Community Foundation of Greater New Britain Awards Year-End Grants Totaling More than $135,000

Package Includes $55,000 in First Years First Early Childhood Development Funds

New Britain, Conn. (December 16, 2014) – The Community Foundation of Greater New Britain has awarded more than $135,000 in year-end grants to non-profit organizations and programs serving Berlin, New Britain, Plainville and Southington, including more than $55,000 in grants targeting early childhood education as part of the Foundation’s First Years First initiative.

The funding marks the Foundation’s third round of community grants in 2014 and completes its grant awards for the year. With third-round awards of $135,430, the Foundation has made $830,725 in year-to-date discretionary and field of interest grants – including scholarship awards – throughout its four-town service area.

The December grants include First Years First grants of $30,000 to Literacy Volunteers of Central Connecticut to support the Central Connecticut Family Literacy Center, which provides high-quality literacy programming for low-literate parents enabling them to support their children’s success in school; and $25,000 to the Early Childhood Collaborative of Southington for continuing support of the Family Resource Center of Southington.

Additional December grants recently approved by the Foundation’s board of directors include:

Berlin Senior Center, $10,000. From the Donald W. and Virginia C. Davis, Ev and Ethel Herre Memorial and Georgia Knapp Thomson Funds to install “MySeniorCenter,” a computer-based management system to increase office efficiency and improve programming.

Catholic Charities, $10,000. From the Con Fed Charitable, Joseph A. Mlynarski, M.D. Memorial, A.W. Stanley Discretionary and Anna Thornton Funds to enhance the Electronic Health Record (EHR) infrastructure of Catholic Charities’ New Britain Family Service Center.

Consolidated School District of New Britain, $16,500. From the Howland Rogers Family and Jeannette Elizabeth Westlake Memorial Funds for the development of an Attendance Manual for the District to sustain and embed work done over the past two years to improve attendance rates into the New Britain school system.

Greater New Britain Teen Pregnancy Prevention, $10,000. From the Catalyst and A.W. Stanley Discretionary Funds for new computers, projectors and tablets to upgrade technological capabilities and enhance service delivery to program participants.

New Britain Industrial Museum, $750. From the Elizabeth J. Berry Fund to fund a two-year training program sponsored by Connecticut Humanities and the Connecticut League of History aimed at providing training in mission, vision, governance and stewardship of collections.

Plainville Association for Retarded Citizens, $6,000. From the Ronald and Alice Gilrain, Andrews-Hicks Memorial and Johnstone Vance Memorial Funds for facility upgrades that will increase safety and building efficiency.

Southington Community Services, $10,000. From the Vic and Jane Darnell, Donald W. and Virginia C. Davis and Howland Rogers Family Funds to purchase an industrial freezer and refrigerator that will provide additional storage space to meet increased demand for perishable and frozen food.

Southington Public Schools, $17,180. From the Donald W. and Virginia C. Davis, Walter H. Dickman, Grove Hill Medical Center, Ted and Nancy Johnson, William H. Judd, Jr., Robert A. and Phyllis T. Mugford, Frances P. Parker and A.W. Stanley Discretionary Funds to develop and implement an Adult Daily Living (ADL) social skills program for highly-functioning autistic (HFA) Southington High School students.

Established in 1941, the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain connects donors who care with causes that matter in Berlin, New Britain, Plainville and Southington. It does this by raising resources and developing partnerships that make a measurable improvement in the quality of life in each of these communities. For more information, visit www.cfgnb.org