Community Foundation awards grants

The Community Foundation of Central Illinois announced Friday it will grant more than $130,000 to meet the needs of many community and women’s organizations in central Illinois.

The foundations’s Board of Directors approved 28 grant proposals during its 2016 Community Needs and Women’s Fund Success Grants funding cycles. 

The grants will support a wide range of local charitable needs and opportunities, including youth development initiatives, educational programs, transportation of food for local food banks and pantries, and workforce development projects.

The Women's Fund awarded 8 grant proposals for a total of $23,287 to support the efforts of area nonprofits to empower the lives of women and girls. 

The awards were made possible by 37 funds. These include unrestricted and field of interest endowments created with the intention of supporting various community needs. Grant awards were determined by a diverse group of volunteers, each with a knowledge base of different issues in our community today.

The CFCI Distribution Committee is amazingly thorough and thoughtful about each decision that is made, the orgnization said in a news release.  

“The Community Foundation is pleased to invest more than $130,000 in grant support for programs that are making a lasting impact on the lives of thousands of people in our communities,” said Mark Roberts, CEO of the Community Foundation of Central Illinois.

The following non-profit organizations were approved for funding:

Community Needs Grants-

American Red Cross of Central Illinois: $5,000 for: Disaster Services – Home Fire Relief

Carver Community Center: $5,000 for: After School Programs

Crittenton Centers: $5,000 for: Making Family Connections

EP!C: $5,000 for: EP!C HUB – “We Can Work Too”

Friends of Wildlife Prairie Park: 5,000 for: Work/Life Skill through Aviary Science Program

Glen Oak Christian Church: $7,000 for: Snack Packs

Heart of Illinois Harvest: $7,000 for: Transportation of Donated Food

Hult Center for Healthy Living: $11,000 for: Making Connections

Illinois Spina Bifida Assocation was awarded $2,500 for: Community-Clinic Connection

Look! It’s My Book: $5,000 for: Look! It’s My Book.

Midwest Food Bank, Peoria Division: $7,000 for: Perishable Food Program

Peoria Citizens Committee for Economic Opportunity (PCCEO): $8,000 for: Peoria Area Food Bank

Peoria Park District: $3,000 for ELITE Re-Entry Program

Peoria Playhouse Children’s Museum (of the Peoria Park District): $2,500 for: Celebrate Peoria

Peoria Public Schools Foundation: $1,000 for: Horizons Club

South Side Office of Concern: $3,000 for: Supportive Housing – Happy Homes Project

TASC, Inc.: $2,500 for: Smart Start

The Center for Prevention of Abuse: $11,000 for: Children’s Therapy – Domestic Violence

The gitm Foundation: $9,500 for: The Good Food Recovery Program

Camp Big Sky: $3,000 for: Living a Life Like Any Other

Women’s Fund Success Grants-

Crittenton Centers: $3,960 for: Partners In Prevention

Common Place Family Learning Center: $4,327 for: The Influential Women’s Group

Girl Scouts of Central Illinois: $1,000 for: Girl Scout Leadership Experience

Girls on the Run of Central Illinois: $2,500 for: Peoria Heart & Sole and GOTR Programs

Hult Center for Healthy Living: $5,000 for: Youth Reproductive Education

Peoria High School: $1,000 for: Preparatory School of the Arts

The Center for Prevention of Abuse: $3,500 for: HARTS- Helping All Relationships to be Safe

The Sun Foundation: $2,000 for: Art & Science in the Woods Summer Program

About the Author

Paul Gordon is the editor of The Peorian after spending 29 years of indentured servitude at the Peoria Journal Star. He’s an award-winning writer, raconteur and song-and-dance man. He also went to a high school whose team name is the Alices (that’s Vincennes Lincoln High School in Indiana; you can look it up).