A committee from the Bishops' Fund for Children Board of Trustees meets every April to evaluate grant applications. Recommendations are then presented to the board for final approval. Grants are made in late May or June.
Bishops' Fund for Children - 2009 Grants
1. Bridgeport Area Youth Ministry, Inc. BAYM: Their mission is to enable inner-city youth to discover their talents and to exercise them in a real world business environment through technology, trade training and career development. Students learn to rebuild computers and are given one at graduation.
2. NEON –Naugatuck Ecumenical Outreach Network- An ecumenical group of caring Christians who have joined together to combat the growing problem of hunger in the Naugatuck Valley community. They are working to establish a regular hot meal program, and in the process of joining Angel Food Ministries, which sells high quality food to families and seniors at a considerable discount.
3. The Day Camp at Rectory School, Pomfret: The camp setting strives to provide good role models, increase self-esteem and self-worth.
4. F.R.E.S.H. New London: ( Food, Resources, Education, Security, Help) The Urban Garden Center educates and employs 16 neighborhood youths to grow produce. They also sell the crops cheaply in poor neighborhoods. It is an experiential education of health, life skills and stewardship.
5. Person-to-Person, Darien: They provide summer camperships for elementary and middle school aged youth from low-income households at more than 2 dozen camps in the Fairfield County area.
6. Christian Community Action, New Haven: This is an ecumenical social services organization that expresses faithful witness by providing emergency food, housing and support to those who are poor in New Haven. Funds were provided for a neighborhoos services advocate.
7. Interfaith Housing Association, Westport: The Bacharach Community is three small homes that shelter homeless mothers and their children who are victims of economic hardship, drug or alcohol abuse, domestic violence and/or mental illness. The program director works with the moms and children to formulate a Case Action Plan outlining short and ling-term goals.
8. St. Luke’s Services, Inc., New Haven: The PALS summer school program is a 5 to 6 week program for 40 to 50 public school children primarily from single-parent households, dependent on public assistance, many of whom have experienced severe deprivation. Their goals are for students to strengthen reading and writing skills, foster love for their year-round academic program, gain a community, and learn respect for peers and teachers/adults.
9. Christian Counseling Center of Greater Danbury, Inc.: Areas of focus are substance abuse (treatment and prevention), eating disorders, acting out behavior, trauma recovery work, identity and faith issues and strengthening family units. Their goal is “to empower each client to discover their own inner strengths, a deeper self-confidence and develop any skills they may need to have healthy interpersonal relationships.”
10. Madonna Place, Norwich: The program serves children who are in the custody of DCF, foster care, or living with a custodial parent/guardian, and provides a safe, nurturing and professionally supervised environment for parent visitations.
11. Educational Resources for Children, Inc., Enfield: Their mission is to “team with kids, communities, schools, and families to grow resilient kids” by providing quality, academic out-of-school-time programs to at-risk children and their families.
12. The Family Center of St. John’s, Bridgeport: Learn and Grow is a weekly program for pre-K or younger children from primarily low income Hispanic families in the Bridgeport area. A Saturday morning Computer Friends program runs during the school year offering grade appropriate computer training.
13. Covenant to Care for Children, Bloomfield: The Reach One Youth Mentor Program serves approximately 40 youth, ages 11-18 in the greater Hartford area, half of whom are teen moms with no stable adult in their family. The Mom, Mentor and Me Program, serves children ages 5-15 from the New Britain, Waterbury, New Haven and Bridgeport areas, whose mothers are incarcerated.
14. 4-H LIFT, Willimantic: (Learning, Interaction, Friends and Talents) is an after-school program with activities, snack and homework time, located in the Windham Middle School, Willimantic. (115 students enrolled) The Life Skills program serving the Junior Leaders and 8th graders is run out of St. Paul’s, Willimantic, Parish Hall, and has the support the Willimantic public school system, as well as volunteers from the parish of St. Paul’s.
15. L’Eglise de L’Epiphanie Summer Camp, Stamford: This is a 4 week summer day camp for approximately 30 children. Dance was added last year to teach the children the basics of Haitian and traditional dance.
16. St. Mark’s Toddler Playgroup, Mystic: A program/playgroup for 2 year olds, half of whom are identified as having special needs. ACCESS was started in response to a request from the State of CT for a location in which the State could deliver services to children in the Birth to Three Program. When the State stopped funding the program, St. Mark’s decided to continue the important work. Special needs include autism, cerebral palsy, language delays, Noonan syndrome, CRASH syndrome and others.
17. Covenant Shelter of New London: This shelter provides a clean, safe, structured, supportive environment to homeless individuals and single parent families. Support services include an on-site tutoring/mentoring program with enrichment activities for school-age children, which directly targets the issues presented by homelessness, and parent education and support which helps parents with the skills necessary to successfully parent their children and cope with their children’s needs and concerns.
18. Family Matters, Bridgeport: This is a pre-school program for 75 children of the working poor in Bridgeport, many of whom speak Spanish or Arabic as their first language. They offer free admission to families to provide their children with important readiness skills for entry into public school.
19. TEEG Thompson Ecumenical Empowerment Group, North Grosvenordale: (NE corner). This program provides parent/pre-school child playgroups, empowers families to build strong relationships and promotes family interdependence by connecting parents and children with resources that will benefit and support their family life. TEEG provides families with food, fuel and energy assistance, holiday meals and gifts.
20. Canton Connections, Collinsville: This after school mentoring program serves 200 students per year in grades 1-3 who are considered in need of emotional support, social skills training, and interaction with positive role models (teen mentors and adult volunteers).
21. St. Mark’s Day Care Center, Bridgeport: In partnership with the Bridgeport Schools, this full-time summer program serves 85 school age and pre-school children, and consists of reading, math and science through cooking, carpentry, gardening and animal care, and a full sports program including swimming, baseball and tennis. Parents are encouraged to join in on many activities.
22. Hands on Hartford (Center City Churches), Hartford: This after-school program serves approximately 250 students in two Hartford schools, 90% of which are from non-English-speaking homes.
23. St. Martin de Porres Academy – CT Urban Education Fund, New Haven: CUEF is the fundraising arm of The St. Martin de Porres Academy, a tuition free, private school for boys and girls in grades 5-8 from greater New Haven. Classes are Monday-Friday, 11 hours a day for 11 months of the year for 13 students, three meals a day, 90 minutes of reading/day, and mandatory parental commitment.
24. Light and Peace at Trinity Church, Hartford: This ministry provides a safe structured time to discuss faith, gain Biblical knowledge, eat a well-balanced meal, practice manners, courtesy and social skills, begin family faith discussions, and foster creative expression through prayer, arts and social interactions.
25. DOMUS, Stamford: The Lion’s Den Out-of-School-Time program operates in conjunction with Trailblazers Academy, a middle school DOMUS founded to teach and support youth which other Stamford-area schools have given up on. Entering students are often 3 or more grade levels behind in reading. 45-minute KidzLit sessions are offered (a nationally recognized literacy program specially designed for after-school programs.)
26. Winchester Youth Service Bureau, Winsted: The program is a therapeutic, recreational program which uses a behavioral modification system of rewards and consequences for 7 children, 1 day a week for 8 weeks, and there are 4 programs.
27. St. John’s Saturday School, Waterbury: This is an academic tutoring and mentoring program for Spanish speaking children, with time devoted to religious education and worship.
28. George Washington Carver Center, Norwalk: Their Youth Development program is a comprehensive academic program that prepares middle school children for the transition to high school with peer counseling, tutoring and curriculum choice assistance. The Carver Center in general reaches more than 3,500 individuals with before and after-school programs (k-college), a community basketball league, holiday parties, Thanksgiving food drive, Black History celebration and more.
29. Thames River Family Program, Norwich: Children and mothers who are homeless due to poverty, substandard housing, poor choices and abandonment come to TRFP to live for up to 2 years. Their Children’s Mental Health and Wellness program tries to help younger children deal with histories of abuse and neglect before their experiences manifest themselves in negative and inappropriate behaviors. This program parallels the one for their mothers.
30. The Bridge Family Center, Inc., West Hartford: This short-term assessment shelter (2 months to 1 year) helps girls overcome trauma in their lives through the healing power of healthy, trusting relationships, respecting their unique backgrounds, with full support, services and guidance provided around the clock. They strive to create a home-like environment so the girls feel welcome and safe during a difficult time in their lives, and work to prepare them for the next placement whether it is reunification with their family, a foster family or a group home.
31. Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS) (formerly Interfaith Refugee Ministry, IRM), New Haven: IRIS offers services to new immigrants in the areas of language, employment prospects, accessing information, and increased civic engagement and self-advocacy. The IRIS childcare program is a school readiness program for ages 0-5 which exposes children to classroom structure, socialization, and English language skills. During this time parents attend programs to help with their own acculturation.
32. Family & Children’s Agency, Inc., Norwalk. Girls Challenge is a youth development/mentoring program for 12 adolescent girls, who meet weekly, and have quarterly team building challenges during the school year. The program was created to affirm and encourage the development of each girl’s own internal resources rather than focus on “fixing” the deficits that have resulted in her “at risk” label.
33. Rhythms of Grace, Plainville/Torrington: Designed for children on the Autism Spectrum who have extraordinary challenges in communications skills, this program combines story telling, exploration centers and the sacrament of Holy Communion in a gentle, welcoming, safe, informal environment. Parents have an opportunity to network and receive support and spiritual nourishment without worrying about how their children are being perceived.
34. St. James’ Christian Academy, New Haven: They are offering an after-school enrichment program for 30 low-income urban children. Tae Boe, cooking, gardening, puppet theater, music and art improve students’ academic, social emotional, physical and spiritual lives.
35. Your Place- St. Andrew’s, New Haven: Offering children’s services year-round, this youth center aims to help each student achieve their goals and thereby help them gain an understanding of goal setting, a sense of accomplishment, as well as increased self-worth. They are also a referral source for teens in the Juvenile Review Board.
