1st Community Grants Announced

April 01, 2019

Conn. – The American Savings Foundation Board of Directors recently awarded 24 grants totaling $81,000 through the Foundation’s new Community Grants program. These grants fund a variety of programs serving several area towns, including Avon, Berlin, Bristol, Burlington, Canton, East Hartford, Meriden, Naugatuck, Newington, New Britain, Plainville, Southington, Torrington, Waterbury, West Hartford and Windham.

Responding to feedback from grantseekers, American Savings Foundation’s new Community Grants program is designed to better respond to a wide range of local needs throughout the 64 towns served by the American Savings Foundation.  In keeping with the Foundation’s mission, Community Grants will support programs and organizations that strengthen the community through education, human services, and the arts, with a special emphasis on the needs of children, youth, and families.

The Foundation will review Community Grants twice a year.  The next deadline for Community Grant requests is October 25, 2019, for decision in December.  Learn more.

Community Grants announced in March 2019 were:

$3,000 to the Art League of New Britain for a STEAM Program, which will work with CCSU's TRiO Program and the Bristol and New Britain Boys and Girls Clubs to introduce youth to elements of Computer Aided Design (CAD), 3D printing, and the creative arts.

$2,000 to Arts Escape in Southbury for their Art Threads program, which engages older adults as artists and writers to produce a book of their own work.

$4,000 to Berlin High School for Berlin UpBeat for a series of workshops, where students develop leadership skills and teamwork as they work on community service projects.

$2,000 to Catholic Charities to support family literacy programming at their Child Development Center in Waterbury.

$5,000 to Covenant Soup Kitchen for food and supplies to support their soup kitchen and emergency food pantry in Willimantic.

$5,000 to the New Britain Police Explorers, for a week-long leadership, teamwork, and skills development program for youth interested in careers in law enforcement. 

$5,000 for the Connecticut Storytelling Center Inc., which brings professional storytellers into New Britain first grade classrooms, where they tell multicultural folk tales and engage students in reading and language skills development activities.

$2,000 to the FOCUS Center for Autism in Canton for an after school program where children and young adults grow socially and emotionally, learn to manage anxiety and frustration, and build relationships through structured group and recreational activities.

$1,500 for the Newington/Wethersfield Women's Club for a backpack program, to provide families with children with food twice a month, in conjunction with the Newington Food Bank.

$5,000 for Horizons, Inc. in Windham, to provide a respite care program for the summer of 2019.  Horizons provides visiting and residential programming for individuals with developmental disabilities.

$1,500 to the Jordan Porco Foundation for their Fresh Check Day at Central Connecticut State University. Fresh Check Days promote mental health maintenance and suicide prevention and help connect students to mental health resources available on campus and in the community.

$3,000 to the Literacy Volunteers of Greater Hartford for a career pathways training program to help unemployed or underemployed adults train for jobs in the food service industry in East Hartford.

$3,000 to the Literacy Volunteers of Greater New Haven to provide free tutoring sessions in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and basic literacy for 300 adults in Meriden.

$5,000 to the Main Street Children's Choir, which provides the opportunity for children from New Britain and surrounding towns to sing in choirs that build community, strive for artistic excellence, and foster a life-long love of music.

$5,000 to New Britain Youth Museums for the Sisters in Science summer program, which encourages girls in 5th through 8^th grade from New Britain and Berlin to pursue science, technology, engineering and math.

$5,000 to the No Boundaries Youth Theater for its year-round theater arts programs “Kids on Stage! and “Teen Company,” for children from New Britain and the surrounding towns. 

$1,500 to the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra for their annual Children's Concerts, which provides two live symphony performances for third graders in Avon, Bristol, Burlington and Torrington.

$5,000 to PARC, Inc for 2019 Camp Trumbull in Plainville, which provides summer programming and respite care for children with developmental disabilities.

$5,000 for the Plainville Community Food Pantry to provide food and resources to individuals in Plainville and surrounding towns.

$5,000 for Rebuilding Together New Britain’s 2019 Rebuilding Day, a volunteer-driven effort to make safety, accessibility, and exterior repairs for low income, elderly, and disabled homeowners.

$1,000 for Southington Community Cultural Arts to provide music offerings every 4th Friday and Super Saturdays, an artistic showcase held every other month.

$3,000 for the StayWell Health Care, Inc. to provide a weekly social group for LGBTQ youth in the greater Waterbury area.

$2,500 to the YMCA of Greater Hartford for their Power Scholars Academy, a 5-week fun and educational summer day camp for students in grades K-6, designed to help reduce the achievement gap for underserved students in West Hartford.

$1,000 to the YMCA of Naugatuck for their Race4Chase - Youth Triathlon Training, which provides triathlon training for youth, ages 6-13, over a period of 6 weeks in the summer. Participating athletes also develop self-confidence and build leadership, teamwork, and communications skills.