Overview of First Grant Cycle for 2023
At the Foundation’s February Board meeting, the Trustees made grant awards totaling $1,075,000 to support ten nonprofits as they seek to expand their service reach and accessibility within the Metro Atlanta area. This cycle brings partnerships with two new nonprofits in addition to eight nonprofits that previously received grants from the Foundation.
New Grantees
The Foundation made a $125,000 grant to GEEARS (Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students) for the PAACT initiative to help implement Mayor Dickens’ early childhood plan. In 2022, Mayor Dickens committed $5 million, along with $5 million committed by Atlanta Public Schools, to support a plan that includes building the quality and capacity of the City’s early childhood education programs. The Foundation’s grant will contribute to the private matching funds to support the repair and renovation of 121 licensed child care programs, representing 50% of all licensed programs in the City of Atlanta. GEEARS is responsible for coordinating the repair and renovation grant program to award funds to licensed child care programs.
Resilient Georgia was awarded a $50,000 one-year grant to build the capacity of their regional coalition building model that develops a shared approach to preventing and healing childhood adversity and promoting resilience with children and families in their communities. Each coalition is built around strategies to prevent and provide early intervention of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and by sharing best practices through collaborative training, resources, and advocacy. Launched in 2019, Resilient Georgia’s mission is to lead a state-wide coalition to develop a closely aligned trauma-informed public and private network working toward a united vision to create an integrated behavioral health system for children and youth.
New Funding for Previous Grantees
Breakthru House Inc., the oldest gender-specific residential treatment center for women in Georgia, has been awarded a $100,000 one-year grant to expand services for up to twenty-three additional women. As part of a $2.2 million project, the funds will be used to build two new homes on their campus to provide gender specific comprehensive treatment to women and their children who present with the co-occurring disorders of substance use disorder, mental illness, and homelessness.
The only private dental care provider in Georgia that exclusively provides care to those with developmental disabilities, the DDD Foundation Inc. operates the DDD Foundation Dental Clinic. The Foundation awarded a $100,000 grant to build their capacity to serve patients who cannot safely receive conscious sedation in the clinic and who require dental care under general anesthesia in a hospital. Funding will support the onboarding of new dentists until they can receive reimbursement from Medicaid for their services.
We are pleased to award $150,000 to Easterseals North Georgia as part of their $3.5 million capital campaign to replace aging equipment and materials in fifteen classrooms in ten Metro Atlanta centers. As one of the largest early childhood education providers in Metro Atlanta, they provide high-quality services to children with disabilities and special needs as well as their families. With the awarding of two new Head Start and Early Head Start grants, they have expanded geographically and serve over five hundred additional children.
The Foundation was pleased to award Teach For America – Atlanta Chapter a $100,000 one-year grant to pilot a new coaching and support model for its first and second year teaching corps members. With new virtual coaching and mental health resources, combined with a refined placement model, TFA seeks to strengthen the capacity of its teaching corps working in Atlanta Public Schools, Clayton Public Schools and Fulton County Schools.
The Foundation of Wesley Woods Inc. was provided with a $50,000 award for capital repairs at its East Atlanta HUD-subsidized senior living housing community. For over 40 years, Branan Towers has been home to 180 older adults who have long endured the stress of financial uncertainty and its related health and emotional issues. These residents have less than $1,000 per month to cover 100 percent of their expenses.
With a mission to create thriving communities by helping nonprofits succeed, the Foundation awarded the Georgia Center for Nonprofits a $150,000 grant to renovate their newly acquired office location. GCN is the third largest association of nonprofits in the country, providing training and education events to over 4,600 participants annually, and recently providing a year-long cohort series focused on DEI leadership to 120 organizations. In addition to hosting a resource hub with an extensive array of information, tools, research and content related to nonprofit management, leadership and governance, GCN proactively advocates for public policies that support the strength of the nonprofit sector.
As the fiscal agent, New American Pathways was provided a $100,000 grant on behalf of Georgia Welcome Co-op Inc. to build their capacity as a standalone organization. Launched in 2019, The Welcome Co-op is a partnership between four refugee resettlement agencies in Atlanta to be the single agency dealing with finding and furnishing housing for refugees. The founding partner agencies are Catholic Charities, New American Pathways, and the International Rescue Committee, with Inspiritus joining in 2021. To date, more than 2,480 individuals have benefitted from The Welcome Co-op since its creation, and they expect to serve 2,000+ individuals in the 2022-2023 fiscal year. The Co-op serves newly arrived refugees from all over the world, most recently serving individuals and families granted refugee status after fleeing violence and persecution in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Iran, Myanmar, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela.
Park Pride was awarded a $150,000 grant scale investment in community led park improvements in the City of Atlanta. Combined with $2 million from the City of Atlanta, these funds will support park projects that increase the number of Atlantans in low-income neighborhoods that have access to park space within a 10 minute walk. While parks are their medium, the most valuable benefits are the impacts on the communities themselves through the process of creating a Friends of the Park group, identifying needs and priorities, and working to implement community goals. Design consultations, grant writing workshops, trail maintenance strategies, guidance in permitting, among other tools, are embedded in Park Pride’s strategy to help residents build skills and apply their abilities to be a catalyst for change in their community.