Grant Recipients
2011 Grantees
At the Impact100 Annual Meeting on June 6, 2011, West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC) was selected by members to receive the 2011 project grant of $100,000 for its Open Books Open Minds program. WePAC provides public elementary school children in West Philadelphia with library and literacy enrichment activities to help prepare them for school success. WePAC places volunteers in classrooms to work with individual students on reading and writing skills and also conducts after-school clubs, such as school newspapers. WePAC’s Open Books Open Minds program addresses the fact that nearly 8,000 children in West Philadelphia’s public elementary schools have no, or limited, library access. The program renovates and re-opens school libraries that were previously closed, then staffs the libraries with trained volunteers. In the program’s first two years, WePAC opened libraries in seven schools, donated 25,000 books to school libraries, and circulated more than 2,500 books per month to nearly 3,000 students. For almost half of these children, WePAC libraries are the only library they ever visit. With Impact100 funding, WePAC proposes to open an additional three to five school libraries, expand hours in existing libraries, and extend its program reach to 5,000 children per year. Learn more about WePAC by visiting its website.
Operating grants of $20,000 each were awarded to Northwest Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network and Urban Tree Connection.
Since 1991, Northwest Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network (NPIHN) has moved 275 families – 745 individuals – from homelessness to stability. Participating congregations of all faiths provide housing for homeless families, and volunteers from the congregation serve as hosts of the families, making dinner and spending time with them in the evenings. The goal of NPIHN is to transition families out of the shelter system into their own housing. In addition to shelter, NPIHN provides support services including assistance with job-hunting and childcare, parenting and financial responsibility classes, social service advocacy, educational and extracurricular activities for children, and counseling. Once a family leaves NPIHN’s shelter program, it continues to receive support services as needed. Of NPIHN’s families, 92% do not return to homelessness. www.philashelter.org
The mission of Urban Tree Connection, based in West Philadelphia, is to partner with children and adults in some of Philadelphia’s most disadvantaged communities to revitalize their neighborhoods through urban greening. Urban Tree Connection’s goal is to build and sustain a community-driven land use model that provides residents with safe, productive and beautiful green spaces that promote positive human interaction and community connections. www.urbantreeconnection.org
Operating grants of $12,000 each were awarded to Community Arts Center and to Concern for Health Options: Information, Care and Education.
Community Arts Center (CAC), founded in 1948, provides a broad array of creative experiences to the Delaware County community. The CAC serves 14,000 people each year through its classes in painting, ceramics, printmaking, jewelry and other arts, and through its pre-school and summer camp. Outreach is a key component of its mission. Through its ART to Go program, CAC brings art into the community at no charge to participants. www.communityartscenter.org
Concern for Health Options: Information, Care and Education (CHOICE) was founded in 1971 to increase access to accurate information and essential services concerning reproductive and maternal child health. The organization works to overcome barriers that impede access to quality healthcare and information for all individuals. CHOICE maintains four bi-lingual hotlines (CHOICE Health Hotline; CHOICE Teen Line; Maternal and Children’s Health Line; Pennsylvania State AIDS Factline) staffed by trained counselors that provide education, counseling and referrals to services. CHOICE also offers comprehensive sexual health education in over 180 schools, community centers, social services agencies, churches, and other neighborhood sites throughout Philadelphia. www.choice-phila.org