Members of the York community helped York County Community Foundation (YCCF) continue to advance its vision to create a vibrant York County by awarding 10 grants to nonprofits totaling $58,985.
These grants are part of a new grant making program started this year by YCCF, changing its competitive grant making by inviting members of the community to evaluate grants of $6,000 or less from the Fund for York County and the Hahn Home Fund for Embracing Aging. Beginning in January, YCCF invited volunteer grant readers from the larger community to read, score and select which grants to fund to get the perspectives of a broader, more diverse audience.
Grant readers reviewed all applications received during this round of funding and awarded $35,985 from the Fund for York County and $23,000 from Embracing Aging.
Fund for York County grant recipients include:
- Hanover Area YMCA for the Early Learning Center Literacy Program, which focuses on providing young learners with quality language and literacy materials and an enriched language arts curriculum with a focus on hands-on-learning.
- Byrnes Health Education Center for digital health education to help more students gain knowledge to make better, healthier choices for themselves in a safe way during COVID-19.
- United Way of York County for to expand FOCUS reading initiatives, including Early Literacy Read to Me Challenge, Early Literacy 100 Book Challenge, and Reading Ready Corners.
- YMCA of York and York County to purchase high-quality items for the YMCA’s child development programs at its downtown York location and others.
- Communities In Schools of Pennsylvania for a Graduation Coach at William Penn High School to work with juniors and seniors to provide individualized pathways to graduation and beyond.
- Young Thinkers of York, Inc. for the GEAR (Gaining Early Access to Robotics) Project, which uses robotics and engineering activities and projects to prepare our York City students for a lifetime of interest in science and technology.
Embracing Aging grant recipients include:
- Hospice & Community Care for a community initiative to strengthen end-of-life care in York County with a goal of increasing palliative, hospice and bereavement care utilization and enhance quality of life of York citizens facing serious illness.
- York County Food Bank for the expansion of its Senior Food Box Program to include home delivery services for those who have no way to retrieve the box at a separate location.
- Crispus Attucks Association for an Embracing Cultural Diversity: Spanish-American Multicultural Resource Center (SAMRC) and Crispus Attucks York Active Living Center (ALC) Partnership to help aging adults learn, network and empower each other while enhancing their quality of life by celebrating our society’s diversity.
- PennCares Support Services for Older Adults and Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Mini Series Training Program that focuses on how older adults raising grandchildren can learn the generational differences they will endure together, including professionals gaining insight.
Community grant readers are members of the community who are at least 18 years old, reside in York County, and are not employed by a nonprofit agency serving York County. They participated in grant evaluation training held by the community foundation, and used an online system to read and score the grants.
“We are excited about the growth of the community grants program, especially in such an unusual year. The 53 community grant readers who volunteered for Round 2 stepped up to help our community at a time when it really made a difference,” said Lise Levin, Vice President of Community Development at YCCF. “We had grant readers from 12 different zip codes in York County in Round 2, and each person brought their own experiences, expertise, and insight to the process. Thank you for volunteering your time to make York County more vibrant!”
These community volunteers made the decisions about which submitted grant applications received funding. The readers carefully reviewed each grant application, deliberated its merits, and scored it using a standard scoresheet. The scores were aggregated and grants were awarded to those with the highest scores.
Each of the funded community grant applications falls into the categories funded by YCCF’s Fund for York County and Embracing Aging.
Fund for York County focuses on:
- Education for disadvantaged youth
- Workforce development
- Downtown revitalization in York County cities and boroughs
- Neighborhood revitalization in York City
Embracing Aging focuses on programs and projects serving York Countians age 50 and older.
People interested in becoming a community grant reader for 2021 can learn more at www.yccf.org.
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York County Community Foundation creates a vibrant York County by engaging donors, providing community leadership, and investing in high-impact initiatives while building endowment for future generations. York County Community Foundation holds more than 575 endowed funds and assists donors and nonprofits in reaching their charitable goals. The Community Foundation granted $6.7 million in 2019 throughout York County and beyond, and stewards approximately $165 million in assets.
