Grantees

The MFCC Teen Space currently provides routine on-location teen programming during the critical afterschool hours for youths seventh grade and up. We would like to have funds to provide healthy snacks.

The VNA Family Room is expanding their services to provide specialized, unique service to their youngest clients, babies aged birth to 2 and their parents. With established space and dedicated staff, they will offer infant massage and baby signing classes to help parents develop a more positive bond with their young children through communication and touch.

BGCB is piloting our Nurture Nature Days Program in partnership with the Vermont Wilderness School in order to provide structured outdoor learning and recreation environments for youth and their families. This program will operate free bi-weekly on Saturdays from 10AM through noon during the fall of 2023 and spring of 2024. Each session of the program will be operated on a drop-in basis at a different outdoor location around Windham County. This structure creates better access to programming for families in Windham County’s rural towns, allowing youth and parents/caregivers to attend the sessions that align best with their schedules. Each program session focuses on different outdoor skills and includes a healthy snack for all participants.

Prevent Child Abuse Vermont (PCAV) will develop, pilot, and implement a new training entitled "Nurturing Healthy Sexual Development" with school staff, parents, and other adults. This training will cover children's healthy sexual development at each age, what adults can do to support healthy sexual development, how to answer children's questions, and how to respond to behaviors in ways that promote health. As a result of this training, adults who live and work with children will have more information on healthy development, be more prepared to promote healthy behaviors, and be able to respond to concerning situations to prevent harmful behaviors.

A parent educaiton and support program for the Champlain Islands.

Support yearly, at least two 10-weel Nurturing Parenting classes to single mothers and their children in Bennington County who have been involved in abusive relationships.

This program plans to address issues that many foster and adoptive parents face raising young children, strengthen families, reduce the rate of return of children into foster care, and reduce movement of children within the foster care system. Vermont is in dire need of more foster and adoptive parents as DCF has taken more children into custody in recent years, particularly children under 6, because of the opiate addiction problems we are facing. These parents have a wide variety of challenges and need support. We propose to offer 3 Circle of Parent Support Groups and 2 Nurturing Parenting Programs for Foster and Adoptive Families. These programs will strengthen parenting skills and reduce foster home and adoptive failures.

Educate, support and empower teen parents to have healthy, nurturing relationships with their children. Through the Nurturing Program for Teenage Parents, participants will build parenting skills and receive support, thus helping to ensure that they and their young children live in safe, caring home environments.