Providing technical assistance and capacity building funds to an agency providing child protective team services, medical foster care and sexual assault examination services in Pinellas County, Florida. The organization has developed a logic model with criteria to effectively integrate resources into a new model of planning and strategic thinking for long-term success.

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A capital challenge grant to a new central service center for investigation of child abuse in Hillsborough County. The facility, based on a national model, will create a child-friendly environment where professionals from all areas of child protection and advocacy work to offer a collaborative approach to case management to achieve the best protection for children and meet the legal, medical and emotional needs of children and families where there has been abuse.

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A $175,000 capital challenge grant for construction of the Children’s Studio Gallery serving the Highlands Plateau region of North Carolina and $25,000 for the creation of a student teaching and mentoring program for the organization’s young artist population. The Children’s Studio will house the Young Artists Program and display youth artwork. The mentoring pilot program will encourage the artistic growth of youth and university art students. The grant honors the memory of Ruth Eckerd and her interest in young people in Highlands.

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This two-year award provides organizational development support to this all volunteer program supplying over 11,250 low-income youth with new and quality used school clothing in Pinellas County over the last three years. The organization receives donations of clothing and goods from the community, supporters, program partners and volunteers and operates, with the support of the local Macy’s store, a new 5,000 square foot store to better serve their clients. The award supports the search and hiring of an executive director.

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A capital challenge grant for the renovation of the Inez Martin Child Care Center serving children from low-income, working families.  Providing child care and early education services, the planned renovations will allow the agency to increase the number served by the facility from 60 to approximately 100 children.

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Funding Florida PRIDE, the state approved scholarship funding organization and distributing K-12 scholarships within Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.  The program enables lower income parents who are actively involved with their child’s education to move the child to another school, public or private, when their current school assignment is not affording the best learning environment.  The grant matches an award by the Walton Family Foundation to support the efficient administration of scholarship dollars.  Scholarships are funded by corporate tax credits.

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Awarding additional funding over three years for Project SUCCESS at the Bowers-Whitley Career Center.  The school offers vocational and career education options to students not attending other public high schools.  The scholarship funds provide students the financial ability to complete their high school diploma, including the purchase of bus passes, special materials, tools, testing and certification costs, and support to pursue post-secondary education opportunities.  The first year of this pilot program was highly successful and surpassed goals with substantial increases in attendance, graduation, pursuit of post-secondary education and employment.

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Funding a three-year commitment to expand the existing Technology Education Program into Childs Park, a predominately low-income community in St. Petersburg.  The South County Council and Juvenile Welfare Board are collaborating with eight local faith-based organizations to develop community learning environments as a means toward lasting, positive change in this neighborhood.  The Technology Education Program provides youth with progressive education in computer skills from basic computer operation to advanced computer programs and includes an IC3 Certification for those who complete all phases of the program.  The grant will complete the foundation’s goal replicating the successful model throughout Pinellas County by bringing the program to scale in 16 locations.

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Providing one fully endowed scholarship to this tuition-free, faith-based, private middle school for boys, ages 10-14, from low-income families. Nativity Prep is a member of the Nativity Schools Network, following the model of an inner-city school teaching ethics, leadership skills and traditional academics. The school targets average to above average children who have been identified as high risk and attempts to help those children who have the highest potential for success but face the greatest risk of being lost in the system. The school pledges it will be available as a resource to the child throughout his entire education.

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A capital challenge grant for replacement of the original Paws-On children’s zoo with a series of exhibits that will create additional educational opportunities for at-risk children as well as provide visiting students and families with positive youth development experiences. The exhibits will stress educational and conservation themes and be designed to provide an engaging, comfortable, safe space for families to interact.

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Funding the development over three years of an evaluation tool to measure the effectiveness of the SquashSmarts after-school sports and educational program for at-risk youth. The program combines academic and sports mentoring in order to promote self-esteem, discipline, and leadership through academic, athletic and personal achievement. The final evaluation tool can be utilized by other sports/academic programs as, at this time, there is no uniform method for evaluating the effectiveness of such programs.

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This grant establishes the Cby25 Initiative office which will provide technical assistance, training and support to existing and future Cby25 sites.  Specifically, the grant will be allocated to existing Cby25 sites in Hillsborough and Brevard counties and development of programming in Pinellas County.  The Cby25 Initiative office will also coordinate all activities necessary to respond to requests for technical assistance and training from all other locations in Florida interested in utilizing the Cby25 model to develop or strengthen their programs serving youth transitioning from foster care.  The foundation’s goal is to directly impact 60% of all youth in foster care and 40% of all cross-system youth in Florida and ultimately, to secure permanent systemic change for these populations.
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Assisting the Florida Department of Children and Families to improve its quality assurance program to address critical issues for children in care, ensure they are moving toward permanency and develop a model for foster parent recruitment, retention and support that can be used by local community based care agencies to increase the number of foster homes that support permanency outcomes for children.
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Funding the year-one implementation of the Connected by 25 project in Brevard County for youth transitioning out of foster care. The Cby25 Brevard Project will provide enhanced services to foster youth ages 13-25. The implementation plan is based on extensive work completed in the environmental scan and strategic planning process that involved six separate focus groups where young adults and community members identified barriers and solutions in the six areas of critical need. CBC of Brevard is the single point of organizational accountability for developing and managing the system of care to achieve desired outcomes for children and families in Brevard County.
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Ongoing support for year three to focus on stabilizing and supporting program management and operational function. Cby25 continues to solidify the educational program successes and sustainability, employment programs, financial literacy, asset development and the Teen Court Project. All of the program strategies are being operated in collaboration with Jim Casey, our national partner, and several other funding and provider partners.

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Offering a three-year, challenge grant supporting youth aging out of foster care and their ability to participate as fully as possible in the dependency court process. As to Florida, this grant supports activities that connect and train interested local and state bar associations to serve youth aging out of foster care and to work through key, youth-serving organizations in the state. The goal is to better hear the voices of foster youth in courtrooms. The ABA effort stems from its “Youth At Risk Initiative” launched in 2006 under the auspices of the ABA Commission on Youth At Risk and is consistent with the goals of the Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006 (S. 3525; Public Law 109-288).

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Funding creation of the Connect 2BeU program, a two-year pilot project designed to target teen girls, ages 13-17, in the foster care system. This program adopts an existing evidence-based intervention specifically to this population to provide educational and mentoring programs focusing on violence prevention, self-esteem, positive peer relationships and girl’s health. Connect 2BeU is designed to offer support to teen girls who are in the foster care system as well as those in various stages of preparation, serving as an enhancement to Connected by 25 for this group for independent living.
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Funding the coordinator position for the Delaware Girls Initiative (DGI).  The sole mission of DGI is to advocate for a continuum of services that ensures gender-specific resources and programs for all girls at risk in Delaware.  The program is committed to increasing public awareness and support for the need for gender-responsive programs and the recognition of issues faced by at-risk girls and girls now within the juvenile justice system.  It is estimated that the program will impact 1,000 girls ranging in age from birth to 18 years.
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