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Dutchess County Awards 900K To Non-Profits Through Partner Grant Program

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – More than a dozen community organizations will be divvying up close to $1 million awarded through Dutchess County’s Agency Partner Grant Program.

Participants in the Green Teen Beacon community gardens program cut up for the camera. Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess, its sponsor, was just awarded a $100,000 grant through the Dutchess County’s Agency Partner Grant Program.

Participants in the Green Teen Beacon community gardens program cut up for the camera. Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess, its sponsor, was just awarded a $100,000 grant through the Dutchess County’s Agency Partner Grant Program.

Photo Credit: Green Teen Beacon/Facebook

According to County Executive Marcus J. Molinaro, the nonprofits will use their share of the $900,000 pie to support programs ranging from child literacy and job skills training to rides to the doctor for seniors and community gardens.

There were three categories under which the agencies had to compete: economic and cultural benefit, health and human services, and environmental and agricultural sustainability.

Molinaro said the county strives to “improve the quality of life for all residents.”

Community non-profit organizations have, he added, “a long history of providing critical services to individuals and communities that are in the greatest need.”

The grants, along with other county initiatives, should help “residents and communities become the healthiest, most financially stable and sustainable in all of New York state.”

In a tie for the biggest single chunk of change -- $100,000 -- were Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess, to support Green Teen Community Gardening in Beacon and Poughkeepsie’s No Child Left Inside youth vocational training program; and the Boys & Girls Club of Newburgh Inc., which will use it to launch an after-school program for youth in the City of Poughkeepsie.

Coming in close second with a $90,000 grant was Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County. CCEDC plans to use the money to provide county officials and residents with “the education, resources, and support needed to make informed land-use planning decisions.” Areas to be addressed include greenway concepts, storm water management, renewable energy and water supply protection.

The other nonprofits, their projects, and the amount of money they were awarded are:

  • Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County, $65,000 to support 4-H youth programs that prepare future agri-professionals for financial literacy, writing comprehension, public speaking, and leadership skills.
  • Literacy Connections, $27,000 to assist adults and children with basic literacy skills.
  • Northeast Community Council Inc., $41,000 to continue a paid job skills program for youths and young adults.
  • Spark Media Project, $21,000 for an after-school and summer media arts vocational program for inner-city kids.
  • Catholic Charities Community Services of Dutchess County, $25,000 for emergency rental assistance, financial literacy education, crisis intervention and case management for low-income families.
  • Center for Prevention of Child Abuse, $14,000 to support preventable sexual abuse education, including internet safety, and $25,000 to expand the teen parent program.
  • Dutchess Outreach, Inc., $25,000 for a mobile market that will bring affordable and locally produced fresh food options to Poughkeepsie residents.
  • Family Services, $14,000 for an after-school Teen Resource Activity Center, providing healthy meals, recreation and a life-skills training to teens, and $15,000 to hire an advocate to handle hotline calls at the Domestic Violence Lethality Assessment Program.
  • Friends of Seniors of Dutchess County Corp., $41,000 to maintain a transportation program for seniors so they can access non-emergency medical care.
  • Huudson River Housing, Inc., $41,000 for a financial fitness program that teaches about the importance of eliminating debt, building a credit history, and increasing savings; $34,000 for emergency rental assistance for the homeless; and $21,000 to support the Youth LEAP Program that provides low-income adolescents and young adults with work-readiness skills and training.
  • Mediation Center of Dutchess County, $38,000 for an anti-bullying initiative in schools and an inner-city youth program; $40,000 to fund the evidence-based Restorative Justice Initiative that addresses conflicts and behavior in a diplomatic and non-punitive way.
  • Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum, $20,000 for its Empowering Parents as First Teachers initiative which promotes early childhood literacy.
  • Northeast Community Council Inc., $33,000 for nutritional food access programs and two community gardens.
  • Poughkeepsie Farm Project, $35,000 for a food access and healthy eating program for low-income Poughkeepsie families.
  • Poughkeepsie United Methodist Church, $10,000 to support the Harriet Tubman Academic Skills Center.
  • The National Alliance on Mental Illness Mid-Hudson Inc., $27,000 to provide crisis intervention and other support to people with mental illnesses.

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