Record Scholarships, Youth Coalition, Trinity-on-Main Head List of More than $330,000 in Community Foundation Grants
Summer Arts Programs at Local Libraries Also Receive Funding
New Britain, Conn., July 15, 2015 – Record-setting scholarship awards to 60 area students, funding to sustain the newly renamed Coalition for New Britain’s Youth, and additional funds to support Downtown New Britain’s Trinity-on-Main performing arts and community center top a list of more than $330,000 in grants and scholarships recently authorized by the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain.
The mid-year funding also includes grants to the public libraries of Berlin, New Britain, Plainville and Southington for summer arts programming for local youth, part of the Foundation’s Summer Arts Showcase grant program.
Scholarships
The Foundation has issued a total of $195,710 in scholarship awards to 60 students from 11 different high 
schools in Berlin, New Britain, Plainville, Southington and other communities, the highest total amount of scholarship dollars awarded by the Foundation in its 70-plus year history. The scholarships come from 43 named scholarship funds held and managed by the Community Foundation. The Foundation has several more scholarship awards to make before the season is out. A complete listing of Foundation scholars will be announced later this month.
First Years First Grants
A $60,000 grant to the Coalition for New Britain’s Youth (CNBY) will provide operating support for the program as it works to develop a comprehensive plan of action to help New Britain youth succeed in school and in life. The new coaliti
on represents a merger of the former Coalition for New Britain’s Children, New Britain Youth Network and the New Britain School Readiness Council.
The grant is part of a total of $70,429 in grants from the Foundation’s First Years First Fund, the Foundation’s signature early childhood development initiative. Additional First Years First grants went to the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy’s Early Childhood Funders Collaborative ($7,500), and the Plainville Community Schools ($2,929) for curriculum supplies and writing time in support of the school district’s pre-school program.
Trinity-on-Main
A $45,000 grant was approved to hire an interim executive director to lead a reorganization at Trinity-on-Main, Downtown New Britain’s signature arts and community venue. The reorganization will help Trinity-on-Main as it prepares for its ultimate search for a full-time executive director.
Summer Arts Showcase
For the third year in a row, the Community Foundation’s Summer Arts Showcase is providing grants to local libraries to promote youth art programming during the summer months. A $1,585 grant to the Berlin-Peck Memorial Library is funding an improv workshop and jewelry-making classes; a $2,300 grant to the New Britain Public Library is supporting a comic book workshop; a $1,478 grant to the Plainville Public Library is funding youth photography classes; and a $1,850 grant to the Southington Public Library will allow children to explore hand-created art as well as art created by a machines.
Additional grants were made by the Foundation through a variety of donor-advised funds, including:
• Mayor’s Trophy Charitable Fund. Grants totaling $1,500 to Klingberg Family Centers and New Britain Little League.
• Frank and Ernestine Fraprie Fund. Grants totaling $2,100 to CCARC and Hospital of Central Connecticut.
• Joan and Charles Leach Fund. A $2,610 grant New Britain Family Resource Centers.
• Schaller Auto World Fund. A $2,500 grant to the Miracle League of Connecticut.
• Leonard W. and Jeannette C. Varkal Fund. A $200 grant to the New Britain Public Library.
• The Spirit of Beth Telfer Fund. Grants totaling $1,240 to the Southington YMCA’s “Katie’s Place” and the Early Childhood Collaborative of Southington.
• Stanley and Bernice Shepard Fund. Grants totaling $3,900 to the Boys & Girls Club of New Britain, Covenant House, Connecticut Hospice, Mary Wade Home, Prudence Crandall Center, United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut, New Britain-Berlin YMCA and New Britain Museum of American Art.
• Ericson, Scalise & Mangan, P.C. Fund. $200 to the New Britain High School PTO All-Night Graduation Party and the school’s Future Business Leaders of America program.
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.