The Columbia Foundation Grants $182,500 To Howard County Nonprofits

The Columbia Foundation recently distributed grants totaling $182,500 to 22 local charitable organizations, including:



Human Services Grants

The 11 human services grants total $112,000 and will help support groups addressing some of the more critical concerns of the community, including family issues, employment for the disadvantaged and homelessness.

Abilities Network - $6,100 to establish a new Parent to Parent program that will match "veteran" parents of autistic children with parents newly referred to this organization, providing support to individuals with disabilities and their families.

Crisis & Support Center of Howard County - $50,000 to support the establishment of a comprehensive and centralized multi-service center for individuals, families and children in crisis.

FISH of Howard County - $4,000 for emergency funding for food, rent, fuel, or medical assistance to individuals and families in need.

Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center, Inc. - $4,800 to support the Tutorial Improvement Program, a year-round classroom at a local motel offering educational resources to homeless children.

HCC Educational Foundation for the Mediation & Conflict Resolution Center - $8,500 to develop a volunteer program to provide mediation services to Howard County residents.

Howard County General Hospital New Life, New Parents - $5,000 to expand the New Life, New Parents Warm line, a parent support telephone service for Howard County residents.

Humanim - $12,000 to acquire equipment to support Humanim's expanding job skills training for brain injured and mentally ill individuals.

Ready at Five - $4,850 to develop an Activity Box Series and Instruction Guide for parents and caregivers of children under five to help promote their healthy growth and development.

ReVisions Behavioral Health Systems - $1,500 to purchase exercise and fitness equipment for a local facility of this program for the severely mentally ill.

Serenity Center - $1,650 to fund a babysitting service for parents attending 12-step addiction recovery meetings.

The Volunteer Center Serving Howard County - $13,600 to help fund the operation of this county-wide volunteer clearinghouse.



Arts & Cultural Grantees

Five arts and cultural organizations were awarded a total of $46,500.

Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts - $6,000 to foster the continued development of the Young Columbian's theatrical group and their pro-bono performances.

Columbia Festival of the Arts - $30,000 to support this popular, annual celebration of the arts.

Howard Community College Educational Foundation, Inc./The Rep Stage Company - $7,000 to support the company's 2002-2003 season as well as its Actors Summer Institute.

Howard County Center of African-American Culture - $2,000 to help cover production costs of both an audio and video "tour" of the Center.

Hua-Sha Chinese Dance Center Inc. - $1,500 to help underwrite performances of the "Chinese Cultural Show."



Education & Community Services Grants

The six grants in this category totaled $24,000.

Animal Advocates of Howard County - $1,500 to purchase education materials to support and expand the "humane education initiative" in public schools.

Conexiones, Inc. - $10,000 of seed funding, to help produce a bi-lingual Spanish newsletter and to help establish a scholarship fund.

The First Tee of Howard County - $5,000 to help fund the construction of a classroom facility.

Friends of the Patapsco Valley and Heritage Greenway, Inc. - $3,500 to bring a traveling exhibit to three Howard County locations, to collect historical stories and to initiate community storytelling.

Maryland Cooperative Extension Howard County Master Gardeners- $1,500 to help purchase training-support equipment to help Master Gardeners expand their outreach efforts.

Preservation Howard County - $2,500 to support production of the Endangered Sites Project and Resource Guide for Howard County.

The Foundation also granted $185,500 to an additional 31 Howard County nonprofits during its earlier grant cycle in January of this year, bringing the 2002 total granted to $368,000.

Established in 1969, The Columbia Foundation raises, manages and distributes funds to support Howard County nonprofits that address human services, arts and culture, education and community affairs concerns.