2012 Grants, Focus Area: women and girls
New Morning Youth and Family Services
$17,500
New Morning Youth and Family Services will provide expanded school-based mental health services to students and their families in the Mother Lode Union School District (MLUSD). Severe budget issues have caused the closure of one school in the MLUSD and cuts during the next fiscal year are expected to cause the reduction, if not elimination, of social support programs for the most at-risk students and their families, often single mothers. New Morning has been working successfully with the MLUSD for 30 years to treat children who are depressed, experiencing family conflict, engaging in delinquent behavior, and/or abusing substances. They can step in by August of 2012 to begin helping a minimum of 20 additional families become more stable while working with 30 to 40 additional students to improve behavioral and academic functioning.
New Morning Youth Services 2012 Report Final
The Boys and Girls Club of El Dorado County
$17,000
The Boys and Girls Club of El Dorado County Western Slope will fund a portion of the cost for their “Smart Girls” program with this award. For over ten years, the Boys and Girls Club has been serving disadvantaged youngsters at their clubhouses in Placerville, Pollock Pines, and Georgetown. The “Smart Girls” program will be offered weekly and is divided into modules that span the course of a year. “Smart Girls” will help 120 girls age 8 to 17 understand, care for, and make responsible decisions regarding their developing bodies. The ultimate goal is to help girls develop and adopt a healthy life attitude and life style and maintain a positive self concept.
Boys & Girls Club SMART Girls 2012 Final Report
Big Brothers, Big Sisters of El Dorado County
$5,500
The Big Brothers and Big Sisters will sponsor the “Girls Circle El Dorado Program” in association with public health nurses and area middle schools. The award of $5,500 will partially fund this program. The Girls Circle will serve 60 – 75 girls at middle schools with a high density of underserved population. Through the school year, programs will address three areas considered to be the foundation of girls’ health: self efficacy, perceived body image, and perceived social support and interpersonal relationships. For 35 years Big Brothers and Big Sisters has been working with children and their families as a mentoring and prevention program. The Girls Circle brings a true prevention program to girls at the 6th grade level.
Impact Grants
Arts: Placerville Downtown Association
$3,333.33
The grant to the Placerville Downtown Association will help support the “Flower Baskets on Main Street” project. The purpose of the project is to create, install and maintain colorful, blooming flower baskets to beautify downtown Placerville from May through October. The project partner, Mother Lode Rehabilitation Enterprises (MORE), provides employment to adults with disabilities. They provide the staff that waters the baskets throughout the season. The requested funds will pay the salary of the MORE staff and also for the services of a gardening contractor who will create the baskets.
Education: American River Conservancy
$3,333.33
The grant will assist with their project “PEER: Place-Based Learning.” The project will take place at the Wakamatsu Colony Farm and is part of a continued effort to educate the public about the importance of place and to explore the diverse relationships people have had with the land throughout history. The Farm is the site of the first Japanese colony in California. The ARC estimates that the requested funding, along with other funding sources, will enable their 30 volunteers to educate 500 visitors, including students from local El Dorado County schools, about the rich cultural history and diverse natural resources of the area.
Senior Health and Wellness: Partners in Care
$3,333.33
The Partners in Care grant will provide qualified supervision, support, and materials for the establishment of the “Compassionate Companion” volunteer program to address the needs of isolated seniors at highest risk of social deprivation. Trained and supervised volunteers will provide a weekly visitation service of companionship, presence, and compassion to isolated seniors who are Partners in Care clients. Funding will provide monies for supplies and for part of the salary of a medical health clinician who supports and supervises the peer volunteers. The peer volunteers are trained lay people who, at no charge, provide outreach, referrals, and counseling to senior citizens experiencing isolation, grief, physical illness, and multiple losses.
