Connections is a service to our donors and the not-for-profit organizations in our community. It details grantmaking opportunities for you with local charities that have recently received a discretionary grant from The Dayton Foundation. All of these organizations have been researched by our Grants Department, and a summary of their grant proposals is included.

Listed below are those organizations that received a grant from The Dayton Foundation within the last discretionary grant cycle. As you can see, for many of these requests, we were able to fund only to a certain level. The organizations may still have unmet needs associated with their specified programs.

If you would like additional information about any of these programs, please feel free to contact the charity directly. Their phone numbers are listed below, or you may visit their web site, if available.

AIDS Resource Center Ohio - Capacity Building and Sustainability
$390,000 Total Project Budget
$25,000 Granted

AIDS Resource Center Ohio is a nonprofit, community-based organization that provides HIV prevention, testing and support services to thousands of individuals infected, affected and at risk of HIV/AIDS. The grant will ensure the continuation of HIV/AIDS services in the region by enabling the organization to hire additional staff dedicated to development and fundraising activities.

For more information, visit www.arcohio.org.

Clothes That Work! - CTW! Expansion
$80,000 Total Project Budget
$25,000 Granted

Over the last decade, Clothes That Work! has provided interview suits and work appropriate clothing to more than 10,000 disadvantaged women, men and teens throughout the Greater Dayton Region. The grant will fund, in part, the renovation of a larger, consolidated facility in the Job Center. The renovation will increase work space to improve efficiency and accommodate additional job seekers, as well as provide a classroom for additional training.

For more information, visit www.clothesthatwork.org.

32nd Degree Masonic Learning Centers for Children, Inc. - Children's Dyslexic Library
$25,000 Total Project Budget
$8,400 Granted

The Dayton 32nd Masonic Learning Center for Children provides free, specialized training and tutoring for children with dyslexia. The grant will fund the expansion of the Children’s Dyslexia Library with appropriate books, tapes and CDs for student and tutor use. The Library will feature three focus areas: a student section for use during tutoring lessons; a tutors/scholars section that offers CDs and books on research and lesson planning; and a parent/sibling section that offers resources about learning disabilities.

GreatSchools - Capacity Building and Evaluation
$40,000 Total Project Budget
$10,000 Granted

GreatSchools has implemented a program in Dayton to help low-income families make informed decisions about schools for their children and to help their children stay on track to graduate from high school. GreatSchools offers the Dayton School Chooser, a print guide to help parents choose the right school for their child, in addition to educational information via volunteer parent-to-parent mentoring, workshops and other community outreach events. The grant will fund an evaluation project to study the impact of the program to help improve its effectiveness and build capacity.

For more information, visit www.greatschools.net.

The Human Race Theatre Company - Lovewell Summer Camp Program
$41,000 Total Project Budget
$12,000 Granted

The grant will fund a three-week summer day camp for 35 students and provide training for three resident artists. The Lovewell Institute program guides, rather than leads, students through a comprehensive process of creating their own script and adding their own voices to a completely original musical score. This cooperative effort allows for genuine expression of hidden talents and innermost feelings. The program is designed to appeal to the creative nature of students with a wide range of talents and interests, each one integral to the final product, as well as to infuse students with a greater appreciation for the process as a whole. Additionally, resident artists will gain accreditation to continue offering Lovewell programming that will augment future Human Race activities.

For more information, visit www.humanracetheatre.org.

Kids Voting Ohio/Founders Region - Young Citizens Series - Voices of Miami Valley Youth
$63,000 Total Project Budget
$9,000 Granted

The Young Citizens Series will leverage the excitement of this year’s presidential election to engage young people in the political process. The grant will fund a campaign that will include billboards, RTA signs, print media, radio broadcasts, NPR public service announcements and a DATV program. Students will help facilitate various elements of the campaign, including serving as reporters, television hosts, writers and bloggers, and technology consultants.

For more information, visit www.kidsvotingdayton.org.

Life Enrichment Center - Kitchen Renovation
$144,624 Total Project Budget
$15,000 Granted

Life Enrichment Center (LEC) is a faith-based, not-for-profit organization working in collaboration with area partners to provide services to underserved individuals in the Greater Dayton Region. Over the last five years, LEC has served 199,000 hot meals, given away more than 116,000 bags of groceries, and has provided education and training classes for 78,000 attendees. The organization serves more than 700 people weekly from a database of approximately 9,800 registered clients, and approximately 25 new clients are registered each week. To meet the community’s increased need for food, the organization moved to a larger facility that requires extensive renovation. The grant will fund the kitchen’s renovation in order to provide hot meals to clients.

National Multiple Sclerosis Society - MS Lunch Bunch Collaborative
$66,000 Total Project Budget
$16,500 Granted

The Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society strives to deliver programs and direct services that enhance the independence and quality of life of those living with MS. A priority for 2008 is to develop programs that efficiently meet the educational, social and emotional needs of nearly 2,250 Dayton area clients. The grant supports the MS Society’s partnership with MS Lunch Bunch to develop a Dayton social network. The network will help members find information and motivation to make continuous small changes that better their lives. Monthly events empower individuals through information exchange in a positive, uplifting atmosphere.

Oakwood Historical Society - Centennial Fix Up
$75,000 Total Project Budget
$10,000 Granted

Oakwood’s Long-Romspert 1865 Homestead, complete with summer kitchen, carriage house and pumphouse, allows the Society to tell the story of the Civil War to the early 1920s. The Oakwood Historical Society is restoring the historic Homestead as an educational center, and the grant will fund the development a professional interpretative plan in order to enhance the instructional needs of local teachers. With an interpretative plan, students and guests to the Homestead site can see, hear, touch, smell and sometimes even taste what it was like to live and work during an important transitional time.

For more information, visit www.oakwoodhistory.org.

Senior Resource Connection - Services Integration Project
$100,000 Total Project Budget
$15,000 Granted

Senior Resource Connection will develop and market a one-stop shop method of service delivery for seniors and caregivers that focuses on the following core services: Adult Day Services, Nutrition Services, Philips Lifeline, Visiting Home Care and Visiting Nurse Association. The grant will be used to upgrade the phone system, purchase case management software and create a new agency brand and marketing materials.

For more information, visit www.seniorresourceconnection.com.

Greater Dayton Public Television - Childhood Asthma Education for Family Care Providers
$99,418 Total Project Budget
$20,000 Granted

The grant will fund an asthma education program developed by Greater Dayton Public Television in partnership with the American Lung Association (ALA). The project will offer educational intervention to family care providers with the goal of increasing asthma knowledge and changing behaviors to reduce asthma triggers in the child care environment and reduce serious asthma episodes among children. By focusing on family care providers and the parents of the children they care for, this project will deliver asthma training to a currently underserved population in the Miami Valley. The project will offer asthma awareness workshops that use ALA’s “Counting on You” caregivers’ guide on asthma, an asthma tips DVD, Sesame Workshop’s “A is for Asthma” program DVD and the EPA’s home environmental checklist. In addition, public service announcements will be created to promote asthma awareness to child care providers who use public television frequently during the day.

For more information, visit www.thinktv.org.

Widows Home Foundation - Rapid Rehab Program
$3,500,000 Total Project Budget
$30,000 Granted

The Widows Home is the oldest inner city, continuously operating not-for-profit nursing home in Ohio. Established in 1872 to provide for women who were left destitute and widowed by the Civil War, the Home now provides health care, food and shelter for low-income elderly women and men. To meet the community’s increased need for nursing care, the Widows Home has expanded the facility to include 25 additional beds for short-term rehabilitative and additional long-term care. The grant will help fund this 11,500 square foot addition that has 12 semiprivate rooms and 1 private room. The expansion also includes an additional dining/activity area and a wellness center.

YMCA of Greater Dayton (as fiscal agent) - The Miracle League
$780,000 Total Project Budget
$15,000 Granted

The grant supports the construction of a Miracle League Field that will provide new recreational opportunities for people with disabilities in Warren, Butler and Montgomery Counties. The Miracle League field, designed with a rubber surface that allows people with all types of disabilities to participate, removes the barriers that keep children with disabilities off the baseball field. The League’s 15,102 square-foot facility will include a specially designed rubber field that is completely fenced in for safety, dugouts, bleachers, a concession stand and restroom facilities. To help the athletes, The Miracle League uses a buddy system that pairs each player with an able-bodied peer.

For more information, visit www.daytonymca.org.