Our Impact Partners receive financial resources through one or more of the following: the United Tompkins Community Impact Fund, T. Merrell Shipherd Fund, or Youth and Philanthropy Fund. Each of these funds are managed by dedicated community volunteers. Community volunteers evaluate all applications, determine where to invest UWTC resources to achieve the greatest community impact, and evaluate progress being made through those investments towards achieving UWTC's identified goals and outcomes.
The United Tompkins Impact Fund (formerly Community Care Fund) invests in programs that address community needs and strengthens lives in Tompkins County. Investing in the United Tompkins Impact Fund is the best way to have the most impact with a single contribution. Every dollar is empowered and goes directly to help those agencies making a difference in our community.
Each year, the United Tompkins Impact Fund awards grants to local non-profit agencies and community councils that provide equitable services supporting wellness and safe, affordable living conditions for those living and working in Tompkins County, NY.
UWTC Impact Areas:
- Access to Safe, Affordable Housing
- Childhood and Youth Success
- Flourishing of Marginalized Communities
- Food Security
- Transportation to Access Services, Work, and Learning Opportunities
- Whole Health and Well Being
Volunteers determine award amounts based on current UWTC community assessment data and program outcomes. UWTC tracks and measures the outcomes of funded programs, ensuring that donor dollars support critical and effective services for our community. More than ever, in these times, we all must LIVE UNITED.
Learn more about the programs the UTIF has invested in for 2024-2026 by clicking on the Impact Partners below. Click here for information on how to apply to the United Tompkins Impact Fund and to learn more about previously funded projects.
Advocacy Center of Tompkins County
Awarded- $8,000
Project Funded: Youth Services
The Youth Services Program provides services to victims of child sexual abuse, teen dating violence, children who witness domestic violence and adult survivors of child sexual abuse. Advocates provide services to these vulnerable youth and their non-offending family members. The educational services provide grade level school-based education; campus education; support groups and overall community education.
Catholic Charities Tompkins/Tioga
Awarded- $4,000
Project Funded: A Place to Stay 2024-2026
A Place to Stay: Guest House for Women opened in May of 2016 in response to the unmet need for safe, supportive, short-term transitional housing for homeless single women in Tompkins County. The 4-bedroom apartment in the City of Ithaca operates as short-length transitional housing for homeless women, one of the needs identified in the City's Consolidated Plan. Participants are initially offered stays of 90 days with extensions granted where treatment programs and situations warrant. Extensions are frequent; the average is about 121 days. The factors leading to a housing emergency often include domestic violence, sudden job loss, mental health issues, or substance use disorder (SUD). Women without stable housing are particularly susceptible to unsafe and predatory living arrangements. Recovery from SUD has been a goal for most participants. In response, CCTT has evolved the model over time to include credentialed professionals and provide a more focused therapeutic model. In addition to intensive case management, CCTT provides training and support in rental stewardship, financial education, job-seeking skills, personal goal setting, and community engagement. The program helps women find, secure, and maintain their housing. Women completing the program gain a positive rental reference to offer future property owners. The overarching goal/outcome of the current A Place to Stay program has always been the transition to stability and maintenance of stable housing, as determined between six months and one year.
Awarded- $30,000
Project Funded: Samaritan Center
The Samaritan Center provides an array of emergency funding. It supports visitors with needs and/or crises in their lives and offers linkages to other or longer-term supports that aid in building self-sufficiency. Funds will be used to provide services across the three stages of intervention: crisis, intermediate need, and long-term solutions:
- Security deposits, rental arrears, short-term rental support, or other aids to avoid homelessness.
- Preventing utility service interruption or allowing reconnection.
- Transportation assistance provides continued, safe travel to work, school, and medical appointments.
- Necessary prescriptions to avoid serious illness.
- Packages of personal care products to assist in maintaining hygiene and health, which is essential to family members' self-worth and ability to pursue jobs or other goals successfully. This includes diapers for households with infants.
- Clothing is available through our clothes closet and special distributions such as Share the Warmth.
- Case management and advocacy for vulnerable households that struggle to access support from other service providers.
- Referral to other programs and services, either internally or externally. Additional aids for long-term support that CCTT provides include:
- Facilitated enrollment for food stamps (SNAP) and health insurance.
- Employment assistance and support for job-seekers with disabilities or mental health issues.
- Permanent and Transitional housing services for homeless people.
- Aid explicitly tailored to the legal and other needs of immigrants and refugees through the Immigrant Services Program.
- Support for parents involved in the Child Protective Services system.
Awarded- $7,500
Project Funded: Community Based Prevocational Services/Supported Employment
Challenge Workforce Solutions provides vocational services and supports to workers with disabilities across Tompkins County, New York. The funded programs are designed to support workers and aspiring workers with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities to achieve competitive employment and other forms of meaningful community integration.
Project Funded: Family Services Awarded-$15,000
Family Services is comprised of two home visiting programs- Transitions Pregnancy/Parenting Program (TP3) and Family Support Services (FSS). The programs were developed over 30 years ago and have grown as community needs were identified. The programs are research-informed, based on best practice research of the Nurse/Family Partnership Home Visiting Program, Healthy Families America and Early Head Start. The majority of families have infants and toddlers, however, children through the age of five years can be served. The programs are primarily prevention for child abuse and neglect. The program model is strengths-based and offers family advocacy, parenting and child development information and guidance towards self- sufficiency.
Project Funded: Enhancing Childcare & Safe Summer Care Awarded-$10,000
The Enhancing Childcare program supports family and group family child care providers in enhancing the quality of their programs through support with the purchase of necessary toys, materials, and equipment. A trained Council team member completes a research-based assessment with the provider and results indicate which areas of the program’s physical space could be improved to best serve the children in care. The Safe Summer Care program assists summer camps with the expenses of completing the requirements to be able to accept childcare subsidies through stipends.
Community Dispute Resolution Center
Awarded- $4,500
Project Funded: CDRC's Mediation, Conflict Coaching, and Circles
At CDRC, conflict becomes an opportunity to be heard clearly, to listen well, and to regain a certain well-being. Every time CDRC employs their powerful mediation practice and helps people in dispute to really start communicating, there is less anger and more peace in our communities, less conflict, and more justice, less of a sense of chaos and more of a sense of empowerment. CDRC can facilitate the right type of systemic change needed by our community that will increase fairness, peacemaking, and violence prevention that can impact community safety. Peacemaking can be done through mediation services, conflict coaching one on one, and through the Circles process. Individuals experiencing empowerment and recognition shifts fundamentally experience a change in the quality of their interaction.
Downtown Ithaca Children's Center
Awarded- $14,000
Project Funded: Tuition Assistance
Downtown Ithaca Children’s Center (DICC) provides quality education and childcare to children ages 6 weeks to 5 years old. Quality early childhood programming is an essential community support. DICC is committed to providing accessibility for children to grow and develop in a supportive learning environment while allowing their caregivers to remain in the workforce. We have and maintain our commitment to deconstruct negative stereotypes associated with race, class, ability, gender, language and biases through strengths-based programming. Our classrooms and staff mirror the children and families we serve, as all should feel represented and a sense of belonging in their community. Tuition Assistance as a project aids in resolving two primary issues to ultimately meet DICC’s top priority – community access to diverse, inclusive and quality childcare for ALL and maintaining the organization as a livable wage employer.
Project Funded: Enfield Teen Program Awarded- $3,000
The Enfield Teen Program/ Enfield Youth Services provides programming with the goal of reaching youth who need a place to belong and thrive. Enfield Youth Services Programs are designed to provide no cost programming to youth and families that may have transportation and economic barriers to participate in enrichment offerings.
Project Funded: Enfield Summer Camp Awarded- $3,000
Enfield Summer Camp offers a six week program that offers a variety of activities including sports, STEM projects, crafts, cooking, board games, outdoor education, and natural Arts. There is also a fully operational library at the center that campers can visit throughout the day. Each Friday is a full day field trip to parks with access to swimming or to museums. All campers have available to them free breakfast and lunch, including field trip days.
Project Funded: Enfield School Age Scholarship Program Awarded- $1,500
The Enfield School Age Program provides a safe, engaging environment for children K-5 during the after school hours of 2:00 - 5:30. The Program tries to be accessible to the Enfield community and keep the monthly fees as low as can be financially feasible. Each day the program provides supervised homework sessions for children who need to get work done with assistance and/or the teacher or parent/guardian has requested the work be completed during program time. The children interact with all ages in the program; learning and practicing sharing, mindfulness of each other's feelings, and conflict resolution. The Program offers physical activity time either in the gym or outdoors daily. Funding supports scholarships for families who are not eligible for DSS subsidies or other similar programs, but still have financial constraints.
Project Funded: Enfield Elementary Basketball Program Awarded- $500
The basketball program provides elementary age youth the chance to engage in after school programming in their community.
Family & Children's Service of Ithaca
Project Funded: Kinship Education Counseling and Training (KINECT) Program Awarded- $10,000
The KINECT (KINship caregivers, Education, Counseling and Training) program provides support to Kinship caregivers to ensure a successful placement of a child in their care. The goal is to support these placements, for the sake of the health and wellbeing of the child, as well as the Kinship caregivers. The goal for most families is either for successful permanent placement with the Kinship caregivers, or for reunification with the family of origin. KINECT is a unique program in the community, as there are no other programs working to provide the same kind of support to this population. KINECT provides intensive, community and home-based services to connect kinship caregivers and children in kinship care, with the resources they need to promote the safety, well-being, and permanency of children residing with relative adults. The program strives 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.
Project Funded: Counseling Awarded- $10,000
F&CS provides an array of high quality trauma-informed counseling and mental health care services to Tompkins County and surrounding communities through a series of extensive programs and services that cater to the varying needs of patients from infants, to those receiving end-of-life care and related social services. Counselors provide assessment and creation of treatment plans, whether through play and creative arts therapy, individual therapy, family and couples counseling, social-emotional development, case/crisis management, and when necessary, psychiatric referral. As a private outpatient mental health facility licensed by the New York State Office of Mental Health, F&CS’s clinic counseling program offers high-quality, professional therapy in a warm and caring environment. F&CS works to include families and caregivers of clients in order to create an environment outside of the counseling session that supports therapeutic outcomes, ensuring a much higher level of lasting care that extends beyond clinical sessions, contributing to the overall health and wellness of our entire community.
Project Funded: Psychiatry Awarded- $22,000
F&CS offers psychiatry services to adults who are also receiving services in our counseling program. Psychiatric treatment can be an important addition to counseling for many who struggle with mental wellness. For some, it can take the form of short-term medication that offers the clarity and focus to work through an immediate stressor or trauma. For others, it can help balance brain chemistry that can cause life-long mental illness like schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, or major depression, and provides the opportunity to become a functional and successful member of society. Our psychiatrists work collaboratively with clients and F&CS therapists to assess and, where appropriate, develop a pharmaceutical plan when therapy alone is insufficient to provide the support a client needs to thrive.
Awarded- $5,500
Project Funded: Operational Support
The main activity of FRP’s work is to distribute new and gently-used children’s books to grow the home libraries of all families in Tompkins County, at as many access points as possible.The Bright Red Bookshelves are in 50 locations spanning the County, from Head Start lobbies to grocery stores, community centers to human service offices. The shelves are regularly stocked with free books for families to take home and keep. FRP delivers books to all families at every medical office in Tompkins County that sees infants and toddlers for well-visit check-ups via the Books to Grow On Program. This partnership aims to excite children about reading by gifting them a brand new, engaging book specifically chosen to correspond with and stretch their development. Story Walks are located in accessible village locations in Dryden, Enfield, Groton, Danby, Lansing, Newfield, and downtown Ithaca. These outdoor adventures are designed to utilize kinesthetic learning techniques that encourage physical movement and simultaneous engagement with print, art, and reading-aloud. In October 2022 FRP opened The Nook, a free family space at The Shops at Ithaca Mall.
Awarded- $30,000
Project Funded: Operational Support
Foodnet Meals on Wheels combats some of the biggest threats and barriers to healthy aging: food insecurity, the risk of malnutrition, and isolation. At a time when the US average life expectancy is 79 years old, Foodnet addresses all of these escalating problems daily through meal services. Foodnet Meals on Wheels provides comprehensive nutrition services to anyone who resides in Tompkins County, is sixty years old or older (and who is unable to stand, shop, cook or care for themselves for home delivery) – no matter their income level. This work is done with two program types: Home Delivered Meals and Congregate Senior Social Dining. For clients who are unable to shop, stand, cook or care for themselves, Foodnet prepares and delivers hot meals directly to the homes of Tompkins County seniors. The Foodnet team cooks, packages and delivers meals every Monday through Friday, currently serving eight routes with between 30 and 40 clients on each route and in 2023 traveling nearly 93,000 miles throughout the County, in this service. Foodnet prepares and delivers hot meals to mobile older adults each weekday at the Senior Congregate Dining Program at Titus Towers where clients enjoy connections with others over a healthy meal as well as informational programming and nutrition education.
Awarded- $10,000
Project Funded: Operational Support
Gadabout's core mission is to provide safe, reliable, accessible transportation to older adults and people with disabilities. Our services are unduplicated in the community, leaving no other option or mode of transportation for many of our riders. Gadabout utilizes a fleet of 26 lift-equipped vehicles operated by volunteer and paid staff to provide transportation to vulnerable populations facing transportation barriers within Tompkins County.
Greater Ithaca Activities Center, Inc.
Project Funded: Hospitality Employment Training Program Awarded- $8,000
Through HETP, GIAC aims to address issues of poverty because of unemployment or underemployment. Many of our area residents face barriers to gaining and keeping meaningful employment. To that end HETP works to address those barriers while at the same time providing job training skills and certifications that participants can take to most jobs. Since 2014 HETP has offered wraparound services to build on individuals' strengths. These services support them in achieving personal goals and improving their well-being by meeting their physiological and psychological needs, which allows participants to focus on their self-fulfillment. Participants gain skills, education, understanding, and hands-on experience that will provide them the means to obtain and retain successful permanent employment.
Project Funded: GIAC Adult Program Awarded- $5,000
The GIAC Adult 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 Adult Program primarily functions as an outing/activities program for people 60+. By participating in GIAC sponsored trips/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- $10,000
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, and delivers recreational, educational, social, and arts programming.
Project Funded: GIAC Youth Program Awarded- $25,000
The GIAC Youth Program addresses the need for quality childcare and afterschool care so that children, youth, and families can succeed. The program also addresses food security needs, and the need to help marginalized members of the community improve their socio-economic status. At the Greater Ithaca Activities Center, we strive to provide quality programming to our participants at an affordable cost to caregivers. 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.
Project Funded: Operational Support Awarded- $2000
Affordable recreation programming for community members of all ages. Groton Recreation has programming for children as young as 5 years old up to senior citizens. Other offered programs include the Adventure Art Camp for children 7-12 and the Craft Shack which are open to all, free of charge all summer long.
Groton Community Cupboard
Project Funded: Operational Support Awarded- $5,000
The Groton Community Cupboard (GCC) works to provide fresh and sustainable food in the Groton and surrounding areas. Mobile food delivery is available to those who are unable to access the pantry due to illness, lack of transportation, unable to drive or being unable to access pantry hours due to work.
Project Funded: Operational Support Awarded- $2,500
Groton Youth Services provides programming with the goal of reaching youth who need a place to belong and thrive. Groton Youth Services Programs are designed to provide no cost programming to youth and families that may have transportation and economic barriers to participate in enrichment offerings, this includes the Groton summer camp. Rural Youth Services also works with the school to obtain referrals for youth that may be experiencing different levels of isolation, or do not join in any extra activities during school and after school hours
Awarded- $20,000
Funded Project: Operational Support
Since 2006, Healthy Food For All (HFFA) has been making fresh, quality produce accessible to households with limited income through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) coupled with nutrition education and culinary resources. Every year, HFFA provides sustenance and stability for over 1,500 food-insecure youth and adults in Tompkins County, ensuring they have reliable access every week to a diversity of nutritious fruits and vegetables—grown locally and organically—that provide a cornerstone to good health.
Human Services Coalition of Tompkins County
Awarded- $10,000
Project Funded: Continuum of Care Program, including Coordinated Entry
The Continuum of Care (CoC) is a local planning network of over thirty public, private, and not-for-profit partners including people with lived expertise collaborating to build and maintain a homeless response system in which homelessness is rare, brief, one-time, and equitable. Moreover, it aims to support a thriving system where all system stakeholders use data, evidence, and leading practices to drive program planning and resource allocation. The CoC network strives to address emergent conditions for people experiencing homelessness by quickly connecting them with services and housing. CoC staff serve people directly through Coordinated Entry (CE) and serves as the backbone of the homeless response system through convening, planning, educating stakeholders, and training.
Ithaca Community Childcare Center
Awarded- $15,000
Project Funded: Early Childhood Mental Health Support
Funds will be used to provide onsite counseling for center staff. Providing mental health support to staff helps them to provide the best quality care to the children in their classrooms.
Awarded- $35,000
Project Funded: Operational Support
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.
Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services Awarded-$10,000
Project Funded: Minor Repairs Program
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).
Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc.
Project Funded: Crisis Services- Access to Justice Awarded- $2,000
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
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
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.
Loaves and Fishes of Tompkins County Awarded- $22,000
Project Funded: Loaves and Fishes of Tompkins County
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
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
The Newfield Before and After school program supports local low-income working families. The program works to provide enriching experiences for students by facilitating field trips as well as hands-on learning opportunities.
Project Funded: Newfield Recreation Summer Day Camp Awarded- $5,000
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.
Opportunities, Alternatives and Resources of Tompkins County
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
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.
Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service
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.
Women’s Opportunity Center Awarded- $5,000
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 County.
YMCA of Ithaca and Tompkins County Awarded- $10,000
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.
Each fall, students in the Youth and Philanthropy (YAP) program award grants to programs sponsored by local agencies that focus on the building blocks of a good life: Education, Income and Health.
YAP empowers youth to take an active role in their community and understand the role of philanthropy in their lives. Participating students come together as grant reviewers assessing community needs and dispersing an average of $20,000 each year to organizations addressing those needs. Participants gain skills in consensus building, community needs assessment, interview techniques, and critical thinking.
The funding for the grants issued is provided by a generous donation from Triad Foundation.
Learn more about the Fall 2020 projects YAP has invested in below. Click here for information on how to apply to the Youth and Philanthropy Grant Fund and to learn more about previously funded projects. Click here to apply to be a member of YAP.
Catholic Charities Tompkins/Tioga Awarded- $4,000
Project Funded: Personal Needs Products and Cleaning Supplies
Catholic Charities of Tompkins/Tioga seeks continued support of the Samaritan Center through the Youth and Philanthropy Fund. The Samaritan Center serves as a welcoming location for families and individuals experiencing financial crisis. The Youth and Philanthropy Fund requested will be used as part of our full budget to help over 3000 low-income people each year to resolve crises and stabilize, get caring support, and gain access to programs that have helped many to move toward greater self sufficiency. We target this assistance to meet the needs that impact the youth and children the most. For those who turn to the Samaritan Center for help. Based on recent history we envision this will include personal care products, cleaning supplies and disinfecting products.
Coddington Road Community Center Awarded- $800
Project Funded: Learners and Scholars at Coddington Awarded
The Coddington Learners and Scholars programs began in response to the pandemic. Both are designed to support elementary students as they navigate online learning through their home schools. In addition to academic support, Coddington offers outdoor time on our 12 acres of fields and woods allowing students to disconnect and absorb sunshine and nature during down times. Meals are also served, including breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack during our full day option. Our Learners program has already operated during the September 14 to October 2 school closure, serving 19 children. Many students come prepared with academic supplies, including school issued tablets. Coddington also provides materials for planned and independent art projects, games and other recreational materials. For students who have trouble logging on to our network or didn't bring a device, we hope to provide a device set up to work on our network. This request is to purchase 3 Chromebooks with protective cases and keyboards. The approximate cost for each complete unit is $400.
Foodnet Meals on Wheels Awarded- $4,000
Project Funded: Blizzard Bag Program
Foodnet requests $4,000 of United Way Youth and Philanthropy funding to support the continuation of the blizzard bag program for vulnerable older adults who have difficulty maintaining adequate nutrition. In Upstate New York, a snowstorm can hit unexpectedly, creating dangerous road conditions that can challenge our ability to reach homebound older adults and others in need. Investment in this program ensures that our older adult neighbors have access to nutritious meals regardless of the weather conditions during the winter months.
Golden Opportunity Center Awarded-$3,000
Project Funded: GO Online Tutoring and Virtual Mentorship Program
Distance learning has challenged GO’s primary objective of delivering in-person, one-on-one tutoring, and mentorship. GO students and their families are struggling with housing and food insecurity, internet connectivity, and social and emotional wellness. We are aware that students who were already struggling are falling further behind. As an organization, we have been forced to reimagine tutoring by creating an online program where tutors can continue to offer consistency and support, and where students can share their dreams and fears in a safe environment with a mentor whom they trust. Distance learning may impact GO tutors' ability to sit shoulder to shoulder with their students, but it won't change their capacity to promote joy and belonging and offer hope for a better tomorrow.
Great Ithaca Activities Center, Inc. Awarded- $2,700
Project Awarded: GIAC Cultural Awareness Preteen Video Art/Cooking Instruction & Elementary Youth Podcast
The program summary focuses on two age groups within GIAC: 1) the pre-teen 6th - 8th grade students and 2) the elementary 2nd - 5th grade students that attend GIAC's new all-day, 4-days a week Academic Support Program to complete their ICSD online classes as well as small groups of After School students in GIACs safe, small group format. The proposal is a brand new idea that engages students to explore virtual media arts, develop their creativity and the opportunity to learn about different cultures. The pre-teen group during GIAC's school year program will create instructional videos highlighting an art project and cooking lesson related to a particular culture and heritage month with the purchase of an I-Pad and art supplies to create their videos. Additionally, the younger students in the 2nd - 5th grade program would explore virtual media by creating a youth-centric podcast where the students with GIAC staff brainstorm and decide on podcast topics related to the cultural heritage month focus, create the content, record the podcast and make it available to the other GIAC groups, as well as local youth in the community. This is particularly important as due to COVID, GIAC's groups are unable to participate collectively.
Ithaca Children's Garden Awarded-$750
Project Funded: A Yurt at ICG
ICG respectfully requests a grant to support construction of a yurt, a critical 4-season shelter, in the Garden to serve our program participants and vulnerable visitors. ICG lacks a 4-season shelter at the Garden to support our primarily outdoor-based program. Our current indoor program space is located off-site at the Just-Be-Cause Center, and is shared with other community groups. Due to Covid-19 mandates and safety precautions, we can no longer use it for our preschool, after-school and other programs that require indoor shelter in proximity to our outdoor site. The yurt will provide a safe, well-ventilated, and spacious shelter for ICG’s preschool, after-school, school break and summer day camp programs. The yurt will also provide respite from inclement weather conditions for Garden visitors, ICG and community partner event participants, and more. By constructing the yurt now, ICG will be able to reopen its childcare programs in early 2021, filling a critical need for over 750 families in the community while also stabilizing our financial position with the resumed income stream from these programs.
Ithaca Community Childcare Center Awarded-$4,000
Project Funded: COVID Supply Boxes
As we begin moving moving forward following the COVID-19 outbreak, child care providers and families are faced with the “new normal”. For the Ithaca Community Childcare Center (IC3) staff, this includes among other things, implementing social distancing strategies, new cleaning protocols, modified drop off and pick up procedures, and increased screening procedures.IC3 would like to mitigate the impact of some of these changes while also implementing COVID-19 protocols by introducing individual workstations to daycare rooms, moving away from the community workstations that currently occupy these spaces. Included would be individual workstations for each child and supply boxes that contain crayons, markers, scissors, playdough, etc., one complete kit would be allotted for each child. We propose introducing these individual workstations as part of a new routine, marking the transition with celebratory flare and the “gifting” of their very own individual supply boxes. The individual supplies will reduce the potential of transmission of COVID-19 on high touch materials such as pencils, crayons, markers, scissors, playdough etc. IC3 would like to purchase individual supply boxes for 165 children in each of the 13 toddler, pre k and school age classrooms. We believe this is an opportunity to model for children problem-solving, and flexibility, by engaging children in preventative health measures and in the reimagining their physical spaces.
Khuba International Awarded- $5,137.50
Project Funded: Quarter Acre for the People
Quarter Acre for the People (QAP) facilitates access to land and expands opportunities to engage in agricultural systems for racially-oppressed, food-insecure, and income-challenged community members, particularly families with children. Through the project, families are connected with farmers and landowners who allocate at least a quarter-acre of their land for long-term community agriculture purposes. With support from QAP staff, families grow culturally relevant food, participate in hands-on learning opportunities, and take fresh produce home. Additionally, we will host monthly youth and family-specific workshops, put on in collaboration with community partners such as Cornell Cooperative Extension and Groundswell. In order to support community members in accessing programming, QAP will provide transportation to the farm site, and financial incentives for participating in focus groups. Focus groups will be an opportunity to gain feedback from the community participants to ensure that community needs are continuing to be met and that the program can adapt as needed. In the short term, families and youth are provided increased access to green space, educational programming, and fresh produce. This will have educational and health benefits for families and children. In the long-term, families interested in becoming more involved in agriculture systems will have the opportunity to move to land for homesteading and/or cooperative farming ventures. This would allow families increased housing and economic security in the long-term, as well as sustained health benefits.
Ulysses Community Council Awarded-$5,000
Project Funded: Trumansburg Community School-Day Program
An opportunity for middle school students to attend a four-hour/two day per week program supervised by CCE Youth Coordinator for Trumansburg and two additional paid staff. During the day the program consists of the following options/activities:
- All participants will complete all incomplete assignments on BrightSpace and I-ready. This is the most important part of the day. Students will also be encouraged to attend classes should they have any questions, or, if you are a full-virtual learner, attend all virtual classes on their schedules.
- Youth Development programs run by Ethan Cramton of Cornell Cooperative Extension. This will include fun DIY projects, outdoor/survival skills, outdoor art projects, team-building challenges, and other focused youth development programming.
- Lawn games such as target games (bean bag toss), badminton, spikeball, pickleball, bocce, and physically distant recreational activities.
Village at Ithaca Awarded- $1800
Project Funded: Village Family Dinner Program
Our Family Dinner Program will be a twice monthly event, likely on Sunday, where we’ll encourage teenagers and young adults to come together over a meal. We want it to be a casual space that establishes us even further as a place of safety, support, and love. We hope to solicit donations from local restaurants, giving teenagers and young adults a stronger tie to our own community. (We already have partnerships with Italian Carryout and Mama Said Hand Pies.) Additionally, we plan to partner with a diverse group of local restaurants that provide healthy meals whenever possible. With the support of United Way of Tompkins County, we will expand our relationships with students in Ithaca and surrounding areas, create stronger relationships, and alleviate the burden for food insecure families in the ways that we can.
YMCA of Ithaca and Tompkins County Awarded- $750
Project Funded: Virtual Membership Expansion
Our virtual membership expansion is designed to promote health and wellness for youth, families, and seniors from the comfort of their homes during the ongoing pandemic. By offering a virtual membership we will be able to continue delivering the YMCA experience online through group fitness classes, wellness workshops, cooking classes, etc. By virtually connecting folks to the YMCA community we hope to fight feelings of isolation, improve mental health, and keep people physically healthy as well.