Friday, September 16, 2011
Staff report
Warren
Directors of The Raymond John Wean Foundation have awarded grants totaling more than $150,000 to seven area organizations committed to improving early- childhood education, job training, nonprofit-agency collaboration and education.
The latest round of grants, approved by the directors of The Raymond John Wean Foundation at a meeting this month, reflect the foundation’s overall mission of improving the lives of residents of the Mahoning Valley by strengthening existing organizations and urging collaboration when possible, said Jeff Glebocki, foundation president.
A $96,697 grant to Community Solutions Association of Warren continues support to the organization’s early-childhood programs. The new grant will allow Community Solutions Association to bring its SPARK program to 4-year-olds in the Willard and Jefferson elementary schools in Warren. SPARK engages parents in the preparation of their 4-year-old children for kindergarten.
Parents and SPARK teachers work together on various key concepts that will help students be more successful when they enter kindergarten. Community Solutions Association has been operating a SPARK program in Warren since 2009, and research shows that students who participated in the SPARK program perform better than those who did not.
The Raymond John Wean Foundation awarded $10,000 to H.A.P.P.Y. Homes to continue its work with educating in-home daycare providers about best practices.
Another group interested in educating others, Hard Hatted Women, also received a $10,000 grant to help support its programs intended to help women end the cycle of poverty by educating them about various nontraditional career opportunities.
The grant will be used to support the organization’s Tradeswoman TOOLS programming in Trumbull County. The program seeks to introduce women to explore high-paying and high-skilled careers that may be unfamiliar to them.
Other grants included: $10,000 to SMARTS, a group that offers quality art- education classes to children in Youngstown; $17,500 to United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley and United Way of Trumbull County for a facilitated exploration of consolidation plans; $3,740 to Heritage Ohio for conducting workshops for how to use tax credits for historic preservation; and $5,000 to The Foundation Center to help provide resources for nonprofit organizations.