2015 Grants by Priority Area

Connecticut Community Foundation awarded nearly $340,000 in its most recent grant round to area nonprofits for program support, arts & youth, leadership initiatives, literacy, nonprofit assistance, older adult services, health and travel. If you are a small business then take a look at these free to apply business grants that will help your for-profit business.

Altogether, in 2015, Connecticut Community Foundation distributed nearly $4 million through scholarships to area students and grants to nonprofit organizations working in its 21-town region. Grant and scholarship awards come from donor-established funds and the annual Give Local Greater Waterbury & Litchfield Hills online giving event held in May. In addition, Connecticut Community Foundation awarded over $18,000 to 15 nonprofits during its second round of 2015 sponsorship grants for funding for public events in Greater Waterbury and the Litchfield Hills hosted by nonprofit organizations. For a detailed listing of recent sponsorship recipients, please click here. For more information, contact us at grants@conncf.org or 203.753.1315.

Environmental Grants

  • CT Land Conservation Council (Rockfall, CT): CLCC Land Trust Challenge Fund Grant Program – $5,000 to support a land trust accreditation process at Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust.
  • Fulton Park Conservancy: Central Pond Phragmites Removal – $10,000 to fund the removal of phragmites and silt from Fulton Park’s central pond and the replanting of the northern pond shore with native plants to prevent erosion. The long-term goal is to help the pond to return to its original recreational use.
  • Housatonic Valley Association: Naugatuck River Website – $1,200 to support HVA’s administration of the newly re-launched www.naugatuckriver.net website, which serves as a community resource for information about fishing, paddling, greenway activity, and water quality for the Naugatuck River.
  • Northwest Conservation District: CLEAN Watershed Solutions – Low Impact Development (Year 2) – $7,500 to increase local awareness and understanding of Low Impact Development (LID) principles, tools and environmental benefits. Specifically, it promotes and facilitates adoption of LID in towns’ land use planning.
  • Steep Rock Association: Environmental Education Outreach – $2,300 to offer approximately 15 programs that will educate and raise awareness of the natural, historical and/or cultural resources found in the Steep Rock nature preserve system.
  • Weantinoge Heritage Land Trust: Restoring Still River by Place-Based Learning – $5,000 to continue support of Weantinoge’s education and restoration work in New Milford’s Still River Preserve, in partnership with the New Milford Youth Association.
  • Audubon Center, Bent of the River: School Yard Habitat Program – $9,998 to implement a healthy schoolyard habitat and environmental education program at the Children’s Community School in Waterbury.
  • Bethlehem Land Trust: Mapping for Accreditation – $1,200 to support upgraded technology needed for digital mapping, in preparation for Bethlehem Land Trust’s accreditation process.
  • Connecticut Land Conservation Council: Land Trust Challenge Fund Grant Program – $5,000 to build the long-term strength and effectiveness of land trusts and to advance their efforts to implement Land Trust Standards & Practices, the guide for legal and ethical performances by land trusts.
  • Friends of the Litchfield Community Greenway: Community Greenway Construction – $4,858 to fund the start of the 2nd phase of the Litchfield Greenway.
  • Housatonic Valley Association: Housatonic River Adventure & Source to Sound Paddle Trip – $8,000 to support a major public education project to raise awareness of the plight of our rivers and the role that everyone – communities, individuals and businesses – can play in restoring river health.
  • Railroad Museum of New England: The Great Naugatuck River Cleanup – $5,275 for a collaborative project to remove approximately 1,000 used tires, shopping carts and other debris that have been discarded along the banks of the Naugatuck River and within sight of the Naugatuck Railroad tracks.
  • Rivers Alliance: Climate Change and Sustainability Conference (“Global Climate, Local Effects”) – $8,000 to convene a 2016 conference on the anticipated effects of climate change on water resources and water-management needs in our region.
  • Steep Rock (Washington): Judea Garden Summer Internship Program – $4,500 to support two interns at Judea Garden; they will learn the basics of organic gardening and help to meet food needs in their communities.

 

LitLinks Grants

  • Darcy School: Circle of Security Program – $9,900 to launch the Circle of Security Program at the Darcy Early Intervention Center, which is a relationship-based intervention designed to enhance attachment and security between parents, teachers and caregivers with high-risk children.
  • Reach Out & Read: Greater Waterbury Early Literacy Initiative – $15,000 to continue program funding for a second year, with the goal of supporting the effort to make Waterbury a “book-end city,” where all pediatric practices provide age appropriate books to children and reading advice to parents at well visits.
  • Catholic Charities: Strengthening Families – $17,324 to support the implementation of a dual generational Program at their South Main Street Center.
  • KidsPlay Children’s Museum, Inc.: Literacy Based Programs – $6,970 to expand the number of literacy based programs and events offered at the museum and in conjunction with local school districts.
  • New Milford Public Schools: Pre-K/Kindergarten Transition – $4,101.38 to continue support for the Early Childhood Collaborative, which includes professional development for collaborative members, community workshops on literacy, and access to individualized coaching at community programs.
  • United Way of Western Connecticut: Imagination Library – $2,500 to continue funding for New Milford children from birth through age 5, to participate in the program which delivers books monthly.

 

Arts and Culture

  • Girls Inc. of Southwestern CT (Waterbury): Girls Inc. Sewing Program (Year 2) – $10,000 to support the second year of the Girls Inc. Sewing program, which includes hands-on sewing and creative fashion design as well as retail, buying, trends, and advertising.
  • Hispanic Coalition of Greater Waterbury: Youth Cultural Arts – $10,000 to operate a Youth-Centered Cultural Arts Display in a downtown storefront, where the Coalition’s Youth Leadership Program participants will create monthly exhibitions concentrating on Latino culture and history through art and public events.
  • Landmark Community Theatre: Performing Arts for Students: Building Performance Skills through Classes, Productions, and Volunteering (Year Two) – $6,000 to link Greater Waterbury and Litchfield County teens with respected artists and instructors at the Thomaston Opera House, where they will learn about performing arts and stagecraft.
  • Mattatuck Museum: Shred the Skirt for Climbing – $13,000 for an innovative performance, video, digital storytelling, and publication project run in partnership with Girls Inc. Participants will investigate fashion and architecture in relationship to gender constraints, culminating in a Mattatuck exhibition in early 2016.
  • Shakesperience Productions, Inc.: Waterbury Interactive: Our City, Our Neighborhoods (Year Three) – $10,000 to a support this high-quality arts program that incorporates performance with the development and history of Waterbury neighborhoods. Each project culminates in neighborhood-based performance event.
  • Waterbury Symphony, Inc.: Bravo Waterbury! Summer Session 2015 (Year Three) – $16,000 to sustain the work of Bravo Waterbury! through an intensive summer program, which uses music as a tool for personal development, community engagement, and social change.

 

Lois Livingston McMillen Memorial Fund

  • Acts 4 Ministry, Inc. (Waterbury): Suit Yourself Women’s Event – $1,650 to support the 7th annual event in November, which addresses the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs of women in area shelters who are victims of abuse or domestic violence.
  • Family Services of Greater Waterbury, Inc. (Waterbury): Trauma Programs – $5,000 to support therapeutic programs that help children, adolescents and their parents overcome the impact of traumatic events, including sexual assault and domestic violence.
  • The MILLA Project, Inc. (Guilford): Domestic Violence/Abuse Services to North African/Middle Eastern Immigrants – $5,000 to support crisis intervention and short term individual counseling for the Arabic-speaking and Middle Eastern/North African immigrant community in Waterbury.
  • St. Vincent DePaul Mission of Waterbury, Inc. (Waterbury): Shelter Day Program for Single Women – $5,000 to enable women who are victims of physical, emotional or psychological abuse, sexual assault or domestic violence to stay in the shelter during the day.
  • Safe Haven of Greater Waterbury, Inc. (Waterbury): Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Community Services – $5,000 to support services for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.
  • Susan B. Anthony Project, Inc. (Torrington): The Girls Circle at Touchstone in Litchfield – $5,000 to support the Girls Circle program, which teaches resiliency, self-respect and self-esteem to teenage girls who have been committed by the Department of Children and Families to Touchstone, a residential facility in Litchfield.
  • Susan B. Anthony Project, Inc. (Torrington): The Rebuilding Lives Program – $5,000 to support services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault from Goshen, Litchfield, Morris, Thomaston, Warren and Washington.

Nonprofit Excellence Grants

  • Acts 4 Ministry: Financial Restructure – $5,500 to work with an accounting firm to increase organizational capacity by developing a new financial system using QuickBooks and provide training.
  • Brass City Charter School: Fund Development Hardware and Software – $ 1,738 to purchase computer and fund development software.
  • Children’s Community School: Technology upgrade – $10,000 for new hardware and software and develop curriculum for technology-related education to bridge the “digital divide.”
  • Connecticut Choral Society: Website and Marketing Development – $2,500 to work with marketing/web design consultant to make the website interactive and take on administrative tasks.
  • Board of Management Harrybrooke Park: Website Redesign – $1,882 to work with a consultant for a new website that builds in administrative tasks for schedule use of renovated historic house.
  • Litchfield Performing Arts: Technology Project for 20th Anniversary – $5,000 to develop additional functionality for their online and mobile systems including their own app for use by jazz camp students, families, volunteers and staff.
  • Naugatuck River Revival: Computer Equipment – $2,000 to purchase computer equipment to centralize data for the organization that is currently held on personal computers of members.
  • Shakesperience: Fund Development Plan – $8,000 to work with a consultant to develop a plan that maximizes revenue streams, establish fund development position description and assist in implementing the plan.
  • Waterbury Symphony Orchestra: Technology for Performance and Administration – $4,848 to provide professional stage technology to enable them to expand performance offerings in more towns.
  • Boys & Girls Club of Greater Waterbury: Strategic Plan – $15,000 to fund a consultant who will assist in developing a new strategic plan.
  • Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center of Greater Waterbury: Strategic Plan – $8,500 to fund a consultant who will assist in developing a new strategic plan.
  • Mattatuck Historical Society (Museum): Website Redesign and Upgrade – $8,500 for vendor/consultant to redesign website to add functionality for upgrading security, conversions for viewing on mobile devices, displaying exhibitions and items from collections, linking donor database to website, and allowing staff updating.
  • Phoenix Stage Company: Computer System Development – $2,000 to purchase computers and create network.
  • Robotics and Beyond: Financial System Analysis and Fund Development – $6,115 to support stage 1 of a 2-year 3 stage plan designed to strengthen administrative aspects of the nonprofit.
  • Waterbury Symphony Orchestra: Technology Upgrade – $3,000 to purchase hardware, software and training to create a new network with a central server.
  • Wellmore, Inc.: Hardware Upgrade for Electronic Health Record System – $5,000 to purchase hardware for a new physical server to add to the current system to better accommodate increased demand.

Pathways for Older Adults Grants

  • Arts Escape, Inc. (Southbury): Creative Aging Lecture Series – $2,000 for four lectures for older adults, physicians and community members on innovative and creative ways to age well using art as a tool to enhance wellbeing.
  • Oliver Wolcott Library (Litchfield): OWL Senior Outreach – $2,678.30 to build upon an outreach program initiated through Lifelong Libraries that expands access to library services as well as disseminating information on resources.
  • Seabury Society for the Preservation of Glebe House, Inc. (Woodbury): Decorative Arts – Hands on Lecture Series – $2,000 to support four Sunday afternoon programs targeted to the interests of older adults as determined by survey.
  • Litchfield Hills Chore Service (Litchfield): Elderly Services Support and Outreach Year 3 – $10,000 to support a portion of the Coordinator salary and chore worker wages that are not covered by clients or other payers. Services allow clients to remain safely in their homes.
  • Brass City Harvest (Waterbury): Nutrition Education, Fresh Food and Healthy Cooking Classes for Older Americans Year 2 – $17,235 to offer healthy cooking classes and nutrition services to older adults at locations including Waterbury, Middlebury, Watertown and Southbury.
  • Cheshire Community YMCA (Cheshire): Enhance Fitness – $8,530 to train staff, purchase equipment and implement three 16-week sessions of this evidence-based group exercise program for people diagnosed with arthritis.
  • Naugatuck YMCA (Naugatuck): Senior Therapeutic Exercise – $15,086 to support instructors and leaders for a wide range of fitness, health promotion and chronic disease management classes for older adults.
  • Naugatuck Valley Project (Waterbury): Aging in the Community Project: Year 3 – $15,000 for community organizing efforts to address priority issues of senior high-rise tenants and their caregivers as well as building a state level collaboration to improve home care jobs.
  • New Opportunities, Inc.: Waterbury BRASS Senior Programs Lead Agency Year 4 – for BRASS Program Coordinator to plan and organize programs for BRASS sites, and coordinate with site staff. Includes contribution to pooled program funds also supported by City of Waterbury.
  • City of Waterbury: Waterbury BRASS Senior Program Site Year 3 – to assist with costs of participation of the Waterbury Senior Center as a location for BRASS programs.
  • Hispanic Coalition of Greater Waterbury: Waterbury BRASS Senior Program Site Year 4 – to assist with costs of participation as a location for BRASS programs. Additional grant to purchase tables and chairs to be used for meals, arts and crafts, and BRASS activities.
  • Mattatuck Historical Society: Waterbury BRASS Senior Program Site/Partner Year 3 – to assist with costs of participation of the Mattatuck Museum as a site and provider of BRASS programs.
  • Mount Olive AME Zion Senior Center: Waterbury BRASS Senior Program Site Year 2 – to assist with costs of participation as a location for BRASS programs. Additional grant to help in rebuilding their senior program and expanding BRASS activities.
  • Silas Bronson Library: Waterbury BRASS Senior Program Site/Partner Year 4 – to assist with costs of teaching technology at BRASS sites as well as serving BRASS participants on site.
  • St. Margaret Willow Plaza NRZ Association, Inc.: Waterbury BRASS Senior Program Site Year 4 – to assist with costs of participation as a location for BRASS programs.
  • Waterbury Young Men’s Christian Association: Waterbury BRASS Senior Program Site/Partner Year 4 – instructor costs for bringing Tai Chi and chair exercise programs to BRASS sites.
  • Cheshire Human Services Department, Senior Services Division: My Senior Center Software – $5,340 to fund 50% of the cost of software with touchscreen computer to support a full range of senior center functions including registration, scheduling, member communication, emergency contacts, data collection and report generation.
  • Falls Avenue Senior Center, Watertown: Dance for the Fun of It…Dance for the Health of It – $2,340 to support weekly dance exercise classes offered by CT Dance Theater to enhance posture, movement flow, balance and energy. Naugatuck Senior Center will also provide this program weekly and seniors can attend both classes.
  • Literacy Volunteers of Greater Waterbury: We All Have a Story to Tell (Year 2) – Food, Family and Traditions – $1,500 to support memoir project in which volunteers work with seniors at BRASS sites to record their stories.
  • Naugatuck Senior Center: Dance for the Fun of It…Dance for the Health of It – $2,340 to support weekly dance exercise classes offered by CT Dance Theater to enhance posture, movement flow, balance and energy.
  • New Milford VNA & Hospice: Hospice Volunteer Training and Support – $1,000 (of $3,000 request) to support hospice volunteer training as agency tries to increase number of volunteers to meet needs of expanded service region.
  • New Opportunities: Chef on Site (Year 3) – $6,500 to continue providing healthy, restaurant quality lunches two days per week at Southbury, Woodbury and Middlebury Senior Centers.
  • New Opportunities: Hospital to Home Meals – $3,000 to support pilot project providing home-delivered meals and in-home nutritional counseling to patients being discharged who are at risk of readmission.
  • Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, UConn, Waterbury: Greening of Waterbury: From Planting to Harvest (Year 2) – $3,000 to fund planting materials and supplies for older adult community service project to cultivate, harvest and distribute food to soup kitchens and food pantries.
  • Pilobolus, Inc.: Connecting with Balance (Year 2) – $7,500 to continue and expand movement and dance program for older adults that enhances balance, strength, connection with others and creative self-expression.
  • Pomperaug District Department of Health: Balance (Year 3) – $19,046 to expand delivery of evidence-based healthy aging programs in the district and beyond. Recruits, trains and mentors coaches for Matter of Balance Fall Prevention.
  • Prospect Senior Center: Computer Equipment for Classes – $4,920 to purchase six new computers with monitors in order to enhance computer instruction and allow seniors to build skills using Generations on Line and other tools.
  • Rebuilding Together Litchfield County: Housing Preservation (Year 3 of 3) – $10,000 to support purchase of materials for repairs and modifications to increase safety and accessibility of homes owned by low income older adults.
  • Shakesperience: Waterbury Interactive – Our City, Our Neighborhoods (Year 2) – $8,000 to create and present interactive intergenerational performances about Waterbury history from older adults in Waterbury, Middlebury, Southbury and Woodbury.
  • Wolcott Senior Center (Charles Rietdyke): Staying Active through Exercise (Year 2) – $4,940 to continue two weekly exercise classes – Strength/Resistance/Balance and Zumba Gold – with certified instructors.

Saunders Fund for the Sick and Infirmed of Naugatuck

  • Regional Data Cooperative for Greater New Haven, Inc. (DataHaven): 2015 Connecticut Wellbeing Survey – $7,000 to increase the number of phone surveys conducted in Naugatuck during the 2015 statewide Wellbeing Survey. The survey will include: wellness indicators, including health, access to food, transportation and connection to community.
  • Family Intervention Center: Naugatuck Senior Center – $9,900 to continue weekly group therapy sessions at Naugatuck Senior Center and to refer seniors to appropriate medical, social and basic need resources on a case-by-case basis.
  • Hidden Acres Therapeutic Riding Center: Scholarship Fund – $30,000 to subsidize participation in therapeutic horseback riding activities, an un-mounted equine assisted learning program, and integrated summer learning programs for at-risk and in need Naugatuck residents.
  • Human Resource Development Agency: Medical Transportation – $18,500 to support medical transportation for low-income disabled individuals and older adults in Naugatuck.
  • Naugatuck High School: Substance Abuse Prevention & Intervention – $14,400 to support in-school psycho-educational and therapeutic groups, individual supportive counseling, and in-service training for Naugatuck High School and Middle School staff during the spring and fall 2015 semesters.
  • United Way of Naugatuck & Beacon Falls (Naugatuck Discovery): Empowering Children to Lead Health Lives – $10,000 to fund a second year of the Breakfast Club and Lunch Bunch programs that promote exercise and healthy eating habits for Naugatuck elementary school students.
  • Waterbury Hospital: Waterbury Health Access Program (WHAP) – $25,000 to continue to support WHAP which connects Naugatuck residents with donated medication, access to donated medical services, connections to medical homes, and aids in the navigation of Access Health CT, the state health insurance exchange.

Saunders Fund for the Sick and Infirmed of Naugatuck

  • Regional Data Cooperative for Greater New Haven, Inc. (DataHaven): 2015 Connecticut Wellbeing Survey – $7,000 to increase the number of phone surveys conducted in Naugatuck during the 2015 statewide Wellbeing Survey. The survey will include: wellness indicators, including health, access to food, transportation and connection to community.
  • Family Intervention Center: Naugatuck Senior Center – $9,900 to continue weekly group therapy sessions at Naugatuck Senior Center and to refer seniors to appropriate medical, social and basic need resources on a case-by-case basis.
  • Hidden Acres Therapeutic Riding Center: Scholarship Fund – $30,000 to subsidize participation in therapeutic horseback riding activities, an un-mounted equine assisted learning program, and integrated summer learning programs for at-risk and in need Naugatuck residents.
  • Human Resource Development Agency: Medical Transportation – $18,500 to support medical transportation for low-income disabled individuals and older adults in Naugatuck.
  • Naugatuck High School: Substance Abuse Prevention & Intervention – $14,400 to support in-school psycho-educational and therapeutic groups, individual supportive counseling, and in-service training for Naugatuck High School and Middle School staff during the spring and fall 2015 semesters.
  • United Way of Naugatuck & Beacon Falls (Naugatuck Discovery): Empowering Children to Lead Health Lives – $10,000 to fund a second year of the Breakfast Club and Lunch Bunch programs that promote exercise and healthy eating habits for Naugatuck elementary school students.
  • Waterbury Hospital: Waterbury Health Access Program (WHAP) – $25,000 to continue to support WHAP which connects Naugatuck residents with donated medication, access to donated medical services, connections to medical homes, and aids in the navigation of Access Health CT, the state health insurance exchange.