2008 Grant Recipients
We are proud to announce that this year our review committee awarded five worthy organizations $20,000.
The Bakersfield Homeless Center ~ Award Amount $4,425.00
Project Connect After-School Educational Program. This grant will provide high quality after-school educational programs to 50 homeless children offered on-site at the Bakersfield Homeless Shelter. Project Connect provides a safe and supportive environment designed to address the unique needs of homeless children. By emphasizing age-appropriate school readiness skills and opportunities for positive psychosocial development, Project Connect equips children with the skills needed to enhance their success in the classroom. As children gain these skills, they become self-sufficient participants in control of their own learning process.
Bakersfield Museum of Art ~ Award Amount $1,700.00
Experience Art Camp Scholarships Program. This grant will provide 20 children who currently attend the CHW Learning Center After-School Program the opportunity to experience a week of art camp at the Bakersfield Museum of Art. These children would not otherwise have the opportunity to attend a summer day camp where they will be introduced to important artistic movements and encouraged to try their own hand at blending colors in landscapes. A child who creates and gains appreciation for art also gains that elusive but precious entity called self esteem.
National Multiple Sclerosis Society ~ Award Amount $5,000.00
Access to Quality Healthcare for People with MS in Kern County. The MS Society provides a wide range of programs and services to improve the quality of life for people with MS, including: education to encourage and facilitate expanded knowledge of MS, access to information regarding current research, treatments and symptom management, as well as community resource referrals. They also assist individuals to better manage the emotional burdens of MS, and support physical health and wellness through programs for adaptive exercise, nutrition and stress management, and they assist individuals with MS to live as independently as possible. This grant will provide access to these programs, affordability and continuity of care.
The Southern Sierra Council, Boy Scouts of America ~ Award Amount $4,425.00
Scout Reach After-School Scouting Program. The Scout Reach Program serves at-risk youth located in hard to serve neighborhoods as identified by community members and their own program specialists. This program provides an educational after-school program for youth with an emphasis on math and reading. The program contributes to the improvement of quality of life not only for the youth involved, but for the communities they live in. Helping to instill values that will last a lifetime, the Boy Scout’s character building program has been very successful over the years with countless stories of young boys who have visibly changed and improved in both school work and self esteem.
Senior Serve ~ Award Amount $4,450.00
Elder Connection Program. This program empowers senior adults who are unable to manage their own personal finances by connecting them, in a safe way, to a more abundant life. Clients are referred to Senior Serve after their living conditions have deteriorated, bills have piled up, foreclosures and evictions are about to take place and lack of proper food has depleted their strength. Staff makes sure the resources of participating seniors are used to provide safe housing, medical care and essential needs.
