Funded Partners

COMMUNITY GRANT AWARDS FOR 2013:

Financial Stability:

  • AWARE
    Project: Economic Empowerment Initiative

    This initiative will increase the number of financially stable families by assisting victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence to achieve economic stability and self-sufficiency during confidential one- on-one meetings, support group meetings, and targeted referrals for additional assistance. Participating families will increase financial literacy and develop skills to enable them to locate and secure permanent, affordable housing, access programs that provide income support, build savings and credit to build and sustain assets, and identify, secure and retain suitable employment.

  • Central Vermont Community Action Council
    Project: Volunteer Income Tax Assistance

    CVCAC partners with the IRS VITA program to provide a high-quality tax preparation choice for low income families to ensure Vermonters claim all refunds and credits due. Special effort is made to reach the elder communities, those with disabilities and taxpayers who speak English as a second language. The program offers in-person assistance at no cost to prepare and file federal and state income taxes at multiple locations.

  • Northeast Kingdom Youth Services
    Project: Financial Literacy Program

    The Financial Literacy Program is a component of the Life Skills program and will be implemented into three, ten-week sessions throughout the 2012-2013 year. This program targets at-risk youth aged 15-21 including youth who are homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless, youth in foster care, and youth involved with the criminal justice system.

  • ReSOURCE
    Project: Workforce Development Program

    ReSOURCE’s workforce training programs combine occupational skills training with academic learning and participants earn industry-recognized credentials. ReSOURCE has identified specific areas of workforce development and training activities to provide job skills, education, and on-the-job experience for low- income individuals and at-risk youth that provide students with the opportunity to secure a job in a high- wage, high growth sector of the labor market. The programs are designed to give students a broad set of skills and more specialized training in specific areas of interest, and place them in employment in fields where growth is possible and wages are livable, thus increasing their opportunities for financial stability and advancement.

  • Safeline
    Project: Housing and Economic Justice Project

    This project will increase the number of financially stable families throughout Orange County by supplying victims of domestic violence, sexual violence and stalking with the tools, resources and support vital to improving their financial security and overall wellbeing. Safeline’s Housing and Economic Justice Advocate will provide emotional support, housing advocacy, life skills training, continuing education support and / or job readiness support, transportation and resources / referrals to program participants.

  • Tangible Assets at CVCAC
    Project: One to One Financial Counseling

    Central Vermont Community Action will provide follow-up financial counseling and coaching for 100 low income residents in Washington and Orange counties who attend workshops, classes or clinics. These one- to-one sessions will support individualized action plans to solve immediate financial difficulties and achieve long-term financial solvency.

Healthy Living:

  • Central Vermont Council on Aging
    Project: Seniors in Action Program

    In the 2012-13 term of service, eight Neighbor to Neighbor AmeriCorps (N2N) members and four community volunteers will be trained to lead two evidence-based physical activity programs – Tai Chi and Growing Stronger: Strength Training for Older Adults. N2N members will lead these programs at senior centers and other accessible locations in GMUW’s five-county service area, supporting seniors in improving their strength and balance.

  • Cross Vermont Trail Association
    Project: Building Community Trails

    This project will increase the number of people who are physically active in communities by creating and improving trails which are: Clearly marked, safe, inviting, built to high quality accessible standards; widely promoted with informative maps; nearby to where people live, convenient for daily exercise; on school grounds, open to public and also in local public nature preserves; and linked together in a wider network to provide safe routes to school and alternative transportation to all.

  • Green Mountain Farm to School
    Project: Sowing Seeds: Sprouts Afterschool Program

    This project builds on the successful school garden program that GMFTS has developed over the last four years. They will assemble a school garden manual based on the lessons and procedures they have developed and train community volunteers to launch the Sprouts Afterschool Garden Program at three new schools in Essex and Caledonia counties.

  • Washington County Youth Service Bureau
    Project: Teen Parent Program

    The Teen Parent Program Healthy Families Initiative will help pregnant and parenting teens aged 13-21: Increase their knowledge of health and nutrition; assess their nutrition and physical fitness; set goals and develop an individualized health and fitness plan to achieve the best short and long term benefits for them and their children; carry out the plan; and evaluate progress toward their goals.

Early Learning:

  • Family Center of Washington County
    Project: Early Learning Program

    FCWC is experiencing an increase in children with behavioral challenges, children living with multiple risk factors such as poverty and homelessness, children in DCF Family Services custody and children who know no or very little English. This grant will provide low-income parents with tuition relief by helping support the Family Center in serving this population, which requires more staff hours, specialist intervention, and special educator input, without passing on a tuition increase or state subsidy co-payment to parents.

  • Friends of the Cobleigh Library
    Project: Outreach and Bookmobile Program

    The library outreach program allows library staff to expand programming directly into the community. As the children develop a better vocabulary and an enthusiasm for stories, they are better able to express themselves, become aware of others and their feelings, and learn self-control in a small group setting. These relationships with our staff and their peers prepare children socially and emotionally to be successful in school as well as prepare the children for reading success.

  • Good Beginnings of Central VT
    Project: Mother / Infant Home Visitation Program

    The Mother / Infant Home Visitation Program is a free primary prevention program that relies solely on trained volunteers to offer unconditional support, resources and education to any family that is expecting or has a newborn throughout more than 20 central Vermont towns. Through weekly home visits and a peer support group, families receive referrals to short and long-term community supports. Home visitors identify and address immediate needs to help families create stable, nurturing home environments that encourage early learning. Furthermore, weekly home visits and group sessions provide mothers with a critical support network, reducing social isolation – a risk factor of child abuse and neglect.