Our Impact Partners receive financial resources through the United Tompkins Impact Fund, Youth and Philanthropy Fund, and/or service agreements. Where funds are invested is managed by dedicated community volunteers and professional staff.
Learn more about the programs the UTIF has invested in for 2024-2026 by clicking on the Impact Partners below.
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.
Awarded-$3,500
Funded Project: Operational Support
Civic Ensemble creates theater that explores and explodes the social, political, and cultural issues of our time. We bring audiences of different races, classes, and experiences together in a public forum on the American experiment. Programs include the ReEntry Theatre Program, a creative and supportive community for people who have experienced incarceration/court involvement, and the Youth Forum Theatre Troupe (YFTT), an out-of-school program for 7th-12th graders in Tompkins County in which young people engage in meaningful & critical exploration of their lives and community through theater.
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.
Awarded-$2,500
Funded Project: Tompkins Food Future
Over the past four years, Tompkins Food Future has gathered community perspectives to articulate a vision for a more resilient, equitable, and healthy food system for all residents. Tompkins County has a long history of food and farming programs, services, and activities. Tompkins Food Future, in partnership with the Tompkins County Food Policy Council and many other collaborators, aims to strengthen the local food system by addressing the root causes of injustice and inequity to realize a more resilient, equitable, and healthy food system for all in our community. Though Tompkins County has an abundance of activity in the food system, most efforts are siloed. The need to collaborate and support one another is more clear than ever. Tompkins Food Future is dedicated to building a network of food system change-makers who are committed to food system transformation.
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.
Funded Project: Operational Support Awarded-$2,000
The Dryden Community Summer Camp offers a safe, fun, and affordable summer camp to the families in the community. The camp runs full day for six weeks and provides each camper with free breakfast, lunch, and snack.
Funded Project: Summer Reading Programs Awarded-$1,350
The Summer Reading Program provides an incentive based challenge for youth to 18 (and adults) to read and explore learning during the summer months. The library also provides daily kids 'clubs' for kids from infants to early teens with a different focus each day with activities including reading, writing, crafting, storytelling and games. Every day over the summer the library provides free summer lunches for kids up to 18 and a weekly free farmer's market at the park in collaboration with the food bank. General services include access to technology, internet, educational and recreational resources such as books, movies, audio devices and our library of things including toys, kitchen supplies and science kits with telescopes, microscopes and more.
Dryden United Methodist Community Dinners
Funded Project: Operational Support Awarded-$1,750
Dryden Community Dinners provide a "home cooked" meal for residents of Dryden and the surrounding rural area on Wednesday evenings. The meals also offer a chance for socialization as many guests are elderly and often live alone.
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-$2,500
Funded Project: ReSET: IT Job Skills Training Skills for TC Residents with Barriers
ReSET is a uniquely supportive job training program to gain skills in IT that has been successful in connecting people with barriers to employment to career opportunities. ReUse provides paid job skills training to low-to-moderate-income Tompkins County residents facing barriers to employment through this ReUse Skills and Employment Training (ReSET)
Awarded-$3,000
Funded Project: Operational Support
The Finger Lakes Toy Library is the only community toy lending library in the Finger Lakes region surrounding Ithaca, NY. The Toy Library offers membership to all families, caregivers, and organizations serving children in our area, regardless of the ability to donate. The pay-what-you can-honestly-afford membership donation allows many in the community to borrow toys without having to pay at all; and ensures equitable access to these important tools for child development.
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.
Awarded-$5,000
Funded Project: Easy Access Program
GO ITHACA is a transportation demand management organization (TMO, also known as a TMA). TMOs seek to reduce the usage of single-occupancy vehicles to alleviate traffic congestion and improve environmental outcomes. GO ITHACA's mission is to reduce vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions from transportation and also reduce inequities and eliminate barriers to jobs and essential services by providing transportation support for underserved and underrepresented community members. GO ITHACA does this by providing a free membership program, the Easy Access Program to anyone traveling in and out of the urbanized area of Ithaca. The membership program includes a free 40-ride Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) pass, 50% off TCAT pass refills, $50 Ithaca Carshare credit, 50% off Ithaca Bikeshare membership, an Emergency Ride Home program, a 511NY Rideshare carpool matching program, a $50 active gear gift card, 50% off garage passes for carpoolers, 20% off two Ourbus rides, and more.
Awarded-$9,000
Funded Project: GO Tutoring and Mentorship
GO offers free one-on-one tutoring and mentorship services within the ICSD, covering eight elementary and three middle schools. The ICSD is a diverse student body stretching across various campuses, including suburban, downtown, and rural settings. The program's unique approach involves first-grade teacher referrals to identify students performing below grade level in math and reading and whose caregivers have financial needs. GO then pairs second-grade students with retired teachers dedicated to fostering consistent, long-term relationships resembling those between grandparents and grandchildren. GO tutors support students and their caregivers, providing rides to school functions and attending parent-teacher conferences and special education meetings. GO tutors meet with their students immediately following the end of the school day, for an hour at each session, twice a week throughout the school year, and during summer breaks, sharing progress with caregivers and assisting as needed with school-related questions.
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.
Awarded-$4,000
Funded Project: Teen Urban Farmers
ICG provides leadership development, horticulture skills, public garden management experience, gardening and landscaping training, team-building, and job training teens. For 6 weeks, teens are paid $15/hour and given the opportunity to learn skills related to horticulture, garden management, teamwork, basic job skills, and perseverance.
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-$2,000
Funded Project: Operational Support
The Ithaca Community Gardens is a not-for-profit membership organization devoted to furthering community food self-sufficiency in Tompkins County and surrounding areas. The Gardens are run on an all-volunteer basis and provide the means and education for people to grow healthy food, to overcome food insecurity, and we participate in a food donation network.
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-$8,000
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).
Awarded-$5,000
Funded Project: Global Roots Play School
Ithaca Welcomes Refugees (IWR) is a mostly volunteer-operated nonprofit organization founded in 2015 in response to the global refugee crisis. Our mission is to partner with newly arrived refugees and immigrants as they rebuild their lives in Tompkins County. Ithaca Welcomes Refugees launched Global Roots Play School in September 2017 in partnership with adult ESL programs in Ithaca, enrolling children aged 18 months to five years in our high-quality childcare program. Global Roots families tend to have low or, in the case of very new arrivals, no income. For this reason, we offer tuition on a very sliding scale and families with no income do not pay any tuition.
Awarded-$1,500
Funded Project: Healthy Snack for All
Lansing Lunchbox's mission is to combat hunger and food insecurity by providing nutritious foods to kids in our community so they can grow, learn, and thrive. Our work supports the physical, mental, social, and academic well-being of students in the Lansing Central School District. The Healthy Snack for All program ensures that all students, particularly those who suffer from food insecurity, have access to a snack during the day.
Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc.
Awarded- $4,000
Project Funded: Operational Support
LawNY is a law firm for poor and low-income people. Law NY provides free assistance and representation in civil cases and there is no cost for any of the services provided. Law NY believes that everyone has the right to equal justice regardless of the ability to pay. The Ithaca office has been in business for over fifty years and serves all of Tompkins County.
Awarded- $2,500
Project Funded: Operational Support
Lifelong enhances the overall mental, physical, emotional and financial well-being of older adults in the community. Lifelong provides services and programs at it’s centrally located building in downtown Ithaca, at sites throughout Tompkins County, and virtually. Offered programs include Lifelong Learning classes, social activities, and the free tax preparation program.
Loaves and Fishes of Tompkins County
Awarded- $8,750
Project Funded: Operational Support
Loaves and Fishes of Tompkins County provides a place for free meals, hospitality, companionship, and advocacy for those in need, regardless of their faith, beliefs, or circumstances. For 40 years, Loaves and Fishes has been serving Tompkins County residents in need. Loaves & Fishes is the only community kitchen in Tompkins County open Monday through Friday. They are open year-round, including holidays.
Newfield Kitchen Cupboard
Project Funded: Operational Support Awarded- $2,500
The Newfield Kitchen Cupboard food pantry provides supplemental food and personal care items at no cost to patrons, and serves a local community with many residents having limited financial resources.
Newfield Recreation Department
Project Funded: Summer Day Camp Awarded- $4,000
The Newfield 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: NLP Summer Reading Program Awarded- $1,350
The NLP Summer Reading 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. The program encourages reading for recreation outside of school and work and promotes a lifelong love of reading. Activities provided by the program include family story times and “Teen Times”, special performances, take home kits, and prizes for engaging in activities.
Awarded-$9,000
Funded Project: Operational Support
No Mas Lagrimas (NML) currently serves a multitude of critical community needs in the greater Ithaca/Tompkins County area by distributing free food to anyone in need, offering hot meals to low-income individuals and unhoused individuals, providing free after school care to elementary school students, offering youth empowerment and leadership development programming, providing support to domestic violence victims, advocating on behalf of and supporting recently incarcerated and other vulnerable community members, and delivering food boxes and personal items to families throughout Tompkins County.
Paleontological Research Institution
Awarded-$2,050
Funded Project: Young Naturalist Program
The Young Naturalist Access Program (YNAP) provides young people facing financial barriers (under the age of 17) in Tompkins County with free access to a special Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) membership that includes a free week of summer camp at Cayuga Nature Center (available for ages 3-13) and a one-year YNAP Youth Membership to PRI's public educational venues, the Cayuga Nature Center and the Museum of the Earth, that the whole household can utilize. YNAP provides young people and their families/caregivers all of the benefits of a regular PRI membership plus free access to all ticketed events, such as local Fossil Field Trips.
Awarded-$5,000
Funded Project: Early Childhood Program and Exhibits
The Sciencenter offers programs, educational resources, and interactive exhibits that meet the needs of young children by empowering science-literate, engaged adults who can inspire STEM learning at home, in public spaces, and at the museum. These activities also benefit young children directly – engaging them in play-based, hands-on learning that promotes the development of critical science process skills (i.e., observing, inquiring, measuring, identifying patterns, making predictions, etc.).
Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service
Awarded- $10,000
Project Funded: Operational Support
Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County (SPCS) is a nonprofit organization established in 1969 in response to an identified community need after the death by suicide of several college students. With such an impetus for community service, the activities of SPCS focus on three main aspects of suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention.
Awarded-$8,000
Funded Project: Operational Support
Southside Community Center provides an array of services including low-cost childcare, a free pre-teen program, semi-monthly food pantries, community meals, and cultural events. The center also has an emergency fund for folks who run into financial situations and may just need some assistance with things such as housing costs, vehicle repairs, and utility bills. With Ithaca being a predominately White city/town, Southside Community Center approaches our program with a Black conscious approach and holds conversations around harsh realities and systems People of Color face so that we can strive to dismantle them.
Awarded- $25,000
Project Funded: Operational Support
The Learning Web provides a continuum of services and supports to help youth and young adults move steadily toward a positive adulthood through its three programs, Youth Exploration, Life Skills Prevention, and Youth Outreach. 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.
Awarded-$10,000
Funded Project: Operational Support
The Salvation Army identifies and meets undomiciled people where they are without regard to the cause of homelessness, engages and interacts with them, establishes a friendly and trusting relationship, makes an assessment for the provision of services, delivers these services and provides a space where basic needs are met such as meals, personal hygiene kits, caseworkers and advocates. Street outreach and availability to an outreach center provides a “lifeline” to individuals facing homelessness and other factors that make it difficult for day-to-day living.
Awarded- $7,000
Project Funded: Adult Literacy Education
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 of the county, are typically under-resourced, and face multiple barriers in addition to literacy.
Traditional Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Healing
Awarded-$5,000
Funded Project: Operational Support
The Traditional Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Healing (TCIKH) revitalizes and preserves traditional Indigenous culture through Ancestral Knowledge. TCIKH current programs are founded in the essential aspects of the self-determined Taíno community: Caney and Conuco. The Caney: Ancestral Pathways Initiative supports knowledge sharing, cultural arts, community and leadership development programs. The Conuco: Sowing Sovereignty Initiative supports programming around growing Indigenous heirloom seeds.
Project Funded: Summer Reading Program Awarded- $500
The Summer Reading Program is designed to promote literacy and reading for enjoyment by providing youth in our community with free books all summer long. The program focuses on promoting literacy over the summer by providing fun and engaging performances, hands-on activities, and a community reading challenge where youth can read to earn books to keep.
Trumansburg Afterschool Program Inc.
Project Funded: Tuition Assistance Awarded- $2,000
TASP provides an inclusive high quality after school child care using a STEAM-themed model. The program serves children in the Towns of Ulysses, Enfield, and Ithaca. Providing tuition assistance helps families with short term financial aid during family situations, and provides scholarships to help low income families attend TASP.
Project Funded: Operational Support Awarded- $3,000
The mission of the Trumansburg Food Pantry is to distribute free food to anyone who is struggling to provide food for themselves or their families. Food pantry volunteers also connect individuals and families with resources and provide guidance and support as they navigate systems.
Town of Ulysses Recreation Department
Project Funded: Summer Camp Awarded- $3,000
The recreation department provides a full-day summer day camp to families of the community for six weeks during the summer. The camp offers children the opportunities to be with friends, make new friends, play in a safe supervised environment, allows for daily swimming opportunities, enrichment programming through the library, and field trips out of the community that may not be able to occur during the summer. The summer camp's mission is to address the need for childcare during the summer for families that need a place for their children while they are at work during the regular business hours.
Town of Ulysses Youth Development Program
Project Funded: Operational Support Awarded- $3,000
Positive Youth Development programming is geared toward youth in 5-8th grade (ages ~10-14), primarily for youth who may not be actively engaged in youth sports or other school sponsored or fee based activities. Programming for high school age youth is geared toward meeting youth where they are and providing supports for whatever is coming next in their lives. The goal of the Youth Employment Program is to encourage and foster first-time/early workers and provide them with workforce development skills necessary to be successful, empowered, and safe as they enter the work world.
Awarded-$1,500
Funded Project: Enhanced Food Sharing Cabinet
In the well-lit, accessible, covered, front vestibule of the Varna Community Center, Varna Community Association provides a cabinet for non-perishable items and a cooler that give perishables a day or two to find a home. The food cabinet is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
Awarded- $3,000
Project Funded: Operational Support
The organization's mission centers on delivering comprehensive support and responsive services to dismantle systemic barriers impeding the scholastic achievements of students of color, students with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ individuals, those from low-income backgrounds, and other marginalized students within the county. Engaging with these student populations to identify and address their specific needs on both a micro and macro level, the Village at Ithaca advocates for the rectification of discriminatory policies and practices within educational institutions while providing support to youth and families as they try to navigate these challenges.
Women’s Opportunity Center Awarded- $3,000
Project Funded: Resource Solutions
Resource Solutions is a service component of the Women's Opportunity Center's program, Amunet. The mission is to provide a safe and nurturing environment where women can explore the dynamics of their relationships, gain insights into potential signs of covert abuse, and empower themselves to make informed decisions for their well-being. The goal is to expand the network of services available to women who would not identify as abuse victims but nonetheless are struggling to understand why they feel overwhelmed, undermined, and fearful with their intimate partner.
YMCA of Ithaca and Tompkins County Awarded- $18,750
Project Funded: Operational Support
Since 1868, the YMCA of Ithaca & Tompkins County has been proud to serve the entirety of Tompkins County and is deeply committed to addressing the diverse needs of our community. Our YMCA operates within three core focus areas: Youth Development, Healthy Living, and Social Responsibility, all aimed at fostering a stronger, healthier, and more inclusive community. In the realm of Youth Development, we recognize the community need and importance of providing essential life skills to children and ensuring their holistic development. In the domain of Healthy Living, the YMCA of Ithaca & Tompkins County prioritizes the wellbeing of all community members, including older adults. In the area of Social Responsibility, we strive to ensure equitable access to YMCA services and programs. Our robust financial assistance program, offering up to 60% off membership and program fees, serves over 100 families annually, totaling around $126,000 in financial assistance in 2023 alone. Many beneficiaries of this program come from historically marginalized communities, highlighting our commitment to inclusivity and diversity.
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.