41 local projects receive over $500k in grants through Community Foundation

The Community Foundation for Kingston and Area has announced it will be investing more than $518,000 to support local charities striving to help the community become more resilient and build back stronger.

According to a release from the Foundation, 41 projects will benefit from a milestone level of support in this latest round of community grants. Many of these initiatives reflect an ambitious focus on longer term investments to help the community move forward after what the Chamber called some “hard lessons” learned during the pandemic.

“Charities are working harder than ever by learning from challenges and opportunities over the past few years to reimagine the kind of community we want to live in,” said Willa Henry, Grants Committee Chair for the Community Foundation.

Throughout the pandemic, charities have shown flexibility and innovation as they reshape services serving the community, according to the release.

CFKA Grants Coordinator Yu Jier Kou said that many charities are transitioning into a new recovery and resiliency phase with clearer purpose and vision in response to a shifting landscape as restrictions ease. For example:

• Kingston Community Health Centres will implement Serve & Return, a prevention-based program designed to nurture secure parent-child relationships for 60 parents and their infants. This five-week program will employ a mixture of coaching, modelling, and self-reflection with lifelong rewards for children, parents, and the community.
• Loving Spoonful’s GROW Project uses food and gardens as tools to examine food systems, culture, ecology, and climate change. Through a series of seven workshops, students will learn hands-on skills to become future leaders in promoting urban agriculture, food justice, and sustainable food systems.
• Kingston Literacy & Skills will deliver weekly literacy, numeracy, and pre-employment training to residents of Tipi Moza Indigenous Transitional Housing. Residents will gain skills that support longer-term goals of employment and independence.

According to the release, other projects demonstrate expertise in helping people and communities thrive — they range from building community connections to increasing food security, promoting mental health and education, and inspiring creativity through participation in the arts.

Funding for these new projects comes from the Foundation’s $33.5 million portfolio of endowment funds – funds established and grown by community members wanting to build a better place for all. The Community Foundation welcomes local charities to apply to its competitive grants program twice a year. The next call for proposals will open in the Fall.

All 41 Spring 2022 Community Grant Recipients are detailed on the Foundation’s website at www.cfka.org.