Grantees

This is an expansion of Outright Vermont's popular 21 year-old "Friday Night Support Group & Activity Night". This program will reach rural LGBTQ youth where they live, instead of forcing them to travel to access Outright Vermont services and will address substance abuse within the LGBTQ youth community.

Expand current services to include a new program for children in grades K-8, throughout Vermont, addressing Autism Spetrum Disorders and related social communication disorders.

Friends For Change is a grassroots community program built for and by youth in June of 2016. In partnership with their local substance abuse prevention coalition, they've built a program that specifically addresses the unique needs of their often overlooked community members. Their entire program is rooted in identifying and responding to the needs of marginalized and most impacted youth and families. They provide after-school and summer programming where youth and their families thrive and learn how to build a stronger community.

When it comes to helping families in Rutland County, BROC Community Action has been at the forefront for more than 50 years. Under BROC, the Rutland County Community Justice Center provides a variety of services, including victim liaison programs, supervised visits and exchanges, reparative justice panels, Circles of Support and Accountability, and reentry navigation for formerly incarcerated people. Our supervised visitation and exchange program, a haven for families, has been utilized by an average of thirteen families each week since August 2020. The impact is great; however, our visiting room furnishings and toys need to be replaced. Our services are free but wear and tear on our facilities threaten the quality of support we provide. They will be purchasing miscellaneous toys and furnishings, as well as a carpet cleaner and air purifier.

Full STEAM Ahead Bennington will deliver 3 STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) activity kits to youth (4th-5th grade). Area youth struggle with academic achievement compared to Vermont peers. The STEAM kits will encourage learning beyond school with activities designed for best-practice science and art experiences. Students will learn something, build something, and create art. Participants will gain transferable skills via engaging learning experiences. Materials will be developed in collaboration with local businesses and community organizations. The kits will be complemented by live/video programming led by diverse local professionals who will coach the youth through the activities and serve as career inspiration.

We are requesting this funding to restock our school with loose parts and other natural materials with the intention of promoting imagination, creativity, and independence. Our school has historically had only loose parts, recycled materials, and other natural materials in it's classrooms and our goal is to reintroduce this play to the children out our school. Loose parts play is vital to the learning and development of children's ability to control their own play, model the things they see in the world around them, and connect with their environment.

Get O.U.T. is designed for incoming sixth grades students to "get to know" their school, teachers, community thorugh morning academics and afternoon activities.

Provide school vacation activities and field trips as well as leadership opportunities & prevention activities to yough agest 11-18 in the Springfield Area.