10 nonprofits receive nearly $106,000 in Community Impact Grants
The 10 nonprofits receiving Community Impact Grants from the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque this year are tackling some of Eastern Iowa’s most pressing challenges.
They are mitigating hunger through food assistance, supporting young adults in transition from foster care to independent living, helping survivors of domestic abuse start new lives, and much more.
The Community Foundation is proud to support their work with $105,900 in grants that will bridge funding gaps for critical programs.
“Strengthening nonprofits is core to our work,” says Gretchen Corcoran, director of nonprofit relations and grantmaking for the Community Foundation. “The Community Impact Grant program is one of the tools we can use to address an array of issues while helping meet funding needs for nonprofits.”
This year’s Community Impact Grant recipients are:
- Centrally Rooted, which will use its grant to support its Community Brain Health Partnership and help youth, families and adults develop practical brain health skills that are accessible before a crisis occurs. Programing is delivered by partnering organizations MercyOne, the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Dubuque, the Dubuque Dream Academy, Moms Connect Dubuque and Opening Doors.
- DeWitt Referral Center, which will use its grant to increase its capacity for providing food, personal hygiene items, infant care items and crisis assistance for Clinton County residents in need.
- Dubuque Community YMCA/YWCA Victim Service Shelter, which will use its grant will help provide safe, stable emergency housing to domestic violence survivors throughout the city of Dubuque and the largely rural Tri-State region.
- ElevateHER Network, which will use its grant to support Becoming HER: A Girls’ Empowerment Experience, a community-based youth empowerment initiative developed by the nonprofit to support the social, emotional, academic and leadership development of girls ages 6 to 18 in Dubuque County.
- Friends of St. Mary’s, which will use its grant to support culinary certificate programs for up to 24 students in partnership with Northeast Iowa Community College. Students will receive free tuition, an hourly stipend, and free childcare during classes.
- Mindful Minutes, which will use its grant to support its Preventive Mental Wellness & Community Connections Initiative, a program to support emotional regulation, focus, resilience, positive peer interaction and healthy coping skills among youth. The initiative includes partnerships with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Dubuque and St. Mark Youth Enrichment.
- Moms Connect Dubuque, which will use its grant to help increase leadership capacity at a critical time of growth and community demand for its connection, support and skill-building opportunities.
- My GEAR Outreach, which will use its grant to fund apartment welcome kits that help young adults mitigate the financial and emotional crises of transitioning from foster care to independent living. The kits contain essential items like cookware, dinnerware, bed linens, bath sets and home hygiene supplies.
- Opening Doors (pictured above), which will use its grant to support its Stability & Support Initiative, a comprehensive, trauma-informed program for women and their children experiencing homelessness that is woven into programming at Teresa Shelter, Maria House, Francis Apartments and Aftercare.
- River Bend Food Reservoir, which will use its grant to support the Dubuque Core Collective, a system to coordinate the fundraising of smaller local food pantries.
Community Impact Grants don’t just help fund programs. They help nonprofits build capacity to reach more people who will benefit from their work.
“The need for food assistance in our community has grown,” says Nancy Renkes, president and CEO of the River Bend Food Reservoir. “Relieving the pantries from the burden of raising funds and reducing the amount of food they have to purchase frees up their time and attention to focusing on providing meals. The Core Collective saves time and money, helping our partners get to the heart of their mission.”
This year’s grants are estimated to impact nearly 24,000 lives across the Dubuque region, based on figures provided by grantees.
Community Impact Grants are open to nonprofits serving Dubuque, Clayton and Clinton counties. After narrowing down the pool of applicants, finalists were invited to make video pitches to the grant committee. The Foundation offered free one-on-one coaching to finalists to help them strengthen their videos and build skills to support all of their grant-seeking efforts.
This year, the Community Foundation received 39 applications totaling more than $600,000. As the Community Impact Endowment Fund grows, it pays out a greater amount each year to help address critical issues.
"The number of requests we receive speaks to the unmet needs in the community as well as the funding that nonprofits require to help meet those needs," Corcoran says. "When people give to the Community Impact Fund, it directly impacts nonprofits and helps close the funding gap."
To learn more about the Community Impact Grants program, visit dbqfoundation.org/communityimpact.