Charleston, WV-The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation (TGKVF) Board of Trustees approved the distribution of grant funding totaling $1,286,840. This funding supports people in our community like Jennifer and Fred, a local couple working hard to improve life for their family.
After serving two tours in Afghanistan, Fred developed PTSD and had trouble holding a job. Jennifer’s salary could not cover all of the family’s needs, like when their vehicle needed significant repairs. Without reliable transportation, Jennifer lost her job too. Soon, the family lost their apartment, and after staying with family and friends for some time, they found themselves homeless. That’s when they discovered the YWCA Sojourner’s Shelter.
After coming to Sojourner’s, Jennifer and Fred began working with a case manager who helped connect them with Sojourner’s Education and Job Readiness Center. Jennifer and Adam went to the center every day, and with the help of staff, they drafted resumes and online job profiles. Jennifer started getting interviews, and soon received a job offer with good pay, benefits, and hours. With the help of a clothing voucher, she was able to get the clothing she needed for her new job. With staff assistance, Fred finished the final steps in the application process to receive disability benefits. Recently, Fred, Jennifer, and their children were approved for permanent housing. With the help of the YWCA Sojourner’s Shelter, Jennifer and Fred have regained their independence and are back on the right track.
TGKVF awarded fourteen responsive grants totaling $424,300 to Basic Needs, Arts & Culture, and Field- of-Interest programs, nine grants totaling $283,240 in the Foundation’s proactive areas of Education, Health, and Community Economic Development (CED). Four West Side 2.0 Initiative projects and a racial justice special initiative were funded in the amount of $149,500. Continued generous support from an anonymous donor will provide funding for seven Emergency Aid and four Dental Health programs totaling $429,800.
Kanawha Valley Friends of Old Time Music and Dance (FOOTMAD)-Dance of Hope: a Stonewall Jackson Middle School Residency: $4,500 (Arts & Culture)
Funding will support the collaboration of FOOTMAD, FestivALL Charleston, and Stonewall Jackson Middle School to host Ugandan youth troupe “Dance of Hope” for a five-day residency in April 2020. The troupe of twelve youth and three adults include those who have risen from the streets and refugee camps of Uganda to become ambassadors of African music, dance, drumming, and storytelling. The week’s residency will end with a showcase performed for over 500 students, parents, and community members.
West Virginia Music Hall of Fame (WVMHoF)-Music Career Counseling Program (MCCP): $7,000 (Arts & Culture)
The WVMHoF’s Music Career Counseling program introduces high school students to performing and non-performing career opportunities in the music industry. Four industry professionals speak to students in Boone, Clay, Fayette, and Lincoln counties about their professions and how they established their careers. The visits include performances and a question and answer session. The students are made aware of scholarships, internships, and apprentice opportunities. TGKVF funding for this project will support guest artist stipends and WVMHoF staff.
West Virginia Youth Symphony-Outreach Through the Performing Arts-Dance, Voice, Orchestra, & Theater: $17,000 (Arts & Culture)
This project will promote performing arts education by planning and performing a collaborative ballet production of Alice in Wonderland at the Clay Center in February 2020. This production will showcase over 170 young dancers, singers, actors, and musicians and offer classes in ballet, violin instruction, and theatrical workshops in Clendenin for economically disadvantaged children. Funding will support financial aid for tuition and instruments to students in need, instructors’ salaries, performance venue fees, and reduced-rate tickets.
American Red Cross-Basic Needs-Disaster Services Direct Client Financial Assistance: $30,000 (Basic Needs)
American Red Cross/West Virginia/ Southwest Chapter provides direct financial assistance for residents experiencing a fire, flood, or any disaster emergency in West Virginia, but specifically for this project in Boone, Clay, Fayette, Kanawha, Lincoln, and Putnam counties. Funds will be used for basic needs such as clothing to keep clients warm, shelter to keep them safe, food to prevent hunger, and medicine to maintain their health.
Covenant House-Improving Health and Quality of Life for the Homeless and Low-Income: $66,000 (Basic Needs)
Covenant House, Manna Meal, and Roark Sullivan Lifeway Center will partner to fight hunger, homelessness, and poverty in Kanawha County. Estimating that these programs serve over 90 percent of the homeless population in Kanawha County, funding will support providing food, meals, clothing, hygiene items, and staffing.
Daymark, Inc.-Patchwork: $21,500 (Basic Needs)
Patchwork, licensed by the State of West Virginia, is a runaway and homeless shelter for youth ages twelve and older. Patchwork’s mission is to provide youth in high-risk situations with a safe alternative to abusive, neglectful, or dangerous environments. Patchwork provides emergency and pharmacological services, mental health assessment plans, nursing services, educational and vocational exploration, counseling, referral services, food, clothing, and shelter. Funding will support staffing, food, and utilities.
Heart and Hand Outreach Ministries, Inc.-Heart+Hand Basic Needs Programs: $22,000 (Basic Needs)
Heart and Hand provides basic needs assistance in the form of free food, clothing, housewares, utility and rent assistance, diapers, work boots and shoes, holiday food, and gifts for low income families in Kanawha and Putnam Counties. Funding from this grant will be used for utility assistances, rent, and to supplement Heart and Hand’s food pantry.
Kanawha Valley Collective, Inc. (KVC)-Centralized Point of Entry and Housing Stabilization: $60,500 (Basic Needs)
Kanawha Valley Collective is the local Continuum of Care, a collaborative network of providers serving Boone, Clay, Kanawha, and Putnam counties. Funding will support utility assistance, furniture, and bus passes for clients; utility assistance for Covenant House’s Drop in Center; and salaries for YWCA Sojourner’s Shelter, Roark Sullivan Lifeway Center, and Daymark.
Kanawha Valley Fellowship Home, Inc.: $20,500 (Basic Needs)
The Kanawha Valley Fellowship Home is a transitional home for men in recovery from addiction. The Home, aftercare apartments, and newly opened intermediate apartments provide 30 beds for its mission of housing, feeding, and building positive habits through structured accountability. Funding will support utilities, food, and shelter.
Tyler Mountain/Cross Lanes Community Services-Cross Lanes Basic Emergency Needs: $18,000 (Basic Needs)
Funding will support Tyler Mountain/Cross Lanes Community Services’ food pantry, Christmas food basket program, and utility and prescription drug assistance for residents in Kanawha and Putnam counties.
West Virginia Interfaith Refugee Ministry-Support Refugee Resettlement in the Charleston, WV Area: $10,000 (Basic Needs)
This project will create a voice for immigrant and refugee issues and work with faith-based organizations, including leaders from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities, as well as secular leaders to bring five refugee families to West Virginia in 2020. The project will provide staffing, financial support, and services to successfully relocate families to Charleston.
YWCA Resolve Family Abuse Program: $22,250 (Basic Needs)
YWCA Resolve’s Victim and Shelter Services Coordinator, along with other advocates, assist victims of domestic violence by providing basic needs such as food, clothing, and safe emergency shelter. The Coordinator provides case management, referrals to various resources, transportation, and housing relocation assistance services which empower survivors to build safer, more secure futures for themselves and their children.
Rivers to Ridges Heritage Trail, Inc.-Rivers to Ridges Heritage Trail Marketing and Community Economic Development Initiative Year #2: $20,000 (CED)
This second year of funding will support efforts directed towards more public awareness and developing a cooperative of businesses that can benefit from Rivers to Ridges being recognized as offering heritage and cultural benefits for those living in the area, as well as a destination for tourists.
WV Food and Farm Coalition- “Making Place” with food and agriculture in the Kanawha River Region: $30,000 (CED)
This project will support farmers and food businesses in TGKVF’s footprint through placemaking economic development projects, including an ecotourism farm-to-table dinner series in Clay, WV, development of a job-training farm in Boone county, and initial planning of a café in Lincoln County, through partnerships with the Southwest Regional Day Report Center’s Fresh Start program. These projects will increase production of local agricultural products and spur economic development through agritourism.
Legal Aid of West Virginia, Inc.-Lawyer in the School: $20,000 (Education)
The second year of funding will help stabilize the lives of Kanawha County School families by providing free onsite legal assistance at Mary C. Snow and Grandview Elementary Schools with issues such as eviction, disrupted income, and child permanency. Services are provided through walk-in clinics and evening educational workshops designed to educate caregivers in an effort to reduce childhood trauma and promote conditions for educational success.
Mission West Virginia-The Bridge: $47,500 (Education)
This project in its fifth year of funding strives to create opportunities to support foster youth to pursue their dreams and become productive members of our community. The Bridge will accomplish this by collaborating with Clay County Schools in Educational Advocacy, Academic Coaching, Enrichment Opportunities, Post-Secondary Education Planning, and Scholarships.
West Virginia Healthy Kids and Families Coalition, Inc.-Families Leading Change Parent Leaders: $25,000 (Education)
In its third year, Families Leading Change will recruit a minimum of thirty statewide parent organizer leaders to create a program to train additional parents on the local school level to become community leaders. Funding for this project will support ten of these parent organizer leaders.
Cabin Creek Health Systems-Sustainable Care Coordination for High Risk Diabetic Patients: $38,390 (Health)
In the third year of funding Cabin Creek Health Systems will continue a comprehensive system of care projects for high risk diabetic patients by including a care coordinator on the clinical care team. The care coordinator is an active member of the care team and follows up with the patient in between clinical visits.
Children’s Therapy Clinic, Inc.-Comprehensive Therapeutic Services: $35,500 (Health)
In its fifth year of funding, Children’s Therapy Clinic (CTC) will provide comprehensive therapy services for children with disabilities who have insufficient insurance and/or income. Services include: physical, speech, occupational, and music therapies, and social skill groups for children with autism.
Just for Kids, Inc.-The Fayette Initiative, Changing the Conversation about Sexual Abuse: $13,700 (Health)
In its second year of funding, Just for Kids (JFK) and its partners will continue to bring awareness about child sexual abuse to the Fayette County community through four initiatives: working with the schools to present prevention information to teachers and parents; educating middle and high school students about the illegality of cyber-abuse and creating a partnership with schools, prosecutor, and JFK to address cases of cyber-abuse with parents and students; continuing to present researched based prevention programs, Stewards of Children, to adult groups in Fayette County; presenting a workshop for both professional and other community adults regarding protecting our children and helping them thrive.
Kanawha Charleston Health Department-Strategies for Community Awareness and Understanding of HIV, expanding outreach HIV/HCV testing and Overdose Prevention for high risk groups: $53,150 (Health)
In response to the recent increase of new HIV cases that have been identified in West Virginia, Kanawha Charleston Health Department (KCHD) has partnered with WV Health Right, the Ryan White Program, and Covenant House to provide free, rapid HIV testing to high risk populations in Charleston including those who are homeless and people who inject drugs. KCHD plans to expand outreach testing opportunities throughout Kanawha County, including rural/remote locations where services are limited, and expand ongoing collaboration with the University of Charleston’s School of Pharmacy for naloxone training and the provision of personal hygiene kits for the homeless.
Kanawha Valley Senior Services, Inc.-Food Insecurity: $22,000 (Field-of-Interest)
Funding will support new kitchen equipment for the Charleston Area Nutrition (CAN) Program, where over 13,000 hot meals are prepared monthly for senior citizens who attend congregate meal programs at six locations in Kanawha County as well as home bound seniors.
West Virginia University Foundation, Inc.-Children’s Vision Rehabilitation Program (CVRP): $103,050 (Field-of-Interest)
CVRP/SenseAbilities ensures children with visual impairments, including those with cortical visual impairment, blindness, and low vision receive services from knowledgeable providers. Interventions, equipment, and devices are diverse. Funding will support evaluations, mentoring, low vision and blindness equipment, and programming that will address blindness related skills needed to encourage success in higher education and employment.
Kanawha County Dental Health Council, Inc.: $50,000 (Dental)
This project works to promote dental health for children of in the community through education within Kanawha County Schools and to provide comprehensive dental services for children of low income families. The program accepts Medicaid and CHIP, but a substantial number of patients are uninsured, and no one is ever turned away. Funding for this project will help to cover the expense of treating patients.
Family Care/Women Care-Oral Services for Women in Recovery Year 3: $90,000 (Dental)
Family Care Health Centers has partnered with Recovery Point Charleston to offer preventative and restorative oral health services to Recovery Point residents. Based in Kanawha County, these residents will have access to dental cleanings, x-rays, fillings, root canals, crowns, and dentures.
Cabin Creek Health Systems-Cabin Creek Smiles! Oral Health Program: $75,000 (Dental)
The Cabin Creek Smiles! Program provides individuals of all ages with appropriate oral health services designed to improve their quality of life and restore their smile. Funding will support patients who cannot afford out of pocket costs receive the oral health services they so desperately need, such as fillings, crowns, partials, and dentures.
West Virginia Oral Health Coalition-Smiles Across West Virginia: $40,000 (Dental)
Funding will support dentists and programs working collaboratively to provide preventative/restorative care to adults in Boone, Fayette, Kanawha, Lincoln, and Putnam counties. School-based dental programs, dentists, and programs working collaborative to provide dental sealants to the children residing in this same footprint will also be supported.
Heart and Hand Outreach Ministries, Inc.-Elevator Project: $50,000 (Emergency Aid)
Heart and Hand provides basic needs assistance in the form of free food, clothing, housewares, utility and rent assistance, diapers, work boots and shoes, holiday food, and gifts for low income families in Kanawha and Putnam Counties. Funding for this project will provide a much needed elevator and enable expansion of the programming, events, and volunteer opportunities with safer access to Heart and Hand’s South Charleston location’s 8,000 square foot basement.
Just for Kids-Emergency Funds for Families and the Center: $5,000 (Emergency Aid)
Funding for this project will support emergency needs of families whose children have disclosed criminal child abuse. Funding will aid families with emergency utility bills, rent, food, and medical needs, as well as meet repair needs for Just for Kids’ Fayette County location. Repair needs include plumbing, electrical, and other infrastructure issues.
Mission West Virginia (MWV) Carry On: $20,000 (Emergency Aid)
Funding for this project will allow Mission West Virginia to assist relative and foster caregivers in Boone, Clay, Lincoln, and Putnam Counties with covering the costs of basic necessities for the youth in their care. This emergency assistance will help alleviate some of the strain on caregivers’ household budgets so those funds can be directed to food and shelter. Examples of items provided will include personal care items such as toiletries, haircuts, and clothing; and recreational costs such as team fees and lessons.
YWCA Sojourner’s Shelter for Homeless Women & Families: $30,000 (Emergency Aid)
YWCA Sojourner’s Shelter for Homeless Women & Families provides shelter and services 365 days each year to approximately 700 single women, women with children, custodial fathers, veterans, and intact families in Kanawha, Boone, and Clay counties. Funds will be used to help remove housing barriers which prevent permanent housing, as well as other housing necessities. Funds will also assist with the replacement of equipment and technology that interferes with provision of Sojourner’s services.
Manna Meal, Inc.-Kitchen updates and donations efficiency: $33,250 (Emergency Aid)
Manna Meal assists in alleviating food insecurity in Kanawha County by providing two balanced meals each day and offering emergency pantry bags to neighbors in need. Funding will be used to update kitchen equipment that is crucial for year-round daily operations, as well as aid in the purchase of a cargo van for the transportation of area donations and food items from statewide food banks and other partners.
Pollen8, Inc.-Food Support for Pollen8, Inc., Programs: $10,000 (Emergency Aid)
Pollen8 is committed to growing, feeding, and teaching people who face social barriers such as substance abuse and homelessness due to poverty. Funding will support feeding Capitol YouthBuild participants in a partnership with KISRA; hiring a food preparation employee for the Appalachian Academy (a Pollen8 program); and decreasing Café Appalachia’s operational expenses.
Upper Kanawha Valley Sports Activity Center- Booker T. Washington Community Center Youth, Homeless, and Substance Abuse Project: $26,550 (Emergency Aid)
The Upper Kanawha Valley Sports Activity Center, located at the Booker T. Washington Community Center in London, provides families in Kanawha, Fayette, and Clay Counties with afterschool mentoring, life-skill classes for youth, feeding programs for the elderly and those experiencing homelessness, recovery assistance for individuals facing substance abuse, youth and adult athletic programs, and other cultural activities. Funding from this grant will be used for Center upgrades including restroom renovations, the replacement of aged kitchen equipment, the installation of new exterior doors, and the installation of a new heating system.
YWCA of Charleston-Racial Justice Program-Changing Hearts and Minds: $15,000 (Special Initiative)
The Racial Justice Program increases local capacity to mitigate the effects and to understand the root causes of racism. The program works to break down barriers created by bias to help business leaders, school administrators, and political leaders within Boone, Clay, and Kanawha counties shift their thinking. Funding will support training, outreach through Conversation Cafes, and the annual Race to End Racism – a conscious–raising event celebrating communities of color in Charleston.
Kanawha Valley Council on Philanthropy (KVCOP)-West Side of Charleston Community Initiative: $25,000 (West Side Place-Based Initiative)
This distribution will support collaboratively funded projects on Charleston’s West Side. The KVCOP is made up of several area Grantmakers, working together to leverage investments. Funds raised in 2019 support 2020 projects.
The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club-MAKESHOP Appalachia: $28,000 (West Side Place-Based Initiative)
MAKESHOP Appalachia: Entrepreneurship Workshops are a technology and design entrepreneurship- focused program, free for underserved youth ages 8-18 on Charleston’s West Side. These 48 workshops will give sixty youth a creative outlet to develop coding and design digital skills and develop a community based projects. Projects developed in the workshops will be shared at an Idea Festival and Community Pitch Competition.
Coalfield Development Corporation-West Side WRAPS: $48,500 (West Side Place-Based Initiative)
WRAPS identifies people eager to work and provide experience, training, support, and connections. For six months, trainees are paid $9 per hour for 30 hours per week of: certificate trainings, work, and personal development mentorship based on twelve dimensions of personal and professional success. As trainees progress to internships and employment with members of our Employer Advisory Board, they are provided personal development support for and additional six months.
Bible Center Church-The Maker’s Center: $15,000 (West Side Place-Based Initiative)
The Maker’s Center engages mentors who will inspire creativity using cutting-edge technology, a fully- equipped workshop, and an art studio. Kanawha County students, recovery program participants, and local residents will have access to various technology including 3D printing, augmented & virtual reality, and robotics to dream, learn, innovate, and create. Funding will support next-level technology, shop equipment, and art supplies.
West Side Neighborhood Association-Luna Park Historic District Signage & Art: $18,000 (West Side Place-Based Initiative)
Through this project, residents of Luna Park Historic District will engage in planning and making design decisions for unique signage and public art, which leverages and promotes the community’s history and cultural distinctiveness in order to strengthen the district’s identity as a desirable place to live. Phase 1 activities include: the development of public educational materials on the history of Luna Park, outreach to and education of local residents, the creation and dissemination of positive neighborhood stories, and the creation of a locally led steering committee to guide the project and finalize design decisions.
The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation is grateful to our community of generous donors who make these and other grants possible. The programs and work approved for third quarter 2019 distributions are supported by the following funds: Anonymous-Dental, Anonymous- Emergency Aid, Selma Drennen, James F. Duncan, Lloyd, Jr. & Margaret B. Erhard, Les & Verna Evans, Brent B. Galyean, General BB&T, General City National Bank, Fred Haddad- General, Vernon B. “Bucky” Harris, George & Patty Herscher, J. W. Jr & Gabrielle P. Hubbard, Blanche E. Jacobson, Dorothy M. & Charles N. Jardin, Raleigh & Rita Jimison, Lowenstein #2, Stanley Lowenstein, Lillian M. Mairs, L. K. & Elizabeth F. Marmet, Nathan & Sarah Maslow, Alfred & Lucy W. McClung, Mary S. Moses, Peyton #1, Pritchard #1, Public Health Nursing, George & Josephine Rogers, and L. Newton & Katherine S. Thomas.
