Grantees

Support recently expanded meal program and increase supports to parents in accessing whole foods and maintaining healthy eating habits at home.

Support from the Vermont Children’s Trust would allow us to purchase skateboarding equipment to benefit Hardwick youth for years to come. After months of community conversations and fundraising, the Hardwick Skatepark Collective—a youth-led initiative at the Civic Standard, driven to create a skatepark in our town—was able to build a mini-ramp this past May. The project generated meaningful partnerships, including with our fire department which allowed the ramp to be housed behind their station. Since then, the dialogue around skateboarding in Hardwick has shifted. Where once neighbors were concerned about youth skating down Main Street for lack of a better-suited location, now there is pride for those who built the first safe, high-quality skateboarding equipment in town. The Collective’s next venture is a series of beginner lessons taught by an experienced member of the group. This project is not only an opportunity to grow the skateboarding community in our rural town, but also a means of harm reduction in an area where many people are affected by economic hardship, homelessness, and addiction. We have witnessed members of the Collective overcome such challenges or avoid them altogether, in part because of access to a community of their peers, positive mentorship, and material resources. At the Civic Standard, we believe play is as vital as other basic necessities. With your support, we can continue expanding how we build a new culture alongside local youth.

A program for parents on how to be well, physically and emotionally.

HatchSpace is expanding their Youth Design+Build Camps by piloting a new Woodworking Intensive camp for young people. During the summer of 2026, HatchSpace will offer five grant funded Youth Design+Build Camps, including their new Intensive Camp, two sessions of our Skateboard Build Camp, and two sessions of our Rosie’s Girls Camp. All of these programs expand youth engagement opportunities for learning trades skills in southern Vermont. Outcomes of these programs include exposure to career skills as young people build confidence, relationships, and projects with wood and tools. A total of 50 young people will participate in these camps during the grant period, with recruitment supported by community outreach and existing partnerships.

Through staff training and regular observation and consultation with staff and caregivers, the assigned Howard Center’s clinician(s) will offer partner Burlington area afterschool and summer program(s) regular support to minimize the incidence of expulsion of participating children/youth, ages 5-18 years who exhibit challenging behaviors. While drawing on the evidence-based ARC Model (Attachment, Competency and Regulation) and trauma informed practice that is culturally sensitive, staff and caregivers will be offered training and support that fosters child/youth and parental resilience, social connections as well as other Strengthening Families Protective Factors to ensure child/youth participation and increase family stability.

Create community-based initiatives to address nutrition and activity for elementary scool children, their families and friends.

Healthy Families from the Start provides prenatal and postpartum support outside of the traditional social services sector for new parents who are assessed as at risk by local health care providers. This program provides new parents with online and home-based groups, visits, and education from pregnancy through the first 12 weeks postpartum. Both birthing and non-birthing parents receive wrap around care that seamlessly transitions into existing Family Room playgroups and programs as children age. Thanks to our partnership with the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, the majority of families served include former refugees, asylees, and immigrants.

Support for at-risk new parents is vital to creating safe and secure families who raise resilient children. The system in Vermont is divided in two: those who can pay for supports are able to access doulas, child care, playgroups, and child development classes; and those who can’t pay instead rely on the child welfare services. As a result, those who most need continuous, reliable, and nurturing support have the least access to it. Through our Healthy Families from the Start program, we provide prenatal and postpartum doula support for higher-risk families in Chittenden County. We offer online and home-based groups, home visits, education, doula support, and concrete supports from pregnancy through the first 12 weeks postpartum.