Grant Recipients 2004-2011
Grant Recipients 2004-2011
2004
2005
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2007
2008
2009
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2011
2011 Grant Recipients
The Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte
$70,000 awarded to The Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte for its New Play Festival “New Voices for a New Generation”. The Actor’s Theatre, recently admitted to the prestigious National New Play Network, seeks to become the region’s major professional theatre company dedicated to new play development. This two year project will support the creation of a new annual play festival that will solicit and accept new plays from emerging American playwrights. Moreover, Women’s Impact grant funds will allow the Actor’s Theatre to enter into contracts with over 80 local theatrical professionals and support Charlotte’s creative talent.
Elon Homes and Schools for Children
$75,000 awarded to Elon Homes and Schools for Children for the Summer Bridge Program at Kennedy Charter Public School. Ninth grade is a critical point in a student’s academic life. In Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, over 30% of all 9th grade students will not graduate in four years. The drop-out rate is significantly higher for low-income and minority students. Kennedy Charter Public School serves low-income students who have struggled in the public schools. Many of the leaders and teachers at Kennedy are Teach for America alumni and have experience with other successful education strategies such as KIPP and the Breakthrough Collaborative. Based upon the principles of the Breakthrough Collaborative, Kennedy has designed a Summer Bridge Program which targets low-income, rising 9th grade students and seeks to reduce their high school drop-out rate. The Women’s Impact Fund grant will fund this program for three summers; the program will serve 100 students each summer from Kennedy, KIPP: Charlotte and other local schools.
Yadkin Riverkeeper
$85,000 awarded to the Yadkin Riverkeeper for its Operation Medicine Cabinet. Approximately 40% of prescriptions (50,800,000 in North Carolina annually) go unused. Flushing drugs down the toilet is the prevailing practice for disposing of unused drugs among the general public and major health care facilities--a practice that leads to water supply contamination. Currently, NC citizens and medical professionals have little awareness or understanding of pharmaceutical pollution. Operation Medicine Cabinet is an integrated community-based program that partners the Yadkin Riverkeeper, Carolina Medical Center and law enforcement with the public by holding “take-back” pharmaceutical events throughout the community so the public can turn in unused prescription drugs to be disposed of in a safe manner. The Yadkin Riverkeeper is uniquely positioned to lead a campaign to keep prescription drugs out of toilets and our waterways while educating the public about the negative impacts prescription drugs have on aquatic life and drinking water supplies. The Women’s Impact Fund grant will fund 60% of the cost of these events and educational outreach over a three year period.
Mecklenburg County Health Department
$90,488 awarded to the Mecklenburg County Health Department for its Farm to Family Faith Based Nutrition Plan. A recent UNCC study identified several areas in Mecklenburg County as “food deserts”—areas where there is a lack of access to healthy foods. A lack of access to fresh fruit and vegetables increases the incidence of obesity and obesity-related chronic illnesses. Faced with these facts, the Mecklenburg County Health Department, in collaboration and partnership with the Black Women’s Health Network, the parish nurses, the faith community and local farmers, has organized a two year start-up program to contract with local farmers to deliver fresh produce to markets set up at designated churches within 6 food deserts in low income areas. In addition to fresh produce, the market will offer healthy cooking demonstrations, nutrition education and health screening programs. The Women’s Impact Fund grant will pay for the entirety of this project in its start-up phase; costs include a program director, a dietician/nutritionist, truck driver, and transportation expenses.
Workforce Initiative for Supportive Housing Program (W.I.S.H.)
$100,000 awarded to Workforce Initiative for Supportive Housing (W.I.S.H.) for a masters-level bilingual social worker. In 2007 W.I.S.H., an innovative initiative to help homeless, working families become housed and move out of poverty, was formed by a coalition of concerned individuals in the faith, business and nonprofit communities. Now W.I.S.H. serves as a local and national best practices model for breaking the cycle of generational poverty and homelessness. Typical W.I.S.H. families are mothers with two children employed in low-wage jobs who became homeless due to the combination of low wages, high housing costs and generational poverty. The program has four core components 1) housing, 2) social work, 3) personal accountability/incentives, and 4) Hope Teams. Each family is paired with a Hope Team (middle class volunteers who mentor and advocate on behalf of the family). W.I.S.H. is highly collaborative (partnering with Goodwill, Lutheran Family Services, Crisis Assistance and others) and spends 95% of every donor dollar in direct services to its families. In 2011 W.I.S.H. (as the lead agency) will merge with Family Promise and Charlotte Emergency Housing. W.I.S.H. will use the Women’s Impact Fund grant to employ a highly skilled social worker (over three years) who will serve 16 families from its wait list.
McClintock Partners in Education (McPIE)
$90,000 awarded to McClintock Partners in Education (McPIE) for its Tuesday Family Night Program. This partnership between Christ Lutheran Church and McClintock Middle School was launched in 2007 in response to Dr. Peter Gorman’s plea for the faith community to help at-risk students and schools. Every Tuesday evening throughout the school year, the program offers at no cost a warm meal for every family at McClintock who wants to attend, followed by tutoring and academic enrichment for students and siblings, childcare for younger siblings, and parent classes. Family nights create a sense of community centered on the school while addressing the barriers for participation and raising awareness of education as a pathway out of poverty. McPIE will use the Women’s Impact Fund grant to provide 6000 nutritional meals each year, rental for an additional van to provide transportation for participants, and additional programming that includes tutoring, clubs, and ESL classes.
Hope Haven
$90,000 awarded to Hope Haven for its Families Recovery Program. Hope Haven provides the only licensed residential substance abuse treatment program in Charlotte with wrap-around services for treating homeless families with children. The Families Recovery Program assists homeless parents in achieving addiction recovery, economic independence and family reunification in a supportive, healthy living environment. With trained professionals, each parent develops realistic goals for recovery and family reunification. The Children’s Program component focuses on substance abuse causes and prevention. Children attend small group counseling, participate in structured family community meetings, and receive needs assessments with referrals as needed. The Women’s Impact Fund grant will cover half the costs of a Families Program Coordinator as well as other program-related expenses. This funding plugs what would have been a services gap by replacing recession-related funding losses.
Teen Health Connection (THC)
$80,000 to Teen Health Connection for its Girls Educated to be Motivated and Successful (GEMS) program. The goal of this program is to provide health education and mentoring to at-risk teen girls ages 13-17 on a weekly basis, year round, with a goal of decreasing teen pregnancy. The program incorporates a strong agenda that provides critical health education as well as sessions on building self-esteem, cultivating healthy relationships, goal setting and career planning. Teen Health Connection currently maintains one GEMS group that has been in place for 3 years (participants are encouraged to stay in the program through high school). During this program’s history, no participants have become pregnant and two participants are now attending 4-year colleges, becoming junior mentors to the group. The Women’s Impact Fund grant will enable THC to expand GEMS to four groups in four high teen pregnancy zip codes, targeting 60-80 at-risk teen girls.
Slow Food Charlotte
$70,000 to Slow Food Charlotte for its Friendship Trays Community Garden Initiative. The importance of locally grown food to our environment is evident: it has fewer pesticides and preservatives, reduces soil contamination from chemicals, and increases air quality by reducing transportation of food. Local seasonal food is also more nutritious and creates open green space. However, local fresh fruits and vegetables make up a very small percentage of the food accessible to low-income families and to elderly, homebound and ailing citizens in Mecklenburg County. Slow Food Charlotte has created a collaborative group of local food providers and community volunteers to increase the available supply of local and sustainable foods. The WIF grant will be used to expand the number of gardens to provide more fresh produce to the Friendship Trays meals program.
Children’s Theatre of Charlotte (CTC)
$62,000 to Children’s Theatre to launch its Preschool Global Theatre Series. At the heart of CTC’s mission is to enrich the lives of young people of all cultures. Children’s Theatre of Charlotte (CTC) will use the Women’s Impact Fund grant to commission and produce a series of new theatre work with a central theme of multiculturalism. The target audience will be children ages 4 – 8, their families, caregivers and teachers. Several themed stories that align with the region’s population will be developed, and the series will be delivered in individualized segments or as one complete piece, depending on the demographics of the audience. CTC’s professional ensemble, the Tarradiddle Players, will perform the productions, which will be included in both the “Tarradiddle Experience” (productions for the public and school audiences performed at ImaginOn) and in CTC’s regular tour of the entire region.
North Carolina Dance Theatre
$78,000 awarded to North Carolina Dance Theatre for its Community Outreach Dance Program, REACH!. Low-income children in Mecklenburg County have few opportunities to participate in a comprehensive community dance program; even fewer know choreographers, dance history or the terms dancers use to describe body movement. Through this WIF-backed program, North Carolina Dance Theatre is providing free dance classes (ballet, modern and jazz) and cultural instruction, plus free leotards and ballet shoes, to children in four geographically-diverse, low-income areas of the county. NCDT has arranged transportation, again free of charge, from local schools to the community centers where classes are held. Students and parents have had the opportunity to attend live dance performances. The REACH! program selected the 86 students participating in the 2009-2010 school year by audition and intends to expand to 120 students for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012.
Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP): Charlotte
$100,000 awarded to Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP): Charlotte for its Extended Academic Program. The goal of this one year grant (and of KIPP: Charlotte) is to increase reading and math skills among, and for each of, the 270 5th, 6th and 7th grade students enrolled at KIPP Charlotte for the 2009-2010 school year, placing them on an advanced placement/college track for high school. NC state exams indicated an entrenched academic achievement gap in Charlotte between African American and Caucasian students. KIPP: Charlotte is a public, college preparatory middle school focusing primarily on minority students from low-income families. The program's extended school day runs from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm Monday-Friday and from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm on alternate Saturdays and includes a mandatory three week summer session program. KIPP's enrichment and remediation programs have proven to be successful in closing the achievement gap. Results from KIPP Charlotte's 2008-2009 school year indicate that 79% of the school's 6th grade students scored at or above grade level on the reading End of Grade test; at entrance, only 20% of the 6th graders were reading on grade level.
American Forests
$82,000 awarded to American Forests for its Urban Ecosystem Analysis project, intended to equip Mecklenburg community leaders to make informed decisions about development and "smart" growth in our region. Charlotte's continued growth, and the resultant paving of what was once green space, threatens also to degrade streams, diminish air quality and increase volumes of storm water. Utilizing satellite images, American Forests has created an ecosystem analysis that shows changes in land cover over time and provides an accurate, detailed image of Mecklenburg County's current tree canopy, rivers, streams and buffer areas. Beginning in 2010, Charlotte and the County will use the data 1) to determine the effectiveness of current ordinances; 2) to target areas for reforestation projects; 3) to identify "at risk" habitat locations for acquisition by the park system and 4) to create models that calculate the infrastructure costs associated with tree removal and paving for use in future zoning decisions.
Community Health Services
$60,000 awarded to Community Health Services to recruit physicians into and from the “Physicians Reach Out Program” who will commit to serve 2,500 new clients. More than 110,000 Mecklenburg County residents (15% of the population) are without health insurance. Physicians Reach Out (PRO), a network of volunteer physicians, provides free care for those patients who are uninsured and who fall below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. PRO doctors provide both primary and specialty care. Demand is so great that at the time WIF awarded its grant, PRO could serve only one in three eligible clients. WIF funds enabled PRO in 2009 to add a Physician Retention and Recruitment Specialist who focuses solely on maintaining current volunteer commitments and recruiting new primary care physicians and specialists to the PRO program.
United Family Services
$89,000 awarded to United Family Services for its Domestic Violence Legal Representation Project, through which United Family Services represents and supports domestic violence victims through court and other legal proceedings to include obtaining restraining orders and filing for separation, divorce, child custody and child and spousal support. Statistically, in 2007, only 18% of victims of domestic violence had legal representation; victims' fear and confusion over their rights is a significant factor in the involuntary dismissal of 40% of cases that do go to court. Nationally, 1 in 4 women experience domestic violence; local statistics are similar and often lead to homelessness. The 2008 UNCC Women's Summit identified this issue as a top priority for Mecklenburg County, and WIF is proud that its grant can, for a two year period, help support a local solution. During the grant period, United Family Services has committed to provide legal representation for a total of 150 clients and to increase the number of volunteer attorneys trained and ready to serve such clients.
Central Avenue Bilingual Preschool
$70,000 awarded to Central Avenue Bilingual Preschool (CABP) to launch a multi-day arts program targeting at-risk Latino children, with the dual goal of (i) causing tangible improvement in students' school readiness and (ii) to enrich the preschool experience for students, parents and staff. CABP has been preparing at-risk and low-income Latino students for kindergarten since 1999 and during the 2008-2009 grant period, supported 96 students and their parents. Thanks to the WIF grant, the arts director, first hired in 2008, has now fully developed a curriculum to use and build upon for the future. Each lesson is carefully documented in a curriculum notebook, starting with the central idea of the lesson (e.g., Eric Carle’s Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?) and providing opportunities for language development, acting, traditional art and music. Every single one of CABP's 96 students improved their knowledge and skills academically and with respect to the arts during the 2008-2009 school year, and CABP has developed their own parent education arts program as well.
Freedom School Partners (formerly Seigle Avenue Partners, Inc.)
$98,000 awarded to Freedom School Partners (1) to support, in each of Summer 2009, and Summer, 2010, a Freedom School summer camp program targeting at-risk youth and (2) to enhance the organization's ability to scale the Freedom Schools program. Freedom Schools are day camps that target low-income children and integrate a literacy-rich curriculum with traditional summer camp activities, with the goal of diminishing or avoiding summer learning loss. 54 children attended the 2009 camp at the WIF-funded Avondale Presbyterian Church program and equivalent numbers are targeted for the new site WIF is helping to open for summer, 2010, Hickory Grove Presbyterian Church. A 2009 pilot study of certain Charlotte Freedom School participants (2 sites) showed that 90% of students either increased or maintained their reading level through the program. WIF Funds also supported the salary of public service fellow and UNCC Master’s candidate, Jerry Wilson, whose goal was to enhance the ability to expand the Freedom School program in the Charlotte area and ultimately, to create a scalable model for other communities.
Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation
$55,000 awarded to Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation to implement "Muddy Water Watch," a program designed to use the power of volunteers to increase construction site observation and reporting and thus to reduce sedimentation and erosion in the waters of the Catawba River. Sediment runoff is the leading water pollutant by volume in North Carolina. Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation partnered with local and state law enforcement, as well as with the Southern Environmental Law Center and the five other riverkeeper organizations in North Carolina to train citizens to identify, track and report sediment runoff at local construction sites. During the 2008-2009 grant period, authorities responding to Muddy Water Watch volunteer reports inspected 61 construction sites in Charlotte and the surrounding areas; in nearly 10% of all reported cases, the inspectors issued penalties or stop work orders. The program has become a model for other areas facing similar concerns. The Yadkin Riverkeeper and the Waccamaw Riverkeeper have adopted the Muddy Water Watch model.; other states, including Alabama and the Chesapeake Bay area of Maryland, are also replicating the program.
Shelter Health Services, Inc.
$90,000 awarded to Shelter Health Services, Inc. for the Women and Children's Healthcare Initiative program (2008-2011). Shelter Heath Services is a level three accredited free clinic providing medical care and case management services to the homeless through volunteers and paid medical professionals. WIF's grant has enabled Shelter Health Services to retain a full-time registered nurse to provide support to homeless women and children with chronic health conditions (initially hypertension (aka high blood pressure), diabetes and asthma). Services include doctor visits, labs, medications, education and assistance navigating the complex health care system. The Salvation Army provides clinic space. SHS’ ultimate goal with respect to the WIF grant is to (a) provide adequate support, education and treatment to six hundred (600) homeless women and children over three (3) years so they acquire the skills, knowledge and resources to maintain their health beyond the period of homelessness and (b) prepare SHS to address health priorities (HIV-AIDS and mental health) for the next generation of its homeless population. In 2008-2009, SHS successfully screened 562 women and 166 children for asthma, diabetes and hypertension and provided all those identified with appropriate referrals to community resources. 80% of those with hypertension successfully lowered their blood pressure, exceeding the program goal of 75%. Of the diabetics, 70% controlled their blood sugar at healthy levels.
A Child's Place
$98,475 awarded to A Child's Place to support its Flex Social Work Team program from 2008-2010. A Child's Place advocates for and supports homeless youth, providing school support (supplies, tutoring referrals, weekly case management), medical and dental appointments, transportation advocacy and cross-referrals to other agencies. Where most of A Child's Place social work teams are based at, and serve, homeless children at one, high-needs school, the Flex Social Work Team supports all CMS schools that do not have a home-based social work team. With the economic downturn putting pressure on families and government services alike, the Flex Social Work Team received referrals and provided services for 559 children during the 2008-2009 school year, nearly 1 1/2 times as many children as had ever been served before. The needs for which help was sought were also far more basic than previously experienced - food, clothing and housing referrals. Numbers for 2009-2010 are on track to repeat the 2008-2009 year.
Fifth Anniversary Celebration Grants
In celebration of the fifth anniversary of the Women's Impact Fund, one time awards of $2,250 were made to our 14 previous grant winners in appreciation of their work in our community.
Collaborative Arts Theatre
$49,000 awarded to Collaborative Arts Theatre to support the Charlotte Shakespeare Festival (formerly Shakespeare at The Green) for its 2007 and 2008 seasons, featuring free Uptown performances of Shakespeare's plays and free workshops for Charlotte’s amateur and professional acting community. The WIF grant enabled Collaborative Arts Theatre to expand from one play per summer to two productions each summer and provided essential funding at a time when the Shakespeare Festival was not yet mature enough to be eligible for Arts & Sciences Council funds. Over 2,200 people took advantage of the opportunity to see As You Like It (June, 2007); Romeo and Juliet (June 5-22, 2008); and Much Ado About Nothing (July 24-Aug. 10, 2008.) Collaborative Arts held a total of 18 educational workshops for actors, attended by no less than 345 people. Greta Zandstra and Chaz Pofahl, professional actors based in Charlotte, singlehandledly brought Shakespeare to 89 children from underserved populations ranging in age from 5 to 14 years old through a series of one day workshops conducted at various YWCAs, at Winterfield Elementary School and at Metrolina Academy.
Teach For America
$84,000 awarded to Teach for America to develop and support TFA teachers in the CMS system and to increase the number of teachers recruited for the Charlotte corps. The ultimate goal of the TFA program is to increase student achievement in the classroom as measured on state standardized tests. TFA impacts 1 in 3 students at Charlotte’s highest-poverty schools, 74% of the students who receive free or reduced-price lunch, 91% of CMS students of color, and 61 of the district’s 70 FOCUS schools, yet students in TFA classrooms continually out-perform their peers at the district’s top schools. In each year of WIF's funding (2007-2008 and 2008-2009), students in classrooms with TFA teachers either met or exceeded their performance goals (improved achievement of 80%+). Successful recruiting led to a Charlotte corps 214 teachers strong; a refined, differentiated program of teacher development led to Charlotte reporting the third highest results of all TFA regions in terms of student achievement in 2008-2009.
Clean Air Carolina (Formerly Carolinas Clean Air Coalition)
$50,000 awarded to Clean Air Carolina for Clear the Air for Kids! Charlotte's air quality is unhealthy for all residents, especially children. Breathing dirty air can limit a child's lung capacity by as much as 15% and is directly linked to asthma, lung infections, and stroke. The Clear the Air for Kids! project is an educational and advocacy campaign aimed at reducing children's exposure to dangerous school bus and car exhaust. Clean Air Carolina has targeted 26 CMS elementary schools with high asthma populations for educational programs about the impact of air pollution on children's health, and the urgent need to reduce bus and carpool line idling. These programs reach nearly 14,000 students, 2,000 staff and 21,000 parents.
Charlotte Community Health Clinic
$75,500 awarded to Charlotte Community Health Clinic for Chronic Disease/Health Education Project. Chronic diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, can be permanently disabling without proper patient education and management. Charlotte Community Health Clinic (CCHC) used WIF grant funds to hire a full-time Health Educator and a part-time R.N./Certified Diabetic Educator to educate low-income, uninsured residents living with, or at high risk for, diabetes or cardiovascular problems. The project was designed not only for the personal benefit of each participant but also as an initiative that would tackle the problem of avoidable hospitalization for conditions related to chronic disease, hospitalizations which had cost the State of North Carolina $1.5 billion in 2002. During the 1 year grant period (2007-2008), CCHC conducted 140 community health classes, which were attended by 721 participants and which included 3 special education classes not offered anywhere else in the community. Of the 158 patients in CCHC’s cardiovascular program, 105 controlled their blood pressure to a healthy 140/90. Diabetes control rates for participants in CCHC's project were better than the national average. Of the 304 diabetic patients CCHC tracked in 2007-2008, 168 of them (55% and 18 more than the program goal of 150) decreased their blood sugar levels by a targeted 0.5% (a reduction that reduces the risk of kidney failure, diabetic neuropathy, diabetic retinopathy and cardiovascular issues by 25%). Grants from other organization such as the Sisters of Mercy have enabled CCHC to continue this very successful program since the expiration of the WIF grant.
YWCA Central Carolinas
$86,000 awarded to YWCA Central Carolinas for its Families Together program. Families Together is a YWCA transitional housing program designed to help homeless families rebuild their lives. The program has two components: 1) affordable, transitional housing, and 2) comprehensive case management services. There is a critical need for transitional housing for homeless families in Charlotte; almost 45% of those in shelters are families with children. Families Together is providing transitional housing and support services at a new Park Road facility that has ten multi-family units. The WIF grant, now complete, enabled the YWCA to hire a social worker who provided comprehensive management services and worked closely with participating families to improve their financial situation, equip them to secure permanent housing upon exiting the program and increase their ability to become self-sufficient. Launched with the (somewhat delayed) completion of the FT multi-family complex in April 11, 2008, at the end of the WIF grant period (Fall, 2009), the YWCA had served 18 families (encompassing 108 people) during a time of tremendous economic upheaval. A majority of those who "graduated" from the program have secured and remained in permanent housing.
Youth Homes
$88,000 awarded to Youth Homes. The Preparation for Independent Living program is dedicated to helping teens that have "aged out" of the foster care system, enter the workforce or continue their education, teaching teens the basic life skills necessary to maintain economic independence. This one-year grant, will allow Youth Homes to launch The Preparation for Independent Living program. This program is designed to (1) teach life skills such as finding a job, food preparation, health maintenance, money management and use of public and private transportation (2) provide financial assistance for education and emergency financial needs (3) provide transitional housing and (4) most importantly, assign each foster youth to a social worker/mentor to provide a "family-style" connection, support and guidance.
MedAssist Community Pharmacy
$70,000 awarded to MedAssist Community Pharmacy. This nonprofit agency is the only licensed pharmacy serving the uninsured poor in our area and is positioned to become the sole county-wide free pharmacy. Grant funds were used to hire an additional pharmacist and expand services to include all seven free health clinics and all patients for Physicians Reach Out. MedAssist serves over 15,000 patients per year since expanding the program.
Citizen Schools
$65,000 awarded to Citizen Schools. This nonprofit agency mobilizes thousands of adult volunteers to help improve student achievement by teaching skill-building apprenticeships after-school. With the help of a one-year grant, Citizen Schools launched Charlotte sites at Eastway Middle School and Martin Luther King Middle School in August 2006, blending real-world learning projects with rigorous academic and leadership development activities, preparing students in the middle grades for success in high school, college, the workforce and civic life.
Catawba Lands Conservancy
$40,000 awarded to Catawba Lands Conservancy. A partnership with The Trust for Public Land, the Carolina Regional Trail Initiative is a 500-mile ribbon of greenway through a 15-county region knitting together communities and preserving the land. The ultimate goal of the Trail is to build social capital and promote healthy, vibrant lifestyles, while expanding our region's economy. Their grant funded an economic impact study that garnered the support of the local neighborhoods by showing how the trail system is economically advantageous to the communities in our region.
Ada Jenkins Center
$84,000 awarded to the Ada Jenkins Center, whose mission is to improve the quality of life for residents through integrated delivery of health, education and human services. The center purchased a Mobile Community Dental Clinic that visits community groups, public and nonprofit agencies, educational facilities, churches, nursing homes and others. There are no other dental clinics in the county that provide free or reduced cost dental care to adults on a regular basis.
Jacobs Ladder Job Center
$62,000 awarded to the Jacobs Ladder Job Center, whose mission is to help the unemployed find and keep living wage jobs. The Center's goal is to empower disadvantaged people with the tools necessary to achieve self-sufficiency. Grant funds were used to implement and hire a coordinator for a new program called Project HOPE. The program helps the hardest to employ find jobs and offers intensive support and counseling.
BRIDGE Jobs, Inc.
$40,000 awarded to BRIDGE Jobs, Inc. This nonprofit agency is dedicated to helping high school drop outs and unemployed and underemployed citizens of Mecklenburg County obtain long-term, career-enhancing employment by providing them with career counseling and support as they complete their education. Bridge implemented a Literacy Enrichment Program for women with children in high-risk and fragile neighborhoods. The WIF grant funds were used to hire a reading specialist to develop a curriculum for young adult women, train and pay tutors, and provide babysitting services.
Pat's Place Child Advocacy Center
$100,000 awarded to Pat's Place Child Advocacy Center, which focuses on the investigation, assessment, and treatment of child sexual abuse victims and their non-offending family members, as well as the prevention and prosecution of child sexual abuse cases. The grant of $50,000 per year over two years enabled Pat's Place to hire a case worker who provides child-centered assistance to sexual abuse victims and their families. This grant provided the staff necessary to provide expedient case management, establish a computerized case tracking system and implement a parent support group.
Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department
$58,000 awarded to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department in order to establish the Gang of One program to address the growing presence of gangs in Charlotte. This one-year grant enabled Gang of One to hire a program director and deliver valuable services to the youth of Mecklenburg County including: training sessions with more than 2,500 students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, responses to more than 250 calls to the Gang of One hotline, and expansion of the Gang of One model to police precincts throughout the County.