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Grant Processes Open

New Haven, CT (December 5, 2017) - The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the region’s permanent endowment and largest grantmaker to local nonprofits, announces two grant opportunities with application deadlines in January.

The Community Fund for Women & Girls is accepting applications for the 2018 grants cycle through Thursday, January 18, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. Grants are awarded to gender-specific initiatives that are intentional, equitable and well-informed.  All interested applicants are required to contact The Community Foundation before applying.Learn more here.

The Quinnipiac River Fund, a component fund at The Community Foundation, is accepting applications through Monday, January 22, 2018. The Fund makes grants for projects designed to benefit the environmental quality of the Quinnipiac River, the New Haven Harbor, and surrounding watersheds. Approximately $100,000 in grants is awarded each spring from the Fund.Learn more here.

You can Help Hurricane Maria Survivors in New Haven. Please Spread the Word...

U.S. Citizens whose lives have been severely disrupted by Hurricane Maria, who have lost their homes, their jobs, and in some cases their loved ones, are arriving in New Haven every day. These fellow U.S. citizens come here because of a family or a historic connection to our city. Like most disaster victims they arrive with few resources.

JUNTA for Progressive Action is acting as the Central Resource Center for Victims of Hurricane Maria who have evacuated to New Haven. Volunteer help is needed!

HOW YOU Can Help:

Option 1: If you are bilingual (English/Spanish), feel comfortable speaking on the phone JUNTA needs your help. Basic computer skills are helpful but not required for this volunteer opportunity. If you want to volunteers click on this link to share information about your availability.*

Option 2: If you are not bilingual, you can help by sharing this information with people you know who might be able to assist. Anyone you know who is able to help is more likely to help if they are asked to do so by someone they know.

Option 3: Of course, anyone who wants to help by donating funds is welcome to make a tax deductible donation to JUNTA. To donate: online click here. If you prefer to send a check in the mail: JUNTA for Progressive Action 169 Grand Avenue, New Haven, CT 06513

Option 4: Donate winter: coats, sweaters, scarfs, hats and gloves, as well as winter-appropriate shoes for children, women and men. Also needed new bedding: specifically blankets, comforters and pillows.

* Thank you to the City of New Haven for creating this volunteer matching page to help Junta and the people who want to volunteer.

JUNTA for Progressive Action is New Haven's oldest Spanish speaking social service agency. JUNTA provides numerous services to disaster victims, including registering for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance and accessing resources to meet critical needs including SNAP, food, medical care, insurance, emergency transportation, clothing, furniture, energy assistance, English classes, computer classes, diapers, legal services, children’s after school program, cell phones, assistance for the elderly, and translation. 

Our screens and feeds are filled with news and images of black Americans dying or being brutalized. A brief and yet still-too-long list: Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Eric Garner, Renisha McBride. The image of a white police officer straddling a black teenager on a lawn in McKinney, Tex., had barely faded before we were forced to grapple with the racially motivated shooting in Charleston, S.C...

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/24/magazine/racisms-psychological-toll.html?_r=2

FISH of Greater New Haven strengthened the safety net for local veterans this past year through a new partnership with the West Haven VA. FISH, which delivers fresh food to the homebound, now also provides food to veterans who recently moved into supportive housing.

The new service targeting formerly homeless veterans is the latest example of how community partnerships enable this small nonprofit to have a big impact.

“We helped 1,100 people last year with one full-time staff-member,” says Executive Director Jilan Crowley. “The magic of how FISH works is through all of our volunteers and partner agencies.” Continue reading . . .

Over four decades, Chapel Haven has gained an international reputation for running innovative programs that teach adults with developmental and social disabilities how to live independent lives. Now the pioneering school is building on that success with an expansion of its campus in New Haven’s Westville neighborhood. 

“It is amazing how the community embraces our adults,” says Chapel Haven Vice President Julia Isenberg. “When our adults go to the store, they get hugs across the counter. It’s a really beautiful relationship.” Continue reading.

Generic unconscious bias training and its umbrella intervention, diversity training, have been around for decades, but they have still failed to close the leadership gender gap. In their article Why Diversity Programs Fail, Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev argue that this is because too much diversity training is mandatory, prompting resentment and defensiveness from managers. “Trainers tell us that people often respond to compulsory courses with anger and resistance—and many participants actually report more animosity toward other groups afterward,” they write...

http://www.leadingwomen.biz/blog/why-unconscious-bias-training-doesnt-close-the-gender-gap-gender-dynamics

By  JIM SCHAFFER 

At a time when mental health funding continues to fall short of meeting the need, Bridges remains more committed than ever to treating people, regardless of their income levels, who suffer from opioid addiction, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or other mental health disorders. 

“We look forward to further expansion of our healthcare system as we respond to increasing difficulties on the behavioral health horizon, including the opioid epidemic and rising suicide rates,” says Bridges President & CEO Barbara DiMauro. “While the continuing budget crisis in the state has been of great concern to us, our goal, as always, is to remain a premier provider of healthcare services over the next six decades, and beyond.” Continue reading . . .

If not for the ChildSight® program, thousands of school-aged children would struggle to see the words on the blackboard or in their books. The national program, working in 32 New Haven public schools, performs vision tests and delivers free prescription eyewear to children in need. Continue reading.

The environmental movement has long been divided along race and class lines. Perhaps there is some momentum to change all of that in the face of the desperate need for equity and people to be at the center of the sustainability agenda if we wish to build the movement necessary to effectively take on the challenge of climate change...

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2017/10/18/equity-core-principle-big-green-environmental-justice-nonprofits-try-align ;

Do you want to make a difference in your community? 
Join us at an orientation session for the 2018 Neighborhood Leadership Program.

Does the future of business center on integrating the twin goals of building a better world alongside growing profits?  With an increasing frequency, Americans are saying it should—with their wallets...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/morganstanley/2017/08/02/is-nextgen-changing-business-for-good/#3acd40d470b3

The Progreso Latino Fund (PLF), in partnership with a Latino-led global fundraising campaign, is sending emergency disaster relief to Puerto Rico and Mexico.

Every donation is part of a collective impact. Join us.

Hurricane Maria’s devastating landfall in Puerto Rico last month has left large areas of the island without power. Thousands of people continue to live in shelters and much of the population has limited access to fresh water and other basic necessities.

Also last month, Mexico suffered a massive earthquake that toppled buildings in and around Mexico City and killed and injured hundreds of people.

PLF is responding to these disasters with $17,500 to support nurses, firefighters, shelter providers and other first responders who are working on the ground.

PLF is supporting Puerto Rico through a $5,000 grant to the Hispanic Federation and a $10,000 grant to Hispanics in Philanthropy.

The grant to the Hispanic Federation is in conjunction with the New Haven relief effort led by State Rep. Juan Candelaria and Arte, Inc. Championed by “Hamilton” composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Hispanic Federation is designating 100 percent of its Hurricane Relief Fund to organizations working on the ground in Puerto Rico.

PLF has also given $10,000 to Hispanics in Philanthropy, which is in partnership with the Puerto Rico Community Recovery Fund at the Puerto Rico Community Foundation. The recovery fund is working with local Puerto Rican organizations that can respond to needs across the island. PLF is also giving Hispanics in Philanthropy $2,500 for disaster relief efforts in Mexico.

Hispanics in Philanthropy is providing a one-to-one match for all donations and is also designating 100% of the money raised to funding organizations that are on the ground working to meet the needs of people in the community.

Much more is needed for both for the emergency response and the longer-term rebuilding effort.

Every donation is part of a collective impact. Join us.

"Papi tiene muerte cerebral.”

I don’t know when my cousin originally sent the text, but it buzzed through to Connecticut from Puerto Rico’s battered communications towers last Sunday at 6:27 a.m. My uncle was brain dead.

“Hay que desconectarlo.”

The machines keeping him in a state resembling life could not undo the damage that had been done. Soon, they would let him pass.

At 78, my uncle had survived Hurricane Maria’s winds and the floods its rains unleashed. But the deadliest time in most hurricanes is after the storm passes. And for my uncle, the devastation of the island where he’d lived his whole life was too much to bear. A week and a half after Maria made landfall, he hanged himself at his ruined home...

https://ctviewpoints.org/2017/10/09/my-uncle-survived-hurricane-maria-despair-over-its-devastation-killed-him/ ;

After more than a decade of teaching classical chamber music to young children, Music Haven is seeing its first students about to graduate high school and go on to college. And the program continues to be a sought after as ever. 

“We consistently have thirty to forty kids on the waiting list,” says Executive Director Mandi Jackson. “We have a ninety percent retention rate. Once they come they tend to stay. It gives them not just a passion for music, but also an avenue to new opportunities.” Continue reading

Planned gifts are thoughtful and intentional charitable gifts that make an impact now and in the future. There is no one-size-fits-all planned giving solution because every donor has unique philanthropic goals and objectives. The Valley Community Foundation, a partner of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, launched a community-wide planned giving initiative in May 2017 called the Valley Gives Back™.

Chapel Haven is delighted to announce several upcoming events open to prospective parents. See below for more details and save your seat! If you are interested in Chapel Haven West, our Tucson, AZ-based campus program, please scroll down and register for an open house set for Veterans Day in Tucson.

This fall, there is a lot to see as Chapel Haven’s New Haven campus expansion has broken ground! Chapel Haven is underway with a multi-year campus expansion, with the ultimate goal of providing lifelong services to adults with social and developmental disabilities. Phase One of the project consists of construction of three new buildings, including a 32,500 SF building to house the REACH program, a new, state-of-the-art facility dedicated to aging services, allowing senior members of the community to continue living among friends and with independence, and a new welcome center. Read more about our expansion here

An early bird discount is available to families who apply to the REACH program before the winter holidays. Families who start the application process now and schedule a week visit before the end of 2017 can achieve a savings on the assessment that is a required part of the application process. Chapel Haven’s six-day visit gives applicants a chance to experience the program. Questions? Contact Christy Chandler in the Admissions Office at (203) 397-1714, x185, or cchandler@chapelhaven.org

Join us on these dates:

Tuesday, Oct. 17, 5-7 p.m. Join Chapel Haven for a parent-led discussion, “Moving Out and Making It: Life after High School.” Chapel Haven parents and students will share the factors they weighed as they looked at how to prepare their young adults for independence, including things that can be done during the high school years and their journey in looking at next-step programs. Join us at 5 p.m. to see life skills and dinner prep in action in the Chapel Haven apartment setting, then enjoy a light dinner and the parent panel.

Register here for Oct. 17 Evening Parent Mixer

Saturday, Nov. 11, 10 a.m. to noon, New Haven campus – Chapel Haven invites you to join us for a morning open house, which includes light breakfast, program overviews, campus tours, and the chance to mingle and chat with our parents and students.

This event takes place on a Saturday morning to help accommodate busy schedules.

Register here for Nov. 11 open house

Saturday, Dec. 9, 10 a.m. to noon – Holiday crafts workshop: Join us for a brief program overview of Chapel Haven, then make a holiday gift for a loved one with Chapel Haven’s UARTS, which will also offer unique, artisan products made by our students for sale for your holiday shopping! This event is free and open to all but pre-registration is kindly requested.

Register here for Dec. 9 open house

 Interested in Chapel Haven West, Tucson, AZ?

Chapel Haven drew more than 200 families and friends at its September 15 groundbreaking, celebrating a new chapter in Chapel Haven’s storied history.

Chapel Haven is underway with a multi-year campus expansion, with the ultimate goal of providing lifelong services to adults with social and developmental disabilities. Founded in 1972, Chapel Haven empowers 250 adults with a range of disabilities, from autism and Down Syndrome to Asperger Syndrome, to live independent and self-determined lives.

Among the featured speakers were State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, New Haven Mayor Toni Harp, Alderman Richard Furlow and Chapel Haven President Michael Storz, along with parents and adults. All attendees signed a ceremonial beam and toured the construction.

The event drew lots of media coverage. Click here to read a front-page story in the New Haven Register. The New Haven Independent also did a story. Click here to read the coverage in the New Haven Independent.

TV stations who covered the event included FoxNews 61. To see their coverage, click here

“I am so proud of Chapel Haven’s founding in 1972. We were the first agency of our kind to champion the idea that adults with disabilities can gain independent and live happy, productive lives,” Storz said. “With the expert help of SLAM architects and our building team, we are poised to become a pioneer once again with the planned addition of aging services and a complete transformation of our campus.”

Students Jamie Harberg and Andrew Burbank got the crowd singing along to songs from “Wicked” and “If I Had a Hammer.”

Chapel Haven was a pioneer when the agency was founded by two families on Chapel Street in New Haven in 1972, to help adults with disabilities move away from the protective wings of their parents and into a more independent, adult lifestyle. Fast forward 45 years and Chapel Haven has broken ground on a campus expansion that promises to be a national model in accommodating the changing needs of adults with disabilities as they age.

Dr. Fred Volkmar, a Chapel Haven board member and an internationally renowned expert in autism as the Irving B. Harris Professor at the Yale Child Study Center, said Chapel Haven is at the forefront.

“With earlier detection and treatment, many individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders are doing better overall, but often need continued support as they enter adulthood,” Dr. Volkmar said. “Chapel Haven has been a leader is providing such support to students interested in going on to college and adult independence.  It is one of the few programs around the country to offer comprehensive support for individuals and their families.”

Phase One consists of construction of three new buildings, including a new, 32,500 SF building to house the REACH program, where adults with developmental and social disabilities learn independent living, a welcome center, and a new, universally designed facility allowing those with significant life skills and medical needs to remain living among friends in a community they call home.

The project is being designed by S/L/A/M Collaborative & S/L/A/M Construction Services and owner’s representative Leland Torrence.

ABOUT CHAPEL HAVEN
Founded in 1972 in a house on Chapel Street, New Haven, CT, Chapel Haven is a nationally accredited transitional living program and approved private special education school with a mission of teaching adults with cognitive disabilities and social disabilities to live independent and productive lives. Chapel Haven has grown to serve more than 250 adults (18 years of age and older) in the residence and the community with three distinct programs; REACH, Asperger’s Syndrome Adult Transition (ASAT), and Chapel Haven West (Tucson, AZ). Read more at www.chapelhaven.org.

Since 1950, the New Haven Chorale has spread a joy and passion for choral music in Greater New Haven.

On October 7, 2017, it will hold an annual Gala to help it continue its mission bringing together community singers to present high-level, professionally-conducted choral music to the region. The evening event, “Direct from Las Vegas,” features The Edwards Twins, World-Famous Celebrity Impersonators, at the Pine Orchard Country Club in Branford, CT. Continue reading.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

From: The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven

SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED FROM MILTON FISHER FUND

Scholarships Awarded for Creativity and Innovation to 7; Honorable Mention to 7

New Haven, CT (September 20, 2017) - The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the region’s largest grantmaker and charitable endowment, announces the winners of the 2017 Milton Fisher Scholarship for Innovation and Creativity. A total of $128,000 in college scholarships (payable over four years of college) was awarded this year to 7 high school students who came up with distinctive solutions to problems faced by their schools, communities, families, and the world. In addition, a total of $3,500 in scholarships was awarded to 7 high school students receiving honorable mentions.

While each application submitted for consideration highlighted a creative project, scholarships were awarded to the candidates who demonstrated the greatest innovation and whose projects have the most potential impact. The winners were recognized for projects involving the arts, science, technology, and social action.

The Milton Fisher Scholarship for Innovation and Creativity was established in 2003 at The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven by the Reneé B. Fisher Foundation. This scholarship is not a traditional scholarship focused on rewarding academic achievement and addressing financial need.  Its specific goal is to reward and encourage innovative and creative problem-solving. High school juniors and seniors and college freshmen from Connecticut and the New York metropolitan area are eligible to apply. The application deadline for 2018 is April 30th; a complete of set of guidelines and a link to the online application can be found at www.rbffoundation.org and  www.cfgnh.org/scholarships. 

For more information, please email mfscholarship@gmail.com or contact Denise Canning at The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven at 203-777-7076.

Milton Fisher was born and educated in New York City and was a Connecticut resident from 1960 until his death in 2001. He was an attorney and an investment banker who also taught a unique course for adults called "Applied Creativity" for over 25 years. His deep interest in the roots of creativity, and the many exercises he developed to help people become more innovative and creative in their lives, also led him to write the book Intuition: How to Use it in your Life, which has been translated into several languages. Fisher also served on the boards of several public companies and wrote two books about Wall Street.  
 
The Milton Fisher Scholarship is one of dozens of scholarships administered through The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. Thanks to the generosity of three generations of donors, The Community Foundation awarded over $30 million in grants and distributions in 2016 from charitable assets of more than $530 million composed of hundreds of individually named funds. In addition to its grantmaking, The Community Foundation helps build a stronger community by taking measures to improve student achievement, create healthy families in New Haven, promote local philanthropy through www.giveGreater.org® and The Great Give®, and encourage better understanding of the region. The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven’s 20-town service area includes: Ansonia, Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Derby, East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Madison, Milford, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Orange, Oxford, Seymour, Shelton, Wallingford, West Haven and Woodbridge. For more information about The Community Foundation, visit www.cfgnh.org, find us on Facebook at www.facebook.org/cfgnh or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cfgnh. 

2017 Winners

Jack Adam (NYC iSchool, New York, NY) An adventurous street artist, Jack chose garbage as his canvas. His iconic signature tag — the stylized marker-drawn outline of a 1959 medium format Yashica-A camera and the words “Who Shot Who?” — began appearing in his neighborhood on hundreds of items discarded and left on the curb, sparking puzzlement, pleasure and conversations that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. His quirky street art offered his neighbors unexpected, new ways of interacting with each other and with urban space. Jack plans to study Art at Yale University.

Alexander Bohr (Coventry High School, Coventry, CT) Caring deeply about the need to raise awareness about environmental sustainability and the need for more healthy food in his high school cafeteria and local food pantries, Alexander addressed both issues simultaneously by building a solar-powered acquaponic geodesic dome at his school that will help educate and feed his community. He will study Environmental Science at the University of Connecticut.

Gavrielle Kamen (Georgetown Day School, Washington, DC). Convinced that empathy and communication are the building blocks of world peace, Gavrielle created “Middle East Skype Sessions,” an organization that facilitates conversations between teenagers in the U.S. and teenagers in Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Pakistan and Afghanistan. She will major in Performance Studies and Peace and Conflict Resolution, with a minor in Middle East Studies, at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Ana Larrazolo (Veterans Memorial High School, Brownsville, TX)  Despite the discrimination and hostility, widespread illiteracy, and tremendous poverty endured by the Mexican-American residents of the Rio Grande Valley where she lives, Ana knew that the region was also a site of vibrant creativity.  She founded an artist collective in South Texas, Artistas de la Frontera, to help poets, painters, photographers, muralists and others inspire and support one another through poetry slams, exhibits and a zine. She will study Acting at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Neal Soni (Staples High School, Westport, CT) After seeing his grandfather suffer from excruciating low back pain, Neal devoted himself to developing an ingenious process to reduce the scarring that often occurs with back surgery. Combining the use of hydrogels with modeling prototype spinal columns through 3-D printing, Neal’s innovative intervention could have revolutionary and global impact. He will be a high school senior in 2017-2018.

George Stefanakis (Bronx High School of Science, Bronx, NY) The distinctive mathematical model and unorthodox conceptual framework in computational science that George developed can pave the way for a potentially groundbreaking approach to resolving some obstacles to the development of a large-scale quantum computer. He will major in Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

William Yin (Greenwich High School, Greenwich, CT) Troubled that there was no user-friendly, low-cost diagnostic test for the early detection of atherosclerosis (the leading precursor to heart attacks and strokes and the leading cause of death worldwide), William filled this gap with a creative, life-saving device of his own design.  He developed an inexpensive, self-administered, tattoo-based biosensor patch resembling a Band-Aid® that can reliably detect arterial plaque build-up. He will study Bioengineering and Computer Science at Stanford University. 

2017 Honorable Mentions

Christopher Arrandale (Daniel Hand High School, Madison, CT) designed an innovative 3D printing curriculum for middle school students. He will be a high school senior in 2017-2018.

Melissa Gurzenda (St. Paul Catholic High School, Bristol, CT) invented a lap desk with a crank-powered light to help children in areas without electricity read and write at night. She will study Entrepreneurship at Bryan University.

Dana Joseph (Engineering and Science University Magnet School, West Haven, CT) created inventive classes called “Code Pink, Code Blue, Code You” to encourage girls to explore computer science. She will study Biomedical Engineering at Yale University. 

Jeffrey Richiez (Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology, New York, NY) developed software that helps teachers and guidance staff at his school do their jobs more efficiently.  He will study Computer Science at the State University of New York, New Paltz.

Elora Rosedale (Canton High School, Canton, CT) produced thoughtful chemotherapy companion bags to provide comfort and aid to patients going through chemotherapy.  She will attend the University of Hartford.

Kadir Sahin (Engineering and Science University Magnet School, West Haven, CT) developed an online, student-written publication to inform students city-wide of what is happening in all the high schools in the New Haven area and to give all students the chance to hone their skills as journalists and photographers.  He will be a high school senior in 2017-2018.

Skyler Szot (Farmington High School, Farmington, CT) designed and built durable turtle basking platforms that will enhance the health and wellbeing of the local turtle population while allowing park visitors to view the turtles. He will study Biomedical Engineering at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. 

To view this press release (with photos) online, visit https://www.cfgnh.org/MiltonFisher2016

HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

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