Community Foundation Awards $225,506 in Community Grants

Syracuse, NY (June 18, 2010) - The Central New York Community Foundation awarded $225,506 in community grants to eight charitable organizations in Onondaga County from its unrestricted and field‑of‑interest funds.

Arc of Onondaga received $14,807 to train its direct-care staff on how to make healthy food choices when shopping and cooking for clients enrolled in the organization’s residential services program. The residential program provides a safe and nurturing home environment for more than 100 adults and children with developmental disabilities.

Baltimore Woods Nature Center received $28,945 to develop and implement a corporate communications strategy, acquire and train corporate volunteers and engage interns from area colleges and universities for the Nature in the City program. Baltimore Woods Nature Center operates hiking trails, day camps and on-site school programs to almost 50,000 individuals a year from its headquarters in Marcellus.

Black Leadership Commission on AIDS of Syracuse received $16,000 to host health fairs in the West Side and South Side neighborhoods, where HIV/AIDS cases have risen dramatically since 1996. The fairs will provide free screenings and health education. The BLCA works to raise awareness about the disease and vigilance against its risk factors.

Children’s Consortium received $48,148 to conduct education classes to pregnant and parenting teens in five Syracuse City high schools through the Pregnant and Parenting Teens program. The program seeks to reduce child abuse and neglect, drop-out rates and the number of subsequent pregnancies. The Children’s Consortium promotes successful emotional, physical, educational and economic outcomes for Onondaga County parents.

Interfaith Works received $34,469 to purchase a panel truck and warehouse shelving for the Refugee Resettlement Program. Each year, Interfaith Works assists almost 600 refugees with beginning new lives in America by helping to find permanent housing, acquire furnishings and food, enroll in English classes and school, ensure medical care is received and find employment. Interfaith Works, through education, service and dialogue, strives to affirm the dignity of each person and faith community.

LaFayette Central School District received $23,137 to implement a character education program, Power2Achieve, at LaFayette Jr./Sr. High School and in partnership with Cathedral at Pompei and Bishop Grimes schools. Students in the three schools will learn to set educational and behavioral goals for themselves and assess their effort and attitude toward those goals.

Society for New Music received $15,000 to commission two original musical compositions about the life and philosophies of Matilda Joslyn Gage and produce an opera about Eleanor Roosevelt, celebrating the grand opening of the newly renovated and expanded Matilda Joslyn Gage Center. In addition, presentations will be held at four Syracuse City high schools during Women’s History Month in March to educate on the social justice work of Matilda Joslyn Gage.

Syracuse Model Neighborhood Facility received $45,000 to employ a vocational counselor to the Supporting Offenders After Release program, which provides target interventions to high-risk individuals recently released from prison to prevent them from returning. The Syracuse Model Neighborhood Facility, housed at the Southwest Community Center, provides various family planning, child health, substance abuse education and violence prevention services to residents of Syracuse’s South and West side neighborhoods.

The Central New York Community Foundation has served Central New York for over 80 years, receiving, managing and distributing charitable funds for the benefit of nonprofit organizations. Grants are awarded for programs in the areas of human services, arts and culture, education, environment, health, economic development and civic affairs. The region’s largest endowed philanthropic foundation, the Central New York Community Foundation awards over $5 million in grants to nonprofit organizations annually. The Community Foundation, of 500 South Salina Street, Syracuse, NY 13202, can be reached at (315) 422-9538 or www.cnycf.org.