WCGMF Grants: 2003

• Director's Discretionary Grants
• Discovery Community Grants
• Levin Fund Grants
• Membership Grants
• Opportunity Fund Grants
• School Change Grants
• Statewide and Regional Grants
• Totals

Director's Discretionary Grants

$1,000	Alliance for Children & Families
$5,000	AMISTAD America / Achievement First
$1,000	ASPIRA
$5,000	Bell School Reform Network
$500	Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition
$500	Center for Children’s Advocacy
$150	Child Care Action Campaign
$1,000	Concepts for Adaptive Learning
$1,000	Connecticut Association of Boards of Education / Leadership Fund
$1,000	Connecticut Association of Boards of Education Conference
$1,000	Connecticut Bicycle Coalition / Safe Routes to School Program
$5,000	Connecticut Public Television / "Looking Though My Lens...Kids on Diversity"
$1,000	Fight Crime: Invest In Kids
$5,000	Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice / Public Education Project
$500	Greater New England Alliance of Black School Educators Conference
$5,000	Greater Worcester Community Foundation / Executive Transition Services Tri-state System
$5,000	Hartford Area Child Care Collaborative / Training
$1,000	Hartford Community Partnership Conference
$1,000	Independent Sector Conference
$5,000	International Festival of Arts and Ideas / Youth Engagement Programs
$500	Martin Luther King School Parent Conference
$2,000	Music and Arts Center for Humanity
$2,000	New Haven Family Alliance / Lifting Voices, Quilting Lives
$1,000	New York Regional Association of Grantmakers / Leadership Transition Fund
$2,000	Norwalk Public Schools / After School Alliance
$2,400	Norwich Youth & Family Services
$1,000	Public Agenda Foundation
$1,000	Schools Together for Art Resources / New Haven
$1,200	Southern Connecticut State University / Working Mothers Workshop
$2,500	The Consultation Center Annual Divisional Conference
$1,000	The School for Ethical Education
$3,000	Town of Brooklyn / Prevention Program
$2,500	United Way of Greater New Haven
$3,000	United Way of Greater New Haven
$2,500	Yale University Bush Center for Child Development Conference

Discovery Community Grants

Ansonia	Valley United Way [Community info]
Bloomfield	Capitol Region Education Council [Community info]
Branford	Branford Community Foundation [Community info]
Bridgeport	Bridgeport Public Education Fund [Community info]
Bristol	United Way of West Central Connecticut [Community info]
Brooklyn	Brooklyn United Services [Community info]
Chaplin	EASTCONN Regional Education Service Center [Community info]
Danbury	United Way of Northern Fairfield County [Community info]
East Hartford	East Hartford ChildPlan [Community info]
East Haven	Area Cooperative Educational Services [Community info]
Enfield	Educational Resources for Children [Community info]
Granby	Granby Education Foundation [Community info]
Greenwich	United Way of Greenwich [Community info]
Griswold	EASTCONN [Community info]
Groton	LEARN Regional Education Service Center [Community info]
Hamden	Area Cooperative Educational Services [Community info]
Hartford	Capitol Region Education Council [Community info]
Killingly, Plainfield, Putnam	EASTCONN [Community info]
Manchester	Manchester Early Learning Center [Community info]
Mansfield	EASTCONN [Community info]
Meriden	Meriden Children First Initiative [Community info]
Middletown	United Way of Middlesex County [Community info]
Milford	United Way of Milford [Community info]
Naugatuck	United Way of Naugatuck and Beacon Falls [Community info]
New Britain	New Britain Foundation for Public Giving [Community info]
New Haven	Community Foundation for Greater New Haven [Community info]
New London	LEARN [Community info]
Norwalk	United Way of Norwalk & Wilton [Community info]
Norwich	United Community & Family Services [Community info]
Plymouth	United Way of West Central Connecticut [Community info]
Shelton	Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley [Community info]
Southington	United Way of Southington [Community info]
Stafford	First United Methodist Church [Community info]
Stamford	Child Care Learning Centers [Community info]
Stratford	Stratford Library Association [Community info]
Thompson	Thompson Ecumenical Empowerment Group [Community info]
Torrington	Education Connection [Community info]
Vernon	Hockanum Valley Child Care Center [Community info]
Wallingford	Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce Trust [Community info]
Waterbury	United Way of the Central Naugatuck Valley [Community info]
West Hartford	The Bridge Family Center [Community info]
West Haven	Area Cooperative Educational Services [Community info]
Wethersfield	Capitol Region Education Council [Community info]
Winchester	Winsted Area Child Care Center [Community info]
Windham	Windham Regional Community Council [Community info]
Windsor	Friends of Northwest Park [Community info]

Levin Fund Grants

$750	Benjamin Jepson School
$800	Betsy Ross Cooperative Nursery School
$500	Bridges ... A Community Support System
$750	Meriden Children First Initiative
$750	Mitchell College Children’s Learning Center.
$1,000	New Britain Museum of American Art
$750	Rock Hill School Parent Teacher Organization
$555	The Riverfront Children’s Center

Membership Grants

$5,400	Connecticut Council for Philanthropy
$11,340	Council on Foundations
$100	Family Support America
$5,000	Grantmakers for Children, Youth & Families
$750	Grantmakers for Education
$1,000	Grantmakers for Effective Organizations
$3,923	Independent Sector
$4,160	New York Regional Association of Grantmakers
$500	Rockefeller Family Fund
$2,500	The Foundation Center
$500	The Philanthropy Roundtable
$25	United Way of Greater New Haven

Opportunity Fund Grants

$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.

School Change Grants

$800,000	Connecticut Center for School Change
To support the Center’s work in promoting instructional leadership focused on student achievement in districts and schools across Connecticut. As a partner in the Memorial Fund’s Discovery Initiative, the Center commits at least half of its work to those communities participating in Discovery.
$800,000	Connecticut Center for School Change
To support the Center’s work in promoting instructional leadership focused on student achievement in districts and schools across Connecticut. As a partner in the Memorial Fund’s Discovery Initiative, the Center commits at least half of its work to those communities participating in Discovery.

Statewide and Regional Grants

$35,000	"The Social State of Connecticut" / Fordham (University) Institute for Innovation in Social Policy
To publish, in partnership with the state of Connecticut, the tenth annual social health index and "The Social State of Connecticut" as a means of tracking the social well-being of the state and informing the policy-making process.
$75,000	Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition
To complete an assessment of parent engagement in Bridgeport schools and share best practices, and to support parent participation in school-based management teams and other advocacy activities.
$50,000	Connecticut Association for Human Services
To work with early childhood centers, home care providers and others involved in improving early education by sharing information, providing timely analyses, and increasing participation in a statewide network.
$132,500	Connecticut Voices for Children
To launch Ready Set Grow…CT Kids, a communications and public engagement campaign in support of the reform of early childhood development systems; to support the Early Childhood Alliance as a network of those working on early childhood issues; to explore the economic and financing issues involved in creating a viable early childhood education plan for Connecticut; and to broaden the base of support for early childhood issues.
$10,000	Early Childhood Alliance Leadership/Education Connection & United Way of Northern Fairfield County
To support the volunteers who are convening the Early Childhood Alliance, a network of organizations, agencies and individuals working to improve the health, education, safety and family security of all of Connecticut’s young children, from birth through eight.
$50,000	Hispanics in Philanthropy / The Funders’ Collaborative for Strong Latino Communities
To participate in the Funders’ Collaborative three-year program of building the capacity of community-based organizations that provide health, education and social services for Latino children and their families.
$100,000	League of Women Voters of Connecticut Educational Fund / Community Conversations About Education
To support the Discovery communities’ use of community conversations to engage citizens in discussions of important early childhood and education issues and to build on the findings and recommendations generated by the conversations.
$100,000	Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) / Connecticut Children’s Investment Partnership (CIP)
To provide technical assistance and financial support to early care providers, school readiness councils and others serving low income communities in Connecticut in order to increase awareness of the impact of facilities on quality care; to develop financing strategies for improving or expanding facilities; and to secure capital in the form of no-cost or low-cost loans.
$50,000	Meriden Children First Initiative / Community Engagement, Leadership and Advocacy Project
To continue to build parent leadership through a variety of training opportunities, to enhance public awareness about children’s issues, and to share best practices with other Discovery communities and networks across Connecticut.
$25,000	PACK (Parents and Communities for Kids) / Community Foundation for Greater New Haven
To promote opportunities for families to engage young children in learning outside of school and to support community organizations working directly with families.
$10,000	Public Agenda
To conduct a case study describing and analyzing the community conversations in Connecticut and their impact, and to document the staying power of authentic public engagement.
$25,000	State of Connecticut Department of Education / Removing Barriers to Preschool
To inform, in collaboration with other funders and advocacy organizations, a planning process for Connecticut to provide full access to preschool for all children.
$35,000	United Way of Northern Fairfield County / Danbury Children First
To support the development of effective community leadership working on behalf of Danbury’s young children; to strengthen connections among local and statewide entities and systems; and to develop new resources and support for families with young children.

Totals