The Delaware Community Foundation has awarded grants totaling $280,000 to five statewide agencies.
Through the collaborative grant program, the DCF seeds organizations’ efforts to find creative, sustainable ways to work together for the benefit of the community.
Past collaborative grants have resulted in several permanent alliances and organizations that continue to serve Delawareans, including the Delaware Anti-Hunger Coalition and the Delaware Aging Network.
The 2016 lead agencies and initiatives are:
La Red Health Center (Sussex)
La Red received $100,000 to provide a range of services to the homeless in Sussex County, through a collaboration with Tap Faith and the ACE (Acceptance, Change, Empowerment) Peer Resource Center.
La Red will use the money to help pay a case manager and behavioral health practitioners. Tap Faith will open two transitional houses for 16 people, provide rental assistance for qualifying applicants, and open a life skills and education program. ACE will provide resume production and buy professional clothing, a washer and dryer, a van and bicycles to help homeless people prepare for and travel to and from job interviews.
Communities in Schools (Kent)
Communities in Schools, in partnership with the Delaware Adolescent Program Inc. (DAPI) and nine other agencies, received $29,000 to support programs addressing teen pregnancy and teen parenting to reduce the high school dropout rate in Kent County. Communities in School and its partner agencies provide mentoring, academic support, healthcare, parenting support and necessities for parenting and pregnant teens.
Opportunity Center (NCC)
The Opportunity Center received $69,000 to partner with the $tandByMe financial coaching program and 22 disability services providers to support ROADS to Financial Independence, an initiative that helps individuals with disabilities through financial coaching and disability benefits counseling.
More than 23,000 New Castle County residents with disabilities live in poverty, which is three times the rate of residents without disabilities. The DCF grant will enable the Opportunity Center to hire a financial coach, who will help 40 New Castle County residents with disabilities each month. Coaches help residents build their capacity to increase their earnings and resources and make informed financial decisions.
Read Aloud Delaware (Sussex)
Read Aloud Delaware, in partnership with the Sussex County Health Promotion Coalition, received $22,000 to grow its Healthy Dollar Dinner program. Participants pay $1 for each Healthy Dollar Dinner, which features a healthy meal and a 30-minute presentation on a topic such as immunizations, financial resources, health screenings, food banks, nutrition, and cooking, dental and vision care, and other community services. At the dinners, representatives from Read Aloud Delaware give away new books and magazines, help participants sign up for library cards and recruit volunteers for the Volunteer Reading Program.
Meals are prepared by individuals enrolled in cooking classes provided by Connections Community Support Services, which helps Delawareans facing mental health, substance abuse and other issues.
Summer Learning Collaborative (NCC)
The Summer Learning Collaborative received $60,000 to recruit and train counselors at the Collaborative Camps, five summer camps that aim to reduce summer learning loss among low-income and minority children in Wilmington.
The Summer Learning Collaborative serves 1,000 children at summer camps at the Walnut Street YMCA, the Latin American Community Center, Boys & Girls Club of Delaware, Hilltop Lutheran Neighborhood Center and West End Neighborhood House. The DCF grant will fund training in national best practices to help stem learning loss by Outward Bound, Teach For America and The Exploration School.
The Delaware Community Foundation’s collaborative grants are funded by earnings from the Forever Fund, the foundation’s unrestricted fund. Gifts to the Forever Fund can be made online delcf.org/forever.
