New Canaan Community Foundation Awards $586,000 in Grants [CORRECTED]

A New Canaan organization on Wednesday distributed some $586,000 in grants to 78 local and area nonprofits.

Recipients of the New Canaan Community Foundation grants ranged from organizations focused on the arts, culture and community resources, to health, human services, seniors, special needs, and youth organizations.

The Community Foundation or ‘NCCF’ “works to mobilize people around issues that they care about,” President and CEO Lauren Patterson told NewCanaanite.com from a bustling auditorium at Norwalk Community College, where NCCF held its Grant Awards Ceremony.

“In the fall and winter we focus on raising money, and in the spring our volunteers go out to vet the organizations and award the dollars,” Patterson said.

This year, the 1977-established NCCF received a record-breaking 96 applications from nonprofit organizations for grants, which were considered by the foundation through a holistic review process, she said.

“We review the needs of the organizations, their impact in New Canaan, and how much our dollars can impact what they do,” Board Chair Sharon Stevenson said. “We then form committees that go out and visit these organizations so we can understand what they are requesting funds for.”

Among the organizations that received grants today was LiveGirl, a nonprofit founded by New Canaan resident Sheri West in 2014. Its mission is to “build confident leaders, close the female leadership gap and work with girls to build self esteem,” West said.

This is LiveGirl’s third year as a grantee of the New Canaan Community Foundation.

“Their support is essential to our work,” West said. “Our grant will support our after school mentoring program for middle school and our summer camp scholarships.”

During the ceremony, representatives from New Canaan Community Foundation and Young Women’s League of New Canaan discussed a new partnership designed to bolster food security. Simrin Parmar of the Young Women’s League said, “By partnering with the New Canaan Community Foundation we’re hoping to raise awareness and understand that we have so many neighbors who need help.”

Through partnerships with these organizations, the New Canaan Community Foundation has been able to see firsthand the growth of many nonprofits and the impact of their grants on their work within the community, Patterson said.

“We’re really excited to see what the nonprofits do,” she said. “It’s absolutely rewarding and we’re grateful for the support of the community.”

Local nonprofit organizations receiving some part of the $584,530 in grants this year include:

• ABC Inc of New Canaan – $5,000
• Abilis, Inc – $5,000
• Arts for Healing – $4,000
• Carriage Barn Arts Center – $3,500
• Filling in the Blanks – $5,000
• Getabout Inc. – $20,000
• Glass House – $2,000
• Horizons at New Canaan Country School – $3,500
• LiveGirl – $7,500
• Meals on Wheels of New Canaan – $4,500
• New Canaan Athletic Foundation – $10,000
• New Canaan Cares – $12,000
• New Canaan Conservation Commission – $4,500
• New Canaan Historical Society – $10,000
• New Canaan Land Trust – $15,000
• New Canaan Library – $22,500
• New Canaan Mounted Troop – $5,000
• New Canaan Nature Center – $10,000
• New Canaan Parent Support Group – $7,500
• New Canaan YMCA – $3,500
• New England Dance Theater, Inc. – $2,500
• Silver Hill Hospital – $7,530
• Silvermine Arts Center – $7,500
• Staying Put in New Canaan, Inc. – $5,000
• Summer Theatre of New Canaan – $15,000
• Voices of September 11th – $9,000
• Waveny LifeCare – $25,000
• Waveny Park Conservancy – $5,000

[Note: This article has been corrected to reflect the accurate overall grant figure.]