A total of $222,000 granted to 25 local charities

Several local charities received a boost in their morale and their budgets as the Community Foundation for Kingston & Area (CFKA) released their latest Community Grants.

A total of $222,000 was granted to 25 local charities for a variety of projects – large and small – but all designed to have big impact and enhance the quality of life in our community.

The grants cover all the Community Foundation’s fields of interest, which include: Arts & Culture, Children’s Mental Health, Community Development, Education & Literacy, Environment, Heritage Preservation, Health & Social Services, Recreation and Youth. Projects range from meeting immediate needs caused by pandemic, to leveraging technology to better meet needs now and in the future, to investing in longer term systemic change and projects that aim to increase access, diversity, and inclusion. Projects from this granting round will directly benefit over 10,000 people, with thousands more effected indirectly.

“These granting decisions continue to provide local agencies in our community with a lifeline through the pandemic,” says Julie Burch, Grants Committee Chair for the Community Foundation.

Funding for semi-annual grants comes from the income produced by the Foundation’s endowment funds, which have been established and built by local donors. They are “the gifts that that keeps on giving”, commented Burch about where the funding comes from.

Due to the pandemic, there will be no in-person Grants Celebration like they typically have, however grantees will send videos and photos to CFKA to capture the energy and enthusiasm behind the projects to share on-line.

The Community Foundation, which celebrated its 25^th anniversary this year, invites all local charities to apply to its competitive grants program twice a year. The next application deadline is September 15, 2021.

 

Projects funded this granting round include:

 

Arts & Culture

 

Cantabile Choirs – $5,000

A Virtual Choir and Orchestra Collaboration

From the Mrs. Rupert Davies Fund, The Audrey and Peter Scholes Memorial Fund, Robert & Judith Mackenzie Fund

This project is a co-production between Cantabile Choirs and the Kingston Symphony, for the creation of a Virtual Reality 360 video (commonly referred to in the arts as immersive video) performance of ‘Will Ye No Come Back Again?’ by local composer Mark Sirett, arranged for choir and orchestra. The choral and instrumental performances will be recorded virtually – musicians submit recordings of themselves filmed in the safety of their homes. The video-recorded musicians will be imported into the VR360 performance environment, The Spire (formerly Sydenham Street United Church).

 

Kingston Arts Council – $7,302

Improving Communications Accessibility in Kingston’s Arts Sector

From the Edward Ratcliffe Fund, The Audrey and Peter Scholes Memorial Fund

This Kingston Arts Council (KAC) initiative will support 1) expanding the accessibility of our organization’s website and pdf materials through the completion of a formal external audit and the implementation of identified actions; 2) growing accessible communications knowledge in our arts community through the delivery of a webinar focused on social media and website accessibility strategies and tools. Both the audit and webinar will be delivered by Accessibility Services Canada (ASC), a training organization that helps non-profits and businesses to understand and comply with provincial accessibility legislation.

 

Kingston School of Art – $4,700

Children’s Summer Art Camps Programming

From the Marion and John Dunn Fund, Sandiford Family Smart & Caring Fund

The Children’s Summer Art Camps Program provides arts instruction in a 1 day per week, 8 week-long day camp structure to children ages 5-12 through July and August. Led by an Ontario College of Teachers certified teacher and assistants partnered with the Kingston School of Art and KEYS Job Centre, students explore various creative media, styles, projects, and themes. Camps include both indoor and outdoor activities, a wide variety of creative initiatives, and a supportive environment where students feel safe and encouraged to express and challenge themselves.

 

Theatre Kingston – $14,000

Theatre Kingston Fringe Festival

From the Valerie Robertson Women in Theatre Fund, The Audrey and Peter Scholes Memorial Fund

The 2020 Festival was postponed due to Covid-19 and the 2020 artists have waited until now to present their work. In 2021 we are adapting to be able to present theatre in safe ways for audiences and artists alike. Instead of a frantic ten-day festival of eighteen shows at three venues we are planning a one venue, month long festival to spread out performances and will produce a virtual venue of shows using new technology. These changes add new costs, extra administration, marketing and tech expenses, and limit audience numbers, thus effecting revenue for each company.

 

The Mess Studio – $6,162

The Mess Open Arts Studio

From the Arts & Culture Community Fund, Robert W. Clark Endowment Fund, L. Carolyn Dundas Fund in Support of Mental Health, The Audrey and Peter Scholes Memorial Fund

This operational grant will help with sustaining The Mess Studio as a unique community service for artists and community members. The Mess Studio is an open arts studio that provides opportunities to create art and build relationships. The community that we are building is one of diversity and inclusion inviting anyone with an interest in art and being in community to come, connect, and create.

Children’s Mental Health

 

Kingston Community Health Centres – Pathways to Education – $25,000

Supporting Youth Mental Health to Foster Educational Success

From the Theda Anderson Fund, Robert W. Clark Endowment Fund, The Henry Fund, Marion Meyer Opportunity Fund, The Audrey and Peter Scholes Memorial Fund, David Middleton North End Development Fund, The Bronskill Group Fund, Wilson Family Fund, Sunnyside Children’s Fund, Young Adults Mental Health Fund, The Diocese of Ontario Fearless Generosity Fund

The program will focus on providing psychological consultations and assessments for children and youth who are struggling to learn, stay in school, and/or experiencing significant mental health concerns. This project will also help identify supports both at school and in the community. We will identify high priority clients and partner with the Psychology Clinic at Queen’s University in order to provide these clients with psychological consultations and/or assessments in order to support their mental health, engagement in Pathways, and ultimately their learning and school participation.

 

St. Lawrence Youth Association – $10,000

Specialized Treatment Program for Youth

From the Sunnyside Children’s Fund

The St. Lawrence Youth Association proposes to offer a community-based specialized treatment program for youth ages 12-24 years who demonstrate significant sexual behaviour problems, concerning sexualized behaviour and/or who have offended sexually. Our community currently has a lack of accessible, free, low wait treatment options for youth with concerning sexual problems. The program will enhance local mental health services and reduce the risk of inappropriate sexualized behaviour and sexual assault.

 

Youth Diversion – $25,571

Enhanced Youth Justice Supports

From the Sunnyside Children’s Fund, Aaron and Norma Palmer Endowment Fund, Jim & Julie Parker Fund

Youth Diversion and Kingston Police have identified a gap in service connections since COVID-19 for youth related calls.  To ensure youth are connected to supports and services following police contact, we have partnered to actively work together and streamline the accessibility of our services. Youth Diversion will embed a staff member with Kingston Police to support the coordination and facilitation of pre charge diversion (EJM) and Intersections referrals from Kingston Police to Youth Diversion for children and youth between the age of 8 and 17.

 

Community Development

 

Cycle Kingston – $1,743

Gear Up! Covid-Safe Workstations

From the Marion Meyer Opportunity Fund, Opportunities Kingston Fund 

The funds requested will be used to purchase equipment to create three independent, COVID-friendly bicycle repair workstations for youth employees of our Gear Up! social enterprise. Prior to 2020, we typically repaired two bicycles simultaneously at two adjacent work stands with our employees sharing a single set of tools.

Kingston Community Health Centres – $20,000

Community Harvest FoodWrx

From the Richard Moorehouse Fund, Regina Rosen Smart & Caring Fund, Ruth and Stu Barton Community Fund, David C. Riley Fund, Aaron and Norma Palmer Endowment Fund, Cyril E. Wharrie and Evelyn D. Wharrie Fund, Cameron and Laurie Thompson Fund

Community Harvest FoodWRx is a multi-faceted social enterprise pilot, supported by Kingston Community Health Centres (KCHC), KEYS Job Centre, Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre, No. 9 Gardens and Loving Spoonful. Participants will work as a team to develop and brand a product, in this case, soup.  Along the way, the participants will learn valuable job training skills, including sustainable agricultural training; production kitchen training, customer service, budgeting, marketing, and entrepreneurial training and mentorship. The soup created and prepared by the team will be sold at nominal prices at the Community Harvest Market; a sliding scale at KCHC’s Café 263 as well as through retail partners with a “BODO – Buy One, Donate One” initiative, which will be distributed through KCHC’s Senior Food Box program.

 

Kingston Interfaith Community – $3,000

Working to Build an Inclusive and Welcoming Community

Charitable Partner: Islamic Society of Kingston

From the James Brown & Joan Lee Fund, Ellen Shepherd Community Fund

The Kingston Interfaith Community is a network of 11 different faiths and spiritualities that has been growing since 2017. Their monthly meetings include discussion around racism, diversity, and inclusion in our community. The grant will be used to support their continued efforts to build bridges in the community and transcend boundaries between individual faiths and the broader community.

Education & Literacy

 

Frontier College – $10,000

Free Literacy Programming for Children and Youth in Kingston

From the Elisabeth Heney Fund for Literacy, Marion Meyer Opportunity Fund, Russell and Susan Park Memorial Fund, Kingston Whig-Standard Literacy Endowment Fund, Ruth and Stu Barton Community Fund

Frontier College and its local community partners will provide literacy support to children and youth in low-income neighbourhoods of Kingston. Our activities will include individual and small group tutoring through after-school programs designed to promote literacy and numeracy in a fun environment. Children at risk of falling behind will work with Frontier College’s carefully trained volunteer literacy tutors. For students who are struggling and who may have limited access to learning supports outside of school, the positive learning environment our volunteers create is critical for building their confidence and social skills. For 2021-22, we will determine the best mix of online and in-person programming depending on public health requirements.

 

Learning Disabilities Association of Kingston – $4,210

Online Outreach Initiative

From the Larry Gibson Community Fund, Aaron and Norma Palmer Endowment Fund

Learning Disabilities Association of Kingston’s (LDAK) Online Outreach Initiative was launched in October 2020. We recognized that in order to survive as a community service provider during COVID-19 all of our activities need to be moved online and expanded in range to address COVID-19 impacts on education. We contracted two professionals to provide technical and community outreach support, which was a key element in the success of the initiative.

 

Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kingston – $1,469

Aqua Scope

From the Chown Fund, Kingston Youth Science and Technology Fund

Granting funds will used to purchase Aqua-Scopes (underwater viewers) for the Museum’s educational shipwreck paddle tour (Get Wrecked) at Garden Island (via Wolfe Island). This program is delivered in partnership with Wolfe Island Boat Club. These viewers will also be useful for paddle tours the Museum has planned in the Inner Harbour and future shoreline and on-the-water educational projects. Aqua-Scopes allow individuals to view wildlife and artefacts below the water safely and efficiently by providing a conical ‘Aqua-Scope’ viewfinder to see underwater clearly.

Environment

 

Cycle Kingston – $2,000

Supporting Insurance and PPE Costs

From the Smart & Caring COVID-19 Fund, Larry Gibson Community Fund

Cycle Kingston typically hires two summer students as Cycling Ambassadors who deliver a slate of safe cycling programs, including making in-school presentations to 2000 students in May and June. They offer a summer cycling camp, and teach workshops to groups of children, teens and adults. They organize public outreach and attend festivals and events, often offering safe cycling circuits and lessons. They also promote safe cycling through social media.

Health & Social Services

 

Bereaved Families of Ontario – Kingston Region – $1,650

Diversifying the BFO Volunteer Base

From the Bill and Nancy Gray Smart & Caring Fund

This project aims to recruit new volunteers from diverse populations and communities (BIPOC, individuals identifying as LGBTQ+, people of different backgrounds/religions/cultures, people with disabilities, etc.) to provide grief support to the bereaved. Bereaved Families of Ontario works on a peer support model and having volunteers who reflect the diversity of our society will allow us to better serve the needs of our clients. This funding would remove financial barriers that may prevent new volunteers from becoming involved by offering free training and to reimburse the cost of attaining a CPIC.

 

Dawn House Services and Housing for Women – $10,000

Supportive Housing Program

From The Bronskill Group Fund

The supportive housing program supports women who were chronically homeless, challenged by poor physical/mental health and or addiction, by providing them with their own bachelor apartment and on-site supports. Supportive Housing Workers provide case management and assist women in addressing their needs/barriers and developing the skills required to live as independently as possible. Supportive Housing Workers assist women in articulating their needs, setting goals, realizing goals, connecting to community resources, and provide daily guidance and on-site counselling, medication management, assistance in making and getting to appointments, and problem-solving.

 

Queen’s University – Developmental Disabilities Consulting Program – $7,392

Group Therapy for Caregivers of those with Developmental Disability

From the Helping Hands for those with Disabilities Fund, The Audrey and Peter Scholes Memorial Fund

The main objective of this project is to provide families/caregivers both psychoeducation about anxiety and cognitive-behavioural tools to support their anxious clients with developmental disability. This application is to support the development, implementation and evaluation of the 6-session, 12-hour weekly group. The group will address areas of social development, mental health, anxiety symptoms and coping strategies or interventions to alleviate or reduce worries, fears or anxieties of their supported individual.

 

Sexual Assault Centre Kingston – $2,000

Examining Equity Factors in Service Access and Delivery to Black, People of Color, and Newcomer Survivors

From the Richard Moorehouse Fund

Through this project, Sexual Assault Centre Kingston (SACK) will strive to prioritize equity, diversity, and inclusion, allowing them to offer more inclusive, culturally appropriate, and representative services to those in our community. SACK believes that all individuals deserve a safe place to heal from the trauma of sexual violence, and through this funding, they are working to reduce barriers that may prevent survivors from accessing support services through achieving the following main objectives: 1) increase awareness of the programs available at the centre by connecting with survivors from key populations and organizations that serve them; 2) create a counselling program framework that is tailored to addressing the needs of survivors of colour, as well as newcomer survivors.

Heritage Preservation

 

Frontenac County Schools Museum – $3,330

Preserving and Protecting Kingston’s Educational Heritage

From the Douglas Branton Fell Memorial Fund

The funds will be used to purchase necessary equipment and materials needed for the Frontenac County Schools Museum’s staff and volunteers to continue working towards its collection’s digitization and inventory project. The Schools Museum’s collection consists of thousands of objects and archival materials that tell the story of early education in Kingston and area. Equipment such as a new DSLR camera, photography lights, and a high-quality scanner will allow the museum to share more of its collection online in a digital format that will be of higher quality than its current equipment can offer.

 

Kingston Indigenous Languages Nest (KILN) – $15,495

Ndoo-miijminaanin (Our Foods)

Charitable partner: Loving Spoonful

From the Ruth and Stu Barton Environmental Fund, Environmental Legacy Fund, Tha’teioneniienawa’khontie: In the Spirit of Cooperation Fund, Smart & Caring Community Fund, The Tragically Hip Community Fund

Ndoo-miijminaanin is an Indigenous Food Sovereignty project that breathes life into our relationship to land, our languages, cultural ways, and foods as we get our hands into the soil and garden as a community.  Five family-oriented sessions from May to October will occur in the garden at Walking the Path of Peace Together land (HWY 15), bringing ceremony into our gardening practice. Community members guided by First Speakers will prepare garden-focused language materials in Anishinaabemowin and Kanien’keha in online language-mentoring sessions. KILN and our partners will share reflections, vision, and articulate a set of food sovereignty goals in a final session Gdoo-naabndamwinaanan (Our Dreams) including access to land base(s) for tapping maple trees, berry picking, gardening, manoomin (wild rice) gathering, hunting, fishing, and community food-sharing.

Recreation

 

Extend-A-Family Kingston – $10,000

COVID-19 Recovery

From the Helping Hands for those with Disabilities Fund, Smart & Caring Community Fund

We are excited this grant will enable us to secure additional staffing required to safely welcome back participants for direct in-person services in Extend-A-Family Children’s Program. Staff will ensure correct screening, drop off and pick-up procedures, support cleaning and sanitizing, ensure record keeping and adapt program as required. We will also offer virtual programs for those who are unable to return in-person.

Youth

 

Boys and Girls Club of Kingston & Area – $7,500

Academic Boost Summer Camp Program

From the Marion and John Dunn Fund, Bill and Gladys Kelly Community Fund, Ontario Endowment for Children and Youth in Recreation Fund

The Boys and Girls Club (BGC) Academic Boost Summer Camp will implement a one-week long structured educational program based on the model of the BGC’s Reading Clinic program by integrating academic learning and education concepts into arts, science, technology and sport based activities. The aim of this program is to produce immediate educational gains and long term school engagement. This program will support children ages 6-11 across all socio-economic, gender, racial, ethnic, and national backgrounds.

 

KEYS Job Centre – $15,000

New Horizons Leadership Group for Newcomer Youth

From the Smart & Caring Community Fund

This grant will help support the Newcomer Program for 6 months as it continues from its successful pilot project. In November 2019, KEYS established the New Horizons Peer Mentoring Group (NH PMG) for young refugees (age 18-29) who arrived in Kingston alone. This program was established in response to the needs expressed by single-arrival refugees to build stronger relationships between themselves, make Canadian friends, explore fun activities in Kingston, as well as share information and experiences about establishing a new life alone in Kingston. NH PMG is coordinated by two KEYS Staff in collaboration with a Youth Leader Group (currently, 4 members) who are “paid” in honoraria. The Youth Leader Group and Staff coordinate weekly events open to about 30 newcomer youth (and growing).

 

YMCA of Eastern Ontario – $10,000

Subsidized Program Access

From the David Middleton North End Development Fund, Jim & Julie Parker Family Smart & Caring Fund, Ruth and Stu Barton Community Fund, Ross and Susan Kilpatrick Fund, Eric Dewar Neuman Fund

The Subsidized Access Program covers participation with all YMCA camp programs including the Work Hard Eat Well food and physical literacy program at Rideau Heights Community Centre located in north end Kingston and Y Penguin program for kids with physical disabilities. All kids and youth, regardless of age, race, religion, gender, ability, or economic circumstance may register without fear of not being able to pay full or partial fees.