We have awarded $100,500 in grants, reviewed 192 applications, and had 635 members since 2019.
2024 Grant Winner
Filling in the Blanks
Our $10,000 grant will fund stocking & distributing hygiene products like shampoo, toothpaste, soap, deodorant, tampons, etc. These items are expensive but essential to health & well-being and our grant would fund items for the 123-and-counting teenagers at their in-school pantries every month.
Future 5
STAMFORD
$2,500 GRANT AWARDED to help fund academic support resources for Future 5 students, incl. SAT prep teachers, academic subject tutors, celebrations for students who make honor roll and more.
Open Door Shelter
NORWALK
$2,500 GRANT AWARDED to help fund out-of-shelter field trips and activities for an estimated 50+ youth experiencing homelessness, who are not able to participate in the same type of extracurricular activities as many of their peers.
The Rowan Center
STAMFORD
$2,500 GRANT AWARDED to help fund training student advocates who can provide resources, information & other ways to help friends/peers dealing with harassment, sexting and sextortion issues & sexual assault.
2023 Grant Winner
STAR, Inc. -
Lighting the Way
Our $10,000 grant funded assistive technology and an adaptive toy lending library for infants and children with developmental delays, including the purchase of iPads and related specialty application software. The equipment will allow all therapists to have ready access to the appropriate tools, teaching toys, and technology to provide some families with a child in STAR’s early intervention program, who otherwise could not afford an iPad or other equipment, to use one during therapies or as a loaner.
Horizons Bridgeport
BRIDGEPORT
$2,500 GRANT AWARDED to help fund a Friday Field Trips & Enrichment Program for 126 Horizons Notre Dame students to visit local cultural institutions and entertainment venues that they would not otherwise be able to experience.
Ms President US
BRIDGEPORT
$2,500 GRANT AWARDED to help fund the launch of a new chapter of this civic education & leadership program, to motivate and prepare 4th-8th grade girls in Bridgeport (and their high school mentors) to become leaders in their community by teaching the importance of female involvement in public service and imparting exemplary values in future leaders.
New Beginnings Family Academy
BRIDGEPORT
$2,500 GRANT AWARDED to help fund converting NBFA’s annex floor into a safe, ready-to-use tile-based gymnasium floor to support organized physical education and activities, as well as gym equipment (volleyball set, balance beams) for the benefit of all 499 students at the school.
2022 Grant Winner
Domestic Violence
Crisis Center
Our $10,000 grant funded a series of support groups, facilitated by a professional counselor, for youth (ages 6-17) who have been exposed to domestic violence to help them with self-esteem, coping strategies and social skills. DVCC works to help those experiencing any level of domestic violence and assist them in building a safer environment for the well-being of themselves and their families; and this support group program was created in keeping with their mission.
Filling in the Blanks
NORWALK
$2,500 GRANT AWARDED to help fund food for food-insecure youth to bring home over the weekend. Meal Bags contain four meals & four snacks and are distributed to students at school.
Shepherds, Inc.
BRIDGEPORT
$2,500 GRANT AWARDED to help fund ACT/SAT Test Prep for disadvantaged sophomores, juniors, and seniors at Kolbe High School in Bridgeport, including materials, instructional costs, and program administration.
Stamford Museum & Nature Center
STAMFORD/FAIRFIELD COUNTY
$2,500 GRANT AWARDED to help fund reformatting its Animals for All program so students with disabilities, special needs, and learning differences can participate in the care, feeding, enrichment, and cleaning of SMNC’s farm and exotic animals in a small group atmosphere (incl. lower staff to student ratio).
2021 Grant Winner
Mental Health Services at Bridgeport Hospital
Our $10,000 grant funded Helping Hands for the REACH Youth Program: Financial assistance to patients and their families for household and other expenses to remove barriers to mental health treatment. This grant would help support young people living in violent, distressed communities like Bridgeport, to access the treatment/services they need by helping with internet/technology, transportation, and other costs that often get in the way of getting proper medical care.
DOMUS Kids
STAMFORD
$2,500 GRANT AWARDED to support their proposed Domus Kids Social Justice Learning Academy program for 50 young women to learn through virtual facilitated discussion and presentations about systemic inequality, racism, and Social Justice, and help young women develop a toolkit & find their voice to speak out against inequalities wherever they exist.
New Beginnings Family Academy
BRIDGEPORT
$2,500 GRANT AWARDED to support their proposed creation of a high-tech Media Center for middle school students in Grades 6 to 8 (approximately 125 students), featuring cutting-edge video & music production equipment, and sound-proof green screen rooms, both for individual and collaborative projects. The Media Center would provide students with an Integrated Arts elective to explore interests prior to selecting a high school.
The Rowan Center
LOWER FAIRFIELD COUNTY
$2,500 GRANT AWARDED to support their proposed Rowan Roundtables, empowering conversations for 8th grade middle school girls during the year leading up to high school. The conversations would bring together Rowan counselors and educators with older teens and younger teens, to discuss the issues that face girls particularly when entering high school, with the aim of empowering "a new generation" of girls to help change a school's culture as they move forward.
2020 Grant Winner
Open Door Shelter
Our $10,000 grant funded a program leader to oversee and implement after-school education and enrichment activities for homeless children. The program leader will be on-site at Open Door Shelter’s Children’s Resource Center four days every week throughout the school year and during the summer months. To maintain social distancing, children at the shelter will use the Center in groups. The curriculum will be developed by retired teachers who volunteer at Open Door, donating time and expertise to provide homeless students access to some of the (often costly) benefits that are accessible to many of their peers throughout Fairfield County.
Center for Children’s Advocacy
BRIDGEPORT
$2,500 GRANT AWARDED to support CCA’s proposed program: four legal rights & advocacy training events for parents of bilingual children in the Bridgeport school system, two family storytelling events to collect stories of the children’s experiences, and individual follow-up legal information and advice for parents between and after trainings.
New Beginnings Family Academy
BRIDGEPORT
$2,500 GRANT AWARDED to support NBFA’s proposed series of educational field trips, in-school or virtual experiences with local museum, farm, zoo, etc. The trips would provide hands-on learning & exploration, and broaden horizons for students at this progressive public charter school.
Star Inc. - Lighting the Way
NORWALK
$2,500 GRANT AWARDED to support STAR’s proposed purchase of iPads and assistive technology to open new communication and learning opportunities, and help give a ‘voice’ to both pre-school infant/toddlers and transitioning high school graduates who have intellectual and developmental disabilities.
2019 Grant Winner
Building One Community
Our $10,000 grant funded the STEAM Club which serves low-income immigrant children, primarily Hispanic, between ages 6-10. The STEAM Club addresses the need for more after-school enrichment programs for low-income immigrant children and the need to prepare more women for STEAM careers. Our grant enabled B1C and The Bruce Museum to adapt a high school engineering curriculum for elementary school students and conduct 32 sessions over an eight-month period. Through projects and development of science notebooks, students expand their vocabulary and knowledge of scientific concepts, learn problem-solving skills, gain confidence, and develop an interest in STEAM.
Children’s Learning Centers
STAMFORD
$1,000 grant awarded to support the funding of William Pitt Discovery Studio Programming, where CLC would be able to hold 10 different STEM-themed enrichment classes/experiences for a total of more than 300 children.
Domus Kids
STAMFORD
$1,000 grant awarded to support the funding of the proposed ‘Girls Reach for the Stars’ program, a nine-week program designed for up to 14 African American high school girls with activities focused on sharing experiences, conflict resolution and developing critical skills that lead to greater self-respect and facing challenges.
Open Door Shelter
NORWALK
$1,000 grant awarded toward the furnishing of the new Children’s Resource Center, which provides preschool and afterschool education for homeless children, including kitchen appliances, computers, educational software, and more.