In November, The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) board of directors approved $154,000 in grants to Central Oregon nonprofits, including a $20,000 grant to Oregon Community Food System Network for year one of three to deliver training, program coordination and capacity building support to a network of organizations partnering to address farm and food system issues statewide. In total, Central Oregon grants contributed to more than $3.6 million awarded by OCF statewide.
In addition to the grant to the Oregon Community Food System Network, grants awarded during the recent fall grant cycle in Central Oregon include the following:
· A Circle of Friends, Oregon, Sisters; $20,000 for year one of two to strengthen and expand youth mentoring programs in Sisters and their sustainability.
· CASA of Central Oregon, Bend; $20,000 for a second and final year to build organizational capacity to advocate for abused and neglected children.
· Central Oregon Environmental Center, Bend; $5,000 for a third and final year for a development associate and consultant services, to increase support for environmental education and advocacy.
· Children’s Forest of Central Oregon, Bend, $5,000 for a second and final year for the Nature and Health Initiative, a series of nature and school-based programs for youth and their families with the goal of improving health in Central Oregon.
· La Pine Community Health Center, La Pine; $15,000 to improve the health and eating habits of high-risk, low-income patients in La Pine, Gilchrist, and Christmas Valley through a program that combines vouchers for fruits and vegetables with nutrition education programming.
· Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette, Portland, $26,000 to build and equip two additional exam rooms at the Bend Health Center with the intent to increase reproductive health care services for lower-income women and families in Crook, Deschutes, Jefferson and Klamath counties.
· Sisters Science Club, Sisters, $10,000 for a third and final year for the Seed to Table project to provide nutrition science education and access to fresh, unprocessed produce to students and their families in the Sisters School District.
· Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Warm Springs, $10,000 for a third and final year to support a development director for KWSO Radio, a noncommercial radio station owned by the Tribe with all of its programs produced locally.
· Museum at Warm Springs, Warm Springs; $23,000 to hire a trained archivist to digitize archives and collections, to help preserve and facilitate access to key Tribal information, including language and cultural traditions.
“The Oregon Community Foundation team of staff members and volunteers is excited to see the progress of these projects that work to improve health and human services for people of all ages in Central Oregon,” said Cheryl Puddy, associate program officer/regional coordinator for The Oregon Community Foundation in Central and Eastern Oregon. “The valuable services these nonprofits provide in our communities is a true reflection of OCF’s goal to improve lives across Oregon and we are proud to partner with them.”
For full lists of grants awarded in Central Oregon and around the state or other information about OCF initiatives, visit www.oregoncf.org.
The mission of The Oregon Community Foundation is to improve life for all Oregonians through the power of philanthropy. OCF works with individuals, families, businesses and organizations to create charitable funds to support the community causes they care about. Through these funds OCF awarded more than $100 million in grants and scholarships in 2015. For more information about OCF, please visit: http://www.oregoncf.org.
