WCGMF Grants: Policy Research and Advocacy Grants

• 2001
• 2000

2001

$90,000	Children First Legacy Evaluation / Center for Assessment and Policy Development
To continue the evaluation of the Memorial Fund’s Children First Initiative following the close of its legacy phase.
$135,600	Community Conversations About Education / League of Women Voters of Connecticut Educational Fund
To support the League and its in-state partners in promoting civil dialogue on education issues, and to help more communities find common ground between the public and educators on which to build an action agenda.
$10,000	Connecticut Council for Philanthropy
Support for the Connecticut Giving Project, which aims to increase giving and volunteering throughout the state.
$133,350	Early Care and Education in Connecticut: Building the Constituency / Connecticut Voices for Children
To expand public information, advocacy, community outreach and citizen mobilization efforts aimed at improving Connecticut’s system of supports for young children.
$25,000	From Policy to Practice IV / Connecticut Association for Human Services
To organize an education policy leadership briefing and provide an opportunity for state and local officials to become better informed on the education topic selected by representatives of the group.
$77,500	Great Kids Connecticut Phase II / Connecticut State Library
To create an informational web site which is responsive to the needs of parents, caregivers and health care professionals of young children.
$10,000	International Festival of Arts and Ideas
To support "Mayday, 1970: Memory and History", part of a series of public discussions on educational issues.
$40,000	National Funding Collaborative on Violence Prevention
To sustain national public information, media and advocacy efforts promoting the prevention of violence in local communities and nationally.
$76,000	Parent Information & Advocacy Initiative/Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition (BCAC)
To continue activities in the areas of parent information, advocacy and empowerment with a new focus on class size and the education capital plan.
$20,000	Shared Steps: Collaborating for Early Childhood Education / Connecticut Association for Human Services
To provide support through Shared Steps to a collaborative of child care providers and other professionals and to help maintain the Child Care Fax and E-Mail Alert Network.
$35,000	The Social State of Connecticut / Fordham (University) Institute for Innovation in Social Policy
In cooperation with the Connecticut state legislature, to continue a trend analysis of the state’s social well-being and to publish the Social Health Index through 2001.

2000

$50,000	ASPIRA
To build organizational governance and financial capacity in order to continue promoting the positive development of Puerto Rican/Latino and other minority youth through community-based programs that focus on academic achievement, cultural awareness, college preparation and leadership.
$7,000	Bridgeport Public Education Fund
For a series of neighborhood school-based conversations about education.
$50,000	Capacity Building Institute to Prevent Violence / National Funding Collaborative on Violence Prevention
To support a national public information, media and advocacy component supporting violence prevention efforts in local communities and nationally.
$90,000	Charting A Course For Children’s Advocacy / Connecticut Association for Human Services
To implement the organization’s new strategic plan and explore deeper strategic alliances with other key child advocacy organizations in the state.
$100,000	Child Care Investment Fund In Connecticut Local Initiatives Support Corporation
To provide capital and technical support for child care facilities development in Connecticut in order to increase the supply and quality of child care and preschool programs available to all children in the state.
$75,000	Community Conversation Guides for Two New Topics / Public Agenda Foundation
To create a framework for public dialogue on two pressing educational issues: 1) student diversity, educational excellence and neighborhood schools, and 2) child care and early childhood education, and to develop print and video discussion materials (in both English and Spanish), moderator guides and moderator training materials for the conversations.
$10,000	Connecticut Council of Philanthropy
To increase public awareness of the role that foundations and the nonprofit sector play in civic life.
$35,000	Connecticut Metropolitics / Archdiocese of Hartford Office of Urban Affairs
To broaden public awareness of growing social and economic polarization and sprawling inefficient land use in metropolitan areas, using geographic information system maps and new alliances among cities, suburbs and rural communities.
$114,600	Conversations About Education/League of Women Voters of Connecticut Educational Fund, Inc.
To support the League and its statewide partners in promoting civil dialogue on education issues, and to help a growing number of communities use this new tool to identify common ground and build an action agenda among parents, the public and educators.
$60,600	Early Care and Education in Connecticut / Connecticut Voices for Children
To support organizational development and the expansion of public information, community outreach and citizen mobilization efforts through a variety of media.
$57,000	Education Initiative / Connecticut Policy and Economic Council
To pilot a model of community engagement and public information that brings community members together to create public school guides.
$25,000	From Policy to Practice 2000 / Connecticut Association for Human Services
To organize an education policy leadership briefing and provide state and local officials an opportunity to become better informed and exchange ideas on the education topic selected by representatives of the group.
$25,000	From Policy to Practice 2000 / William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund
To support the costs of the briefing.
$49,700	Growing Up in Poverty Dissemination and Policy Engagement Project / Yale University - The Bush Center in Child Development
To provide the public with preliminary data about the impacts of welfare reform on children. To develop public support for child care policies that help TANF parents move into the workforce and improve the quality of care their children receive.
$32,000	Latino Agenda 2001: Into the Next Millenium / State of Connecticut Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission
To conduct a Needs Assessment Study to help prepare a Latino Agenda for the next millennium.
$50,000	National Teen Action Research Center Education and Advocacy Project / Institute for Community Research
To develop and pilot a model program that engages students in identifying and researching issues that effect the quality of education in their schools and elsewhere in the state.
$20,000	Professional Development Opportunities for Connecticut Reporters/Education Writers Association
To support scholarships for Connecticut reporters to attend national seminars on closing the achievement gap and other educational issues, and to participate in the National Fellowship in Education Reporting program
$55,000	Professional Development That Enhances Student Learning / University of Connecticut
To implement phase one of a model based on the principles of adult learning, developed at the Neag School of Education, for improving the proficiency of teachers and other educational professionals.
$74,200	Sheff v. O'Neill Research Study / The Civil Rights Project-Harvard University
To publish an accessible, well-researched book about the impact and future possibilities of the civil rights lawsuit, Sheff vs. O’Neill.
$35,000	Social State of Connecticut 2000/Fordham (University) Institute for Innovation in Social Policy
In cooperation with the Connecticut State Legislature, to continue a statewide trend analysis and provide the Social Health Index through 2000.