Community Care Fund- Program Descriptions

 

Community Care Fund 
2021-2022 Grant Awards
 
 
Project Funded: Youth Intervention and Prevention Services  
The Youth Services Program serves victims of child sexual abuse, teen dating violence, children who witness domestic violence, and their non-offending family members. Youth Advocates support victims and their families from disclosure of abuse through the healing process. Services include a 24 hour hotline where we provide crisis intervention, emotional support, options for reporting, legal interventions, and medical services. If a report made to law enforcement or child protective services we support the family through that process and accompany victims to interviews or court appearances.  Advocates liaison between the criminal justice system and the family, ensuring that victims receive updates about their case and that their questions about this complicated process are addressed.  
 
Project Funded: Outpatient Clinical Substance Abuse Treatment 
Recognizing that addiction has become a healthcare crisis in our country and in our community, the Alcohol and Drug Council's Outpatient Clinic began offering weekend hours at its Open Access Center in 2019. This is the first time our region has had non-emergency room drug treatment services available to those in need 7 days/week. This is part of ADC's commitment to meet people where they are, and continue to increase access to care over time. The Outpatient alcohol and drug treatment program provides assessment, treatment and recovery services to people 16 years of age and older. Trained and credentialed clinicians develop individualized treatment plans in partnership with each client to meet that individual’s needs. The plan utilizes evidence-based methodologies in individual and group counseling sessions, including services for special populations: LGBT clients, victims of trauma, and clients with co-occurring mental health/ chemical dependency diagnoses.
 
Project Funded: Summer Play Days
Description: As part of the solution to increase free play opportunities, especially among children living in poverty, 'Summer Just Play Days' was created as an 8-week FREE summer program outdoors in the City of Ithaca parks and shared spaces in apartment complexes. Public parks are animated with loose parts (e.g. cardboard, tires, wood) and caring adults (playworkers) who will support almost 500 children's free play opportunities - at no cost to children and families in need of summer care and leisure activities. Outdoor spaces become transformed into magical places for play, helping children create a sense of belonging and connectedness within their own neighborhood.
 
American Red Cross Awarded- $5,000
Project Funded: Emergency Services and Preparedness
Description: Since 1881, the mission of the American Red Cross is to relieve human suffering in the face of natural or man-made disasters.  The Red Cross provides this service through a trained staff of volunteers that are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to respond to disasters large and small. Emergency disaster financial assistance is provided to families that can be used to secure emergency food, clothing, shelter, medications, mental heath services, and other incidentals.  Once Emergency needs are addressed, American Red Cross volunteers work with other local agencies in securing long term recovery services such as transitional housing, furniture, etc.
 
Project Funded: Brooktondale “Mall Walking” Awarded- $200
This grant proposal is seeking $500 to start an indoor "mall" walking experience at our own Brooktondale Community Center, twice a week in the afternoon, with some simple supports such as a blood pressure monitor, walkers, elastic bands, hand weights, a small trampoline to facilitate balancing exercises to build core strength, and so on. It would also include healthy refreshments, some health-related reading material, and visiting experts once or twice a month to give coaching and tips.
 
Project Funded: Caroline Food Pantry Awarded- $1,500
Description: The Caroline Food Pantry is an all-volunteer organization that serves residents of the Town of Caroline and surrounding communities. The Pantry provides food to almost 500 people each month, offering emergency deliveries throughout the month and walk-in “pickup” service on the first & third Mondays of every month, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The Pantry is housed in the Brooktondale Community Center’s “Old Fire Hall” where we have space for our distributions and also space to store food.
 
Project Funded: Cancer Support Services 
Given the mission to create and sustain a community of support for people living with and affected by cancer, Cancer Resource Center has a unique role in the Tompkins County community to reach individuals with cancer, and to offer support and assistance as they learn about their diagnosis, treatment, and expectations for the future. The "support" programs offered by CRC take many different forms with UWTC funds going to the support services offered through their home office staff. These are available to the community daily Monday through Friday, and CRC staff meet with individuals in a private space and listen to their situation, discuss available services, provide information about other community resources, and answer questions. Additionally staff host regularly-held support group meetings. These core support services are at the heart of CRC’s work.
 
Project Funded: Immigrant Services Program Awarded- $8,000
Description: Approximately 85% of the clients served by the Immigrant Services Program (ISP) live in ALICE households and are experiencing several barriers that impede their success. These barriers may include being unemployed, underemployed or working for low wages, having limited English proficiency, having little to no formal education and/or low literacy skills, and issues or concerns regarding their immigration legal status or documents. Core services consist of assisting clients who are unable to access community resources or find viable employment due to language and/or cultural barriers, as we as offer a full range of immigration legal services that are low cost or pro bono. Catholic Charities is the only non-profit agency in Tompkins County recognized by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide immigration legal services.
 
Project Funded: Samaritan Center Emergency Services Awarded- $30,000
Description: Catholic Charities of Tompkins/Tioga Samaritan Center serves as a welcoming location for families and individuals experiencing financial crisis. UWTC Funds will be used to help over 3000 low-income people each year to resolve crises related to housing, transportation, health or work, and to stabilize, get caring support, and gain access to programs that have helped many to move toward greater self sufficiency.  Catholic Charities targets this assistance to meet the needs that impact households the most and who turn to the Samaritan Center for help.  Based on recent history this will include rental assistance to avoid evictions and stabilize, personal care products including diapers, and assistance with utilities.
 
Project Funded: Job Club Awarded- $5,000
Description: Challenge, sees many job seekers in the county who struggle to find or keep employment on their own as result of barriers to employment, such as income, lack of transportation or stable housing, criminal background, lack of basic skills to engage in a job search, or a variety of other complications such as substance abuse in the family, unreliable child car, work-appropriate clothing and others. The Job Club program at Challenge has been integrated into the existing "Supported Employment" program (SEMP), to successfully provide individual job readiness assessment, soft and hard skills training, job placement and on-the-job coaching for people with disabilities for many years.
 
Project Funded: Challenge Prevocation Department Awarded- $11,000
Description: The Prevocational Department at Challenge supports people who are eligible for OPWDD services and have a strong desire to work but currently face one or more barriers that prevent them from being ready to pursue more independent and competitive employment. Prevocational programs focus on training and assessments that help people explore their vocational interests, develop greater work stamina and a better understanding about expectations and norms for things like appearance, attitude and communication. The Challenge Prevocational Department provides full job coaching until the person has learned the job well enough to be hired as a regular employee.
 
Project Funded: Access to Childcare Awarded- $20,000
Description: To address the difficulties accessing affordable childcare, the Child Development Council will recruit and support new child care programs to open, with a focus on licensed home based child care. The goal will be to bolster provider retention by building business supports, reducing financial burdens. This plan addresses the most common barriers to new programs opening and provides innovative supports to existing programs that enable them to be enduring, financially viable businesses. While this program will support all modalities of child care, there is an innovative focus on intensive direct support to open new Group Family Day Care (GFDC) homes. A planner/developer and a quality specialist are credentialed coaches, coaching new providers through developing and opening their program. 
 
Project Funded: Family Services Awarded- $35,000
Description: Family Services assists pregnant and parenting families with children aged 5 and under, with the primary goal of preventing child abuse and neglect and reducing rates of recidivism. This is accomplished by using a family-centered, home visiting approach to educate parents about the growth and development of children, to strengthen the nurturing qualities of the parents, to reduce the factors leading to stress and family dysfunction by connecting families to community resources.  Family Services offers developmental and social emotional assessments for children and goal planning to support self-sufficiency for parents.
 
Project Funded: CDRC’s Mediation Services
Description: CDRC’s Mediation Program provides convenient, confidential and affordable mediation services that allow people to talk through their differences and achieve resolution without costly, stressful institutional intervention from the courts or other public entities. CDRC’s mediation services involve bringing individuals together in a safe setting with expertly trained mediators to facilitate a conversation and resolve conflict. Those that seek CDRC mediation services experience a range of painful conflicts:  former partners or divorced parents working through child custody and visitation arrangements; protracted disputes between parents/guardians and teenage children; and conflicts involving the elderly and their adult children. Community members who file a claim in Small Claims Court also participate in mediation either through a referral from the Court Clerk or directly in Court during their court hearing.
 
Project Funded: 4-H Urban Outreach Program Awarded-  $4,000
Description: The 4-H Urban Outreach Program, with 92% minority youth participants, 100% minority educators and 70% minority volunteers, is one of the most diverse youth programs in the county. 4-H and their partners build social capital by creating relationships with youth, parents, and the community and provide opportunities for skilled community members to share multi-cultural learning with youth to continue to grow diversity and inclusion in our programs. We recruit diverse staff and volunteers to work with youth to provide positive role models. 4-H Urban Outreach worked to develop relationships with families in the West Hill Area to learn more about the unmet needs in the community to improve services. Goals include continuing to offer high-quality, much needed free after school and summer enrichment programs to under-served and minority youth living in the West Village and Northside Apartment complexes so they succeed and stay in school and achieve their highest potential.
 
Project Funded: Parents Apart Awarded- $2,500
Parents Apart®: Parents Helping Children Adjust to Separation and Divorce is an educational workshop focused on improving the experience of children whose parents/caregivers do not live together. It is a collaborative community effort coordinated by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County (CCETC) and certified by the New York State Unified Court System Parent Education and Awareness Program (PEAP). The purpose of Parents Apart is to help parents better understand how the process of separation/divorce affects their children and how to keep kids out of the middle of adult conflict.
 
Project Funded: Healthy Food For All & FVRx Awarded- $30,000
Description: Healthy Food For All (HFFA) helps hundreds of community members gain access to fresh, locally grown produce every year through subsidized CSA shares. Food-insecure households in Tompkins County are offered the opportunity to purchase produce from one of the ten participating farm stands a discounted price (*CSA shares subsidized by HFFA), and provide free monthly cooking classes to help participants learn how to make healthy meals using the wide variety of vegetables from their farm.
 
Project Funded: Newsletter Awarded- $1,000
The program provides a monthly print and online newsletter, the Danby Area News (DAN), to more than 1600 recipients, including 1500+ Danby residential addresses, a few addresses "just over the Town line", former residents of Danby, community organizations, and elected officials. The goals of the program are to promote and support the community welfare and to provide news of educational, social, and recreational programs and facilities in Danby.
 
Project Funded: Youth Grants Awarded- $1,000
Description: The DCC Youth Grant program provides money for youth to attend summer camps, dance/ballet/karate classes, swim lessons, and other non-academic productive activities. The program has been ongoing for many years with support from the Town of Danby & UWTC and on average serves between 20-25 Youth Grants per year (typically $100/ea.) to Danby youth. The program is regularly advertised in the Danby Area News. The particular focus is to help families with lower income that may not be able to prioritize such enrichment activities for their children.
 
Project Funded: Youth Program Awarded- $2,500
Description: The Danby Community Council (DCC) is contracted by the Town of Danby to operate a youth program in the Town. Funding from the Town of Danby for the youth program is matched by the Tompkins County Youth Services allocation. The DCC reviews options for carrying out the program and has for many years contracted operation of Danby's youth program to Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County (CCETC). The CCETC program provides ongoing community-based youth development activities in Danby. Programs are offered generally for elementary and middle school age youth throughout the year and transportation is facilitated. High school age youth sometimes continue with the program as interns. Through field trips, in-school activities, and indoor & outdoor programs during the school year and over breaks, youth learn new skills, make new friends, and are offered a diverse range of programs.
 
Project Funded: Tuition Assistance
Description: Downtown Ithaca Children's Center is committed to serving at least 50% of families who are impacted by poverty as well as maintaining the diversity of the children and adults who are served and serve. UWTC funds support tuition assistance in order to ensure that this commitment is met while also continuing the quality services of DICC. Offerings of care, education, support services, career preparation, continuing education, livable wage, health benefits and workforce stability (staff and families) create access, family choice and opportunity to those who have been invisible in the community as well as those who are differently able through their means and choice.
 
Dryden Community Council
Project Funded:  Summer Reading Program Awarded- $1,500
The Summer Reading Program provides a way to encourage readers and pre-readers to engage in literacy skills during the critical summer months of school recess. The Summer Reading program at the Southworth Library provides a fun way for kids, teens and families to engage in literacy over the summer months through programs, reading logs, and events that encourage participation in reading and learning. The programs vary from simple  tracking of materials read to weekly programs for directed learning and investigations with motivating goals, educational extensions and activities to broaden the reading experience.
 
Project Funded: Community Dinners
Description: Community Dinners at Dryden United Methodist Church helps meet the needs food insecure residents in the Dryden and surrounding area by providing them with a free nutritional "home cooked" meal four times a month. These meals also fulfill the need for socialization time especially for those who normally eat alone. There are no requirements to meet for having a free meal. Everyone who comes into the fellowship hall is given a free meal and are treated with the utmost respect. No one is turned away because of sexual orientation, religion, mental and physical limitations, kind of clothing, or personal hygiene situations. The guests can have as much to eat as they wish.  
 
Project Funded: Enfield Elementary Basketball Awarded- $900
The Elementary Basketball program is coordinated by the Ithaca Youth Bureau. This program is available to elementary school children, ages 8-11 (grades 3-5). There are no try-outs; all interested children may participate. The program goals are to have each child who participates: to have fun and enjoy themselves; to create new friendships and know what it feels like to be a team member; to learn a new skill; to be physically active and continue with basketball or another sport throughout the year; to be willing to try "something new" and follow through with it.
 
Project Funded: Newsletter Awarded-$1,000
Quarterly newsletter to residents of Enfield that has community information from several sources; Enfield Volunteer Fire Department, Enfield Elementary School, the food bank, area churches, the seniors group, Enfield Grange, Tompkins County SPCA/Health Department, Enfield Town Historian, and various Tompkins County agencies. It also lists up coming meetings for those who wish to attend.
 
Project Funded: Enfield School Age Scholarship Program Awarded- $3,500
Description: The Enfield Community Council supports the working families of Enfield by providing scholarship money to defray the cost of quality child care in the Enfield School Age Program. The Enfield School Age Program is a not -for-profit organization whose mission is to provide a safe, engaging environment for children, grades K-5, who attend the Enfield Elementary School. The program offers structured and unstructured activities daily. Each day homework assistance is available, organized sports in gym, outdoor play, craft activities, monthly themes discussed/researched during group times. There are special presenters that come weekly, biweekly, and monthly in such areas as science, sewing, cooking.
 
Project Funded: Enfield Teen Program Awarded- $3,750
 
Project Funded: KINECT (Kin Education, Counseling, and Training) Awarded- $20,000
KINECT (Kinship Caregivers, Education, Counseling and Training) provides an array of intensive, trauma-informed, community and home-based services to connect families raising relative children with the resources they need, where and when they need them. KINECT services help to promote the safety, well-being, and permanency for children residing with relative adults, and strive to prevent youth from being re-placed in non-kin foster care. Caregivers can be any type of relative, as long as they are considered “family” by the parent, and are caring for the relative children through formal or informal placements. KINECT caseworkers and counselors provide service in the family’s home, in order to reduce travel, financial barriers, and to provide as little disruption to often over-burdened schedules. Caregiver education is held at local schools and other community-based locations to further increase accessibility.
 
Project Funded: Counseling Awarded- $30,000
Family & Children’s Service of Ithaca provides high-quality trauma-informed counseling services to Tompkins County and surrounding communities through a series of extensive programs and services that cater to the varying needs of clients from very young children to older adults. Counselors provide assessment and treatment, whether through play and creative arts therapy, individual therapy, family and couples counseling, case/crisis management and, when necessary, psychiatric referral. Our dedicated staff members provide superior mental health services with a structure that ensures care and treatment remain both affordable and accessible.
 
Project Funded: Psychiatry Awarded- $30,000
Psychiatric evaluation, assessment, diagnosis and treatment are the primary services offered by the psychiatry program at F&CS. This treatment can take the form of prescribing lifestyle changes, such as change in diet, exercise, and sleep patterns. However, psychiatric practitioners may also prescribe psychotropic medication in response to assessed mental health concerns. At F&CS psychiatric evaluations are recommended by counselors for clients who they deem may benefit from medical managements in addition to counseling. This means that in every case, counselors and psychiatrists work closely to provide integrated comprehensive and individualized treatment.
 
Project Funded: Talk, Sing, Read, Play with Me Awarded-$8,000
The Talk, Sing, Read, Play with Me (TSRPwM) program, casually called the "Baby Bin," has developed over the last two years in direct response to the needs of rural, low-resource families and caregivers in Tompkins County. FRP will engage families in early childhood literacy over a broader          portion of the County through TSRPwM, focusing on children between birth and 18 months, maximizing on the time when their brains are developing most rapidly and interaction is essential. This project is designed to promote more inclusion in resources and to eliminate the barriers that discourage participation and leave some families behind. The TSRPwM materials consist of a sturdy and attractive storage bin, stuffed to the brim with fun activities for infants and designed for use by caregivers at any level or comfort of literacy.
 
Foodnet Meals on Wheels Awarded- $30,000
Project Funded: Home Delivered Meals and Nutrition Counseling
Description: Foodnet services combat some of the biggest threats to healthy aging: hunger, isolation, and loss of independence. Foodnet Meals on Wheels provides nearly 700 daily meals to more than 400 older adults and others in need throughout Tompkins County. The vulnerability of our clients is prevalent. Providing access to nutritionally balanced meals that are certified by a registered dietitian helps keep our older adults living independently while significantly reducing health care costs. For many that we serve, our services are the difference between relocating to a nursing home and aging-in-place.
 
Gadabout Awarded- $11,000
Project Funded: Gadabout Transportation Services
Description: Gadabout Transportation Services uses a fleet of 27 lift equipped buses operated by volunteer and paid staff to provide rides to older adults (60 and over) and people with disabilities within Tompkins County. Our drivers will take riders to shop, volunteer, work, attend social gatherings, or to medical appointments. Anyone age 60 or over, or that has a disability that interferes with their ability to use of public transit is eligible to use the service. Fares range from $2.00 to $3.00 per one-way trip depending on location. Gadabout also provides free rides for Veterans. There is no minimum age or disability requirement if someone has served in the military. Currently Gadabout is the only low-cost accessible form of transportation in the County. 
 
Project Funded: Hospitality Employment Training Program Awarded-  $4,000
Description: The Hospitality Employment Training Program (HETP) staff, steering committee, and partners have compressed a lifetime of employment skills and experience into an intensive and holistic career training program which is transformative for participants and essential for local employers.  This comprehensive model screens jobseekers for housing, childcare, and mental health needs for example, and prepares participants for long-term career success using technical training, goal setting, and life skills such as conflict management and self-care. The program is designed for adults 18 and older.
 
Project Funded: Senior Program Awarded- $5,000
GIAC's Adult 60+ Senior Program addresses several issues associated with the aging process for senior citizens. The focus is on three basic components dealing with senior health and well-being: (1) isolation, (2) social and intellectual engagement, and (3) physical and mental well-being. The Senior Program primarily functions as an outing/activities program for people 60+. By participating in GIAC sponsored life enrichment trips and activities, seniors develop social networks and become engaged in the community, enjoy culture and the arts, and experience positive health outcomes.
 
Project Funded: GIAC Teen Program Awarded- $15,000
Description: The GIAC Teen Program works with low income, under-represented and minority teens primarily, providing educational support for them in school, through tutoring, study halls and when needed hands on in the classroom during school support sessions. Two main objectives form the foundation of the GIAC Teen Program: Support and grow those teens and young adults who lack the capacity and/or means to achieve on their own; and provide a safe, structured environment for teens to dwell, learn and build positive relationships. The program is for Middle School students through young adults because many of our young people really never stop depending on our support and advocacy. We deliver programing based on our mission like Recreational, educational, social and the arts.
 
Project Funded: GIAC Youth Program Awarded- $33,000
Description: The GIAC Youth Program is licensed through the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS). The program provides a safe, creative and fun after school program and a 6-week summer day camp for elementary-age children. Activities include a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math as well as fitness, and programs addressing children's reading/comprehension levels. Other activities address specific social/economic needs of our children including serving nutritious snacks and a hot dinner daily to all participants.  Staff members build into program plans, activities that are Social/Emotional Learning-based such as bullying prevention and awareness, feeling circles where children discuss how they feel, and an understanding of communicating well with others.  Multicultural learning is highlighted through foreign language studies and monthly heritage discovery and learning activities.
 
Groton Community Council
Project Funded: Groton Recreation Awarded- $800
Description: Groton Recreation program provides activities and programs to residents of all ages at a reasonable cost to ensure all can participate. Groton Recreation programming occurs year round with the exception of seasonal, outdoor activities.
 
Project Funded: Groton Public Library Summer Reading Program Awarded- $1,000
Groton Public Library’s provides cultural experiences for families in the Groton community. This gives children an early introduction to professional performances which will help to develop a life-long appreciation of the arts, expand their young minds, enhance understanding of how literature and the arts combine to feed the imagination, and to raise awareness of how the Library can be part of every child's development. To combat food insecurity the library also offers a weekly food giveaways and a monthly free meal. The newest edition is the daily offering of free fruit in our “Grab & Go” program offered at our front desk.
 
Project Funded: Groton Youth Services Awarded- $2,500
Description: Groton Youth Services is part of Cornell Cooperate Extension of Tompkins County's Rural Youth Services, which provides high quality Positive Youth Development programming in each municipality in Tompkins County with the exception of Newfield and the City of Ithaca. Groton Youth Services strives to serve its population of rural youth through progressive and innovative programing designed for elementary and middle school youth. These programs are developed to provide youth with the opportunity to develop life skills while fostering healthy, caring relationships with their peers and the Program Educator.  Programs are also developed using the Eight Principles of Positive Youth Development, offering a safe and supportive environment in which youth can take safe risks, explore  community, culture and realize their full potential and while belonging and thriving in their communities.
 
Project Funded: Farm Business Training Program  
Description: The Farm Business Training Program achieves financial stability and self-sufficiency for aspiring farmers in Tompkins County and the Finger Lakes. Through the Program, community members: (1) learn to grow their own food, (2) increase access to fresh produce, (3) gain skills to advance employment, and (4) improve English language proficiency. The target audience for this Program is aspiring and beginning farmers, with a priority to serve refugees, immigrants, and those most negatively impacted by the food system. GreenStar Community Projects
 
Project Funded: Building Community
Description: Tompkins County Habitat for Humanity is expanding outreach to train and include a wider range of community members to be a part of TC Habitat.  This includes but is not limited to: women of color, marginalized populations, special populations, young people (boys and girls), women leaving domestic violence and recovery. These populations will work on our three homes being built on Slaterville Road in the town of Dryden. This will provide empowering opportunities for hands-on learning for participants to build strength, stability and independence while changing their communities.
 
Project Funded: 2-1-1 Helpline and Referral Awarded- $10,000
Description: The 2-1-1 Helpline provides information and referral services to individuals, nonprofit and government staff members, family members, and friends, community 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Individuals can access 2-1-1 by phone (dialing 2-1-1 or 877-211-8667), by text message (sending a text to 898211, or “TXT211”), by online chat at the website 211tompkins.org, and through a searchable online directory. 
 
Project Funded: Continuum of Care Coordination Awarded-  $10,000
Description: The request for funding is to help support the Continuum of Care (CoC) Coordinator position. The position allows the CoC to meet all of the HUD requirements that make the County eligible to receive over $200,000 in funding each year to support housing for homeless individuals and families. The Continuum of Care (CoC) is a local planning body of individuals and public, and non-profit agencies working together to end homelessness in Tompkins County.  To receive HUD funding, you must have an active, collaborative CoC. The Coordinator staffs the 28 member CoC and its committees including setting up meetings and agendas, taking notes, researching, publicity, facilitating the Homeless and Housing Task Force, collecting data and producing all of the required HUD applications and reporting.
 
Project Funded: Ithaca Community Childcare Center Expansion
Description: Ithaca Community Childcare Center's building expansion will add 6,890 square feet of new space, renovate 4398 square feet of interior, and expand the parking lot by 20 spaces and add a bus loop for safe drop off. These improvements will allow IC3 to serve more children in our community and provide better experiences to families of IC3. The building expansion consists of the addition of 4 new classrooms, a gross motor space, conference room, 2 therapy rooms, 3 new restrooms, and a new staff breakroom. The expansion will increase capacity of the after school program from 50 to 100, it will add half day programming for 15 Pre-K children and 10 toddlers and may provide an additional 14 Pre-K spaces in an integrated Pre-K with a Racker collaboration as well as accommodating 35 TST BOCES students.
 
Ithaca Health Alliance Awarded- $35,000
Project Funded: Ithaca Free Operating Support for Patient Services
The Ithaca Health Alliance provides unique health care services not readily duplicated by other service providers in the community through the operation of the Ithaca Free Clinic. The Ithaca Free Clinic provides free medical and integrated healthcare services to the uninsured, the underinsured, and those who cannot access healthcare locally. Anyone without health insurance can receive primary healthcare and therapeutic services at the Free Clinic. In an effort to provide a place of healing built on trust and respect for every patient seeking Free Clinic services, there is no needs testing, residency requirements, or requirement to provide immigrant status. Free Clinic patients are members of the community who earn too much to be eligible for Medicaid and do not earn nearly enough to afford health insurance plans available through the ACA Marketplace that do not come with exorbitant co-pays and deductibles and lack coverage for essential, everyday healthcare needs.
 
Project Funded: Small Repair Program 
Description: The primary goal of INHS' Small Repair Program is to help homeowners age in place and continue living independently by providing health and safety repairs that prevent small problems from becoming larger, expensive ones. The labor and materials for repairs are provided free of charge. In addition to assisting seniors and persons with disabilities, INHS extends the program to homeowners who are housing-cost burdened, or, as defined by United Way, asset-limited, income-restrained, and employed (ALICE).
 
Ithaca Welcomes Refugees Awarded- $10,000
Project Funded: Global Roots Play School 
Description: Ithaca Welcomes Refugees launched Global Roots Play School in September 2017 in partnership with adult English as a Second Language (ESL) programs in Ithaca after identifying childcare as a significant barrier to refugee and immigrant parents of very young children attending ESL classes: affordable and easily accessible childcare was not available. Without childcare, it is impossible for parents to attend classes and learn the English language skills that expand opportunities for employment and empowerment. Global Roots’ mission is to provide refugee and immigrant parents with a daily space for their children, access to adult ESL programs at TST BOCES and Tompkins Learning Partners, and a meaningful, supportive community.
 
Lansing Community Council 
Project Funded: Town of Lansing Recreation Program Awarded- $1,000
The program is for Lansing residents (village or town) who do not have sufficient financial resources to send their children to organized recreational activities. Although the town provides general money for activities, there is no provision for providing opportunities for children whose families cannot afford the tuition, despite the fact that our fees are exceedingly inexpensive relative to similar programs. Eligibility for scholarships is determined using the same financial criteria as is used to determine eligibility for free school breakfast and lunch.
 
Project Funded: Lansing Youth Services Awarded- $2,750
Description: Lansing Youth Services programs are developed for at-risk youth in their middle school years as well as high school youth with no work experience. The programs provide opportunities for youth to learn life skills and resiliency. Programs are designed to provide opportunities for middle school children to learn life skills, develop relationships with other youth and with adults, and contribute through community service, in a supported, comfortable environment. Most programs are free, but no child is turned away because they cannot pay.
 
Project Funded: Crisis Services- Access to Justice Awarded- $2,000
Description: Tompkins County Client Crisis Services (Access to Justice)  core service  focus on issues essential to low-income residents’ abilities to secure decent, affordable housing, to obtain adequate food and health care, and to maintain a subsistence income sufficient to preserve shelter, nutrition, and health. Local funding supports our efforts to provide housing advocacy and homelessness prevention services and to facilitate access to the justice system in a variety of administrative agency and court proceedings.
 
Project Funded: LawNY Collaborative Reentry Project Awarded- $3,000
Description: The goal of the Reentry Project has been to remove legal barriers to employment, thereby enabling clients to be self-sufficient through economic advancement. Research has shown that accessing and maintaining employment is one of the most effective means of preventing incarceration and deterring criminal recidivism. The Reentry Project serves persons who have previously been incarcerated or who experience barriers to employment resulting from past involvement with the legal/judicial system.
 
Project Funded: Lifelong Activities Awarded- $2,500
At Lifelong, allowing seniors the opportunity to remain active and engaged is incredibly important. Paying attention to one's physical health becomes more and more important as we age. By offering appropriate and focused exercise programs, Lifelong helps seniors take control of their health by promoting movement, strengthening, stretching, aerobics, falls prevention and better balance. Our programs also go a long way in combatting social isolation, giving seniors a place to exercise with their peers.
 
Project Funded: Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) Awarded- $3,000
Description: Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) provides free tax preparation by IRS trained volunteer preparers to eligible clients. Appointments are made beginning in January of each year and tax clinics are held on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through the tax season.
 
Project Funded: Loaves and Fishes of Tompkins County
Description: Loaves & Fishes Free Meal and Advocacy Program offers Tompkins County residents a welcoming community where guests can share a meal with others and receive practical assistance and support when needed. Loaves & Fishes is Tompkins County’s only community kitchen that is open five days a week and on all holidays, except Thanksgiving. The free meal program provides a hot, nutritious free meal each weekday. The advocacy program provides information to our guests about existing social services and resources, actively links guests to these services when needed and, in general, provides on-going emotional and practical support to our guests during times of crisis or significant transitions.
 
Newfield Community Council 
Project Funded: Summer Reading Program Awarded- $1,000
The Newfield Public Library brings the Summer Reading Program to the entire Newfield community every year.  The program gives participants an opportunity to visit the library regularly for engaging and enriching activities and creates a lasting positive attitude toward reading, libraries, and our community. While the program is available to all age groups, the largest number of participants are youth.
 
Project Funded: Newfield Kitchen Cupboard Awarded- $1,500
Description: The Newfield Kitchen Cupboard is a food distribution program designed to help low income families experiencing emergency or chronic food insecurity. It serves anyone who is in need of food. A three day supply of nutritious food is offered twice monthly on the first and third Wednesdays of the month from 6-7 pm at the Newfield United Methodist Church, and on an emergency basis.
 
Project Funded: Newfield Before and After School Programs Awarded- $2,800
Description: The Newfield Before and After school program supports local low-income working families.
 
Project Funded: Newfield Recreation Summer Day Camp Awarded- $5,000
Description: The Newfield Recreation Summer Day Camp offers a low cost, high quality day care for children of a community that consistently is at or near the bottom of Tompkins county economic demographics and at the top of families in need of a structured, safe, and consistent environment for their children. Additionally, attending children receive free breakfasts and lunches.
 
Project Funded: The Julie Rudd Coulombe Language Program Awarded- $10,000
Open Doors English is a new English as a Second Language (ESL) program in Tompkins County.  It offers affordable, comprehensive English classes to adult English language learners and in doing so, empowers them to live fuller lives and strengthens the local community. Open Doors English (ODE) is the only ESL program in Tompkins County open to all regardless of their visa or work status. At ODE  students are offered morning and afternoon classes four days a week that are taught by experienced professional ESL teachers.  All permanent residents, regardless of their ability to pay are able to participate.
 
Project Funded: Voices That Must Be Heard Awarded- $4,000
Voices That Must Be Heard (“Voices”) Peer Leadership Group will bring together a cohort of CIU students as they prepare to become mentors, leaders, and advocates working for progressive change around concerns and issues that have directly impacted them. Voices will give visibility to people and ideas that have been hidden from the mainstream, bringing fresh perspectives from underrepresented groups.
 
Project Funded: OAR Services Awarded- $10,000
Description: For over forty years OAR has worked to protect civil liberties of those incarcerated in the Tompkins County Jail.  Over the past decade OAR has expanded services to assist clients in successful reentry into the community following incarceration.  In response to this different set of needs, and the numerous barriers facing those returning home, OAR has pioneered new programs including College Initiative Upstate, Endeavor House  (Transitional housing), and intensive casework with parolees.
 
Racker Awarded- $8,175
Project Funded: Early Childhood Feeding Program 
The Early Childhood Feeding Program is designed to help identify infants and children who experience feeding difficulties in homes, daycares, and community preschool classrooms. These difficulties may include oral motor deficits, reflux, delayed feeding development, sensory food aversions, feeding tube dependence and others. Racker will provide trained and experienced therapists to work with children and their families from their child’s initial evaluation forward and educational training to other professionals and caregivers of young children to enhance their full scope of knowledge around feeding issues.  This will include identifying children with feeding needs and providing strategies for follow-up.
 
Second Wind Cottages Awarded- $7,500
Project Funded: Second Wind Cottages
When people are ready, Second Wind Cottages assists those who desire a changed lifestyle. SW’s HCA has assisted ending homelessness for numerous people in our community through friendship, advocacy and providing a pathway to stable housing. 18 cottages provide permanent supportive housing for homeless men. Removing barriers to affordable housing is a start towards a restored life but more is needed. The program at SW, Flexible Programming, is individually tailored for each resident, focusing on the barriers which led each into homelessness. Periodic meetings with the Support Team allow for successes, challenges and new goals to be shared. Each resident can stay as long as needed until he is ready to live independently. 
 
Project Funded: SJCS - NY Shelter and Day Center
In Tompkins County SJCS-NY meets the needs of those struggling with housing and food insecurity through a combination of shelter, day center, food pantry, low barrier, permanent, supportive housing, outreach and intensive case management to those struggling with homelessness, and housing and food insecurity. Any client who is homeless, struggling with housing or food insecurity or at risk of losing housing or access to food in Tompkins County can access resources and support from SJCS.
 
Project Funded: The Crisisline Awarded- $15,000
The Crisisline ensures that there is always someone there to talk to in an individual's greatest time of need. The Senior Counselors are trained in the experience- and evidence-based Lifeline ASIST model for suicide intervention. They use this model to help callers at imminent risk of suicide to turn towards life, make connection, disable means, develop safety plans, and make verbal contracts "that you will call here first" before acting on any thoughts of suicide. Senior Counselors counsel others, too, who are at less imminent risk of suicide who turn to the Crisisline for support. The Crisisline is a key contact point in the deployment of the County Mobile Crisis Team when a person presents a danger to himself or others as a result of a mental health emergency.
 
Project Funded: Help for Every Teen Awarded- $2,275
“Help for Every Teen” is designed to teach teens about mental and emotional health, to encourage them to get emotional support for specific problems, and learn when and where to get more help from trusted. The program starts with "The Listening Tent," a pop-up mental health resource center and literally a small tent, providing information, learning experiences, and empathetic listening to high school and middle school students for week-long long residencies. The project will provide print materials, classroom visits, and lunch-time interactive experiences. In addition, trainings in suicide awareness and intervention skills will be provided for school staff.
 
The Learning Web Awarded- $40,000
Project Funded: Learning Web Youth Programs: Exploration, Life Skills, & Youth Outreach
The Learning Web provides a continuum of services and supports to help youth and young adults move steadily toward a positive adulthood. The Learning Web prioritizes academic support, career preparation and job search aid, housing, recreation programming, support services, transportation and family support. Secondarily (but still very critical) they help youth identify (and often accompanying them to) needed services for childcare, language assistance, health care, legal aid and tutoring.
 
Project Funded: Adult Literacy Awarded- $9,000
Tompkins Learning Partners serves adults who live or work in Tompkins County and who have English language or literacy needs. Students seek to improve their ability to speak English, read, write, do math, or use computers. Many have goals to improve or gain employment, obtain High School Equivalency, become American citizens, or simply gain skills to navigate independently in the community. Students in TLP's program test at the low (beginner or basic) to intermediate (4-9th grade) literacy levels. They range from ages 18-80+, represent both urban and rural parts the county, are typically under-resourced, and face multiple barriers in addition to literacy.
 
Ulysses Community Council 
Project Funded: Summer Reading Program Awarded- $800
The Summer Reading Program encourages children and teens to continue reading through their school summer vacation so as to avoid the "summer slide" of lost literacy skills. The Ulysses Philomathic Library offers event programming for six weeks and runs the reading campaign two full months. In addition to supporting literacy, UPL's Summer Reading Program builds community, encourages families and children to feel welcome in the library, and gives children valuable cultural experiences - such as storyteller and theater performances.
 
Project Funded: Trumansburg Afterschool Program Inc. Scholarship Program Awarded- $2,000
Many families with children need safe affordable child care for their children during after school hours. The United Way funding allows TASP to help families with short term financial aid during family situations and longer term part scholarships to help low income families attend TASP.
 
Project Funded: Trumansburg Food Pantry Awarded- $2,000
The Trumansburg Food Pantry is designed simply to provide free food to those in need.  The Pantry has grown to now help an average of 70 households in the Village of Trumansburg, the Town of Ulysses, and/or the Trumansburg Central School District. Guests are experiencing financial difficulties and need support with meeting their monthly nutritional needs due to a variety of financial stresses, e.g., loss of employment, social security limitations, health concerns with increasing medical and pharmacy expenses, and more. The Pantry tries to supply 3-5 days of meals every other week and also maintain an Emergency Hotline for immediate food needs.
 
Project Funded: Summer Recreation Program Awarded- $3,000
The Summer Recreation Program provides full-day recreational services for approximately 175 children from the Trumansburg Central School District.  The six-week program enables parents of all economic backgrounds (low-income, ALICE, and higher income families) to have full-day supervised recreational activities that are fun, educational, and healthy for their children ages 5-13.  Supervision is offered before and after programs allowing parents to register for care from 7:30am - 5:30pm.
 
Project Funded: Trumansburg/ Ulysses Youth Services Awarded- $3,750
Trumansburg/Ulysses Youth Services is part of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County's Rural Youth Services which provides high quality Positive Youth Development programming in rural communities. The Town of Ulysses contracts with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County and the Trumansburg Ulysses Youth Commission oversees innovative non formal educational programming for rural and undeserved school students in Trumansburg schools. The Town of Ulysses provides funds to create first time employment opportunities for youth through placements at area businesses, summer camps and parks. Youth are supported through the employment experience by the Program Manager, who checks in with the youth and the employer to ensure a quality experience; that includes obtaining foundational employment skills and workplace etiquette.
 
Village at Ithaca Awarded- $12,000
Project Funded: Family Advocacy Program and Related Projects
The Family Advocacy Program was formalized in 2009 by community activists and volunteers who organized a program pairing volunteer community advocates with families who wanted support in navigating the school system on behalf of their children. The current iteration of the Family Advocacy Program takes a multi-pronged approach to supporting children and families. Village staff work with families individually to get a full picture of what supports are necessary for the child in question to achieve genuine educational success, and then we work together to provide those supports. Advocates (either Village staff or trained, volunteer community members) can arrange, attend and/or facilitate school meetings from family/caregiver conferences to disciplinary hearings.  
 
Project Funded: On the job training workshops "Leadership Employment and Development Skills"
The Leadership, Employment, and Development Skills (LEADS) Program provides hands-on training, computer skills, and soft-skills needed to help our participants create a community of support and professional networking that will help them to think beyond just obtaining a level-entry position, but instead starting on a career path.  In the long-term, this will increase their job retention rates, help them break out of the cycle of generational poverty, and become contributing economic self-sufficient members of Tompkins Country.
 
Project Funded: Open Doors Scholarship Program 
In an effort to encourage health and well being for individuals and families in our community, the YMCA of Ithaca & Tompkins County offers an income-based membership, known as the Open Doors Program. This membership allows the applicant (and family, if applicable) a 3 month membership at a subsidized rate. This also allows the option to request assistance with most of the programs with fees that we offer. Requests are easy by bringing the application to the Welcome Center and submit income documentation. The YMCA is a place where everyone can belong—no matter what income.