WCGMF Grants: Opportunity Fund Grants

• 2003
• 2002

2003

$23,000	Educational Equity Concepts / Quit it!
To test the Quit it! Tool Kit in six schools in the towns of Meriden, Norwalk and Windham, as a means to reduce teasing and bullying in grades K-3 through training and support for school staff.
$27,000	Leadership Greater Hartford/“Readers as Leaders”
To encourage middle school youths to assume responsibility as role models as they learn how to engage young children in reading.
$50,000	United Way of Northern Fairfield County & Danbury Children First / IMPACT (Involving and Mobilizing Parents Across Connecticut)
To support Connecticut Parent Power, a group of parents from across the state who are working together to advocate for children.
$35,750	Yale University / Early Childhood Education as a Bridge for the School Readiness Race Gap
To expand to other Connecticut cities an ongoing research project on the effectiveness of school readiness programs in closing the educational gap between low-income children of color and their more affluent white peers.

2002

$27,000	Avon Public Schools
To initiate in Avon and other Farmington Valley towns the Parents As Teachers program, an early childhood parent education and family support program that aims to strengthen families’ ability to nurture their young children.
$21,000	Connecticut Children’s Museum
For the Museum Multiple Intelligences Project, a pilot designed to strengthen the partnership of teachers and families in the education of young children by using the Museum’s exhibits as a shared learning environment.
$20,200	Connecticut School Readiness Network / Area Cooperative Educational Services
To support the Connecticut School Readiness Network of local school readiness councils as they share information and promote early childhood issues in their communities and across the state.
$35,000	Family Literacy Outreach Project / Connecticut Voices for Children
To support the Family Literacy Outreach Project, a collaborative effort among public and private organizations working to improve literacy.
$14,000	Hope for New Haven
To develop the organizational capacity of a collaboration among several New Haven churches to expand the supply of quality and affordable child care in their neighborhoods.
$44,000	Libraries for the Future
To support Life Options Libraries, aimed at enhancing the role of Connecticut libraries as centers for positive aging, engaging older residents in educational activities that benefit the state’s young children, and facilitating intergenerational exchange.
$10,000	Music and Arts Center for Humanity
To pilot the Start with Arts program in Bridgeport by providing training to parents and early childhood teachers on how to improve the quality of early learning by incorporating the arts into classroom activity.
$10,000	P.E.A.R.L.
To support a self-assessment by the Parent Education and Resident Leadership (P.E.A.R.L.) of its work with Bridgeport parents and to develop the organization’s future goals.
$20,000	The Cove Center for Grieving Children
To support those who work with grieving children through training, multicultural outreach and expansion of the Cove program to Meriden and surrounding communities.
$20,000	Weston Woods Institute
To support the Literacy Caravan, a staff development project providing literacy training for professionals and for family caregivers and others in early childhood settings.