011 Howard County 4-H fair.
$4,466 to the Family Service Association (FSA) of Howard County will provide matching support for the Healthy Families Program expansion project. Funding along with the matching funds from the Children's Trust Fund will allow FSA to expand the Healthy Families program in Howard County to provide education, support and referral services to an additional 15 - 20 low-income parents who are expecting a baby or who have a newborn. The Healthy Families program is a research-based, long-term home visiting program that is proven to reduce child abuse, increase school readiness and improve health outcomes to parents of children three years of age and younger.
$4,000 to the Russiaville Historical Society will provide funding support for the Ticket Agent's Window Move project. Funding will be used in the first phase of restoring the 1912 Interurban Station, including moving the ticket agent's window from the east end of the building back to its original location on the south side. The surrounding brick work will be restored and the east end will be sealed against weather. Once the project is complete, it will enable the Historical Society's Interurban Station to be recognized on the National Register of Historic Places. That designation will in turn make the society eligible to apply for an Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) grant that could potentially cover the costs of completely restoring the outside of the structure.
The Community Foundation of Howard County, Inc. was formed as a not-for-profit public charity in March 1991. The foundation seeks to serve donors and make grants to benefit the citizens of Howard County. For more information about the Community Foundation, contact Ron Harper or Hilda Burns at 765-454-7298 or ron@cfhoward.org and hilda@cfhoward.org. The Web site www.cfhoward.org contains information about making gifts to endowment funds, scholarships and grant making.
