First Round of Grant Awards for 2014 Includes Major Support for New Britain Museum Expansion Project

Foundation Grants Also Support Children’s Mental Health, Youth Theater

New Britain, Conn. (May 20, 2014) – More than $300,000 in grants – including a quarter-million dollar gift package in support of the New Britain Museum of American Art’s major expansion – have been awarded as part of the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain’s first round of grants for the 2014 calendar year.

The grant funding supports non-profit programs and organizations serving the Foundation’s four target communities of Berlin, New Britain, Plainville and Southington. Two more rounds of grants are scheduled to take place throughout the course of the year.

In 2013, the Community Foundation awarded a record-total $1.143 million in community grants.

The first round of 2014 grants includes a $250,000 grant approved by the Foundation’s board of directors earlier in the year to the New Britain Museum of American Art expansion project. The museum broke ground this month on a 17,364-square-foot expansion project to take place over the next year and a half.

Additional first-round grants approved by the board of directors included:

Arts, Culture and Heritage

New Britain Youth Theater, $13,930. From the Justus S. and Lillian F. Beach, William T. Livingston, J. Edward and Justine Melson Family and A.W. Stanley Discretionary Funds to fund the start-up of an Educational Touring Program that will supplement and increase participation in the Theater’s after-school programs.

New Britain Public Library, $3,400. From the A.W. Stanley Discretionary Fund for artist in residence drawing workshops for students, and for a storytelling workshop series.
Southington Public Library, $3,200. From the A.W. Stanley Discretionary Fund for an intergenerational photojournalism project.

Plainville Public Library, $1,900. From the A.W. Stanley Discretionary Fund for a series of classes on learning photography for middle and high school students.

Berlin-Peck Memorial Library, $900. From the A.W. Stanley Discretionary Fund to hire a local art teacher who will bring senior citizens and teens/tweens together to work on arts projects representing cultures around the world.

Health and Human Services

Community Mental Health Affiliates (CMHA), $25,000. From the Johnstone Vance Memorial Fund to support the development of CMHA’s new Sensory Integration Room and to incorporate sensory-based approaches into current treatment practices.

Berlin-Peck Memorial Library, $2,229. From the A.W. Stanley Discretionary Fund to purchase gross and small motor manipulatives and supplies needed for the library’s “Play for All” support playgroup for children with special needs.

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