MIDDLEBURY – The Northeast Kingdom Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation has announced $119,942 in grants to 27 organizations in its 2023 competitive grant round. Local nonprofits who have received a portion of these grants include the Bend Revitalization Initiative that received $2,610 to bring Greensboro Bend children together to learn and participate in pickleball, build long-term friendships, create a sense of belonging, and provide a new activity useful for life through the Using Sports to Increase a Sense of Community Amongst Bend Children program.
Also receiving grants were Circus Smirkus, that received $5,000 for its Multi-Generational Community Circus program, a community-developed circus with performers ages 8 to 80 in juggling, acrobatics, pyramids, clowning, and other acts and the Craftsbury Public Library that received $4,680 to support The Learning Never Stops: Fun and Engaging Library Programs for School Aged Children, a range of after-school opportunities.
Get Thee to the Funnery received $4,000 to support Story-Telling, the Funnery Way, a program in which two counselors will offer Funnery-style true story writing workshops in NEK schools and Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union received $2,700 to expand its Girls on the Run program in Craftsbury. This program promotes health and wellness including improving girls’ self-perceptions of their physical, emotional, and social abilities.
Rural Arts Collaborative received $5,000 to support New Members of the Creative Economy, a program that will help people realize their potential by developing their interests and skills related to graphic design.
The awards will support nonprofits and municipalities in Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans counties. The grants include support to organizations working with youth, in the arts, education, and the outdoors.
“A significant portion of the grantees, and applicants overall, include programming for youth,” said Holly Morehouse, vice president of Grants and Community Impact at the Vermont Community Foundation. “This illustrates the focus that is needed on youth right now, especially in our more rural areas of the state, and I’m thrilled the Foundation and our fundholders were able to come together to help meet that need.”
