A grant from HCF’s immediate response fund helped support Hamilton’s first Homeless Baseball League. Organizers say the league helps give the players opportunities to be part of a community, and something to look forward to every week. It also provides individuals who are currently homeless the chance to engage with those who are now housed and witness the positive changes that have happened.
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June 18, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HCF announces $876 thousand in new poverty-reduction grants
HAMILTON, ON - Hamilton Community Foundation today announced grants to the community totalling $876, 074 as part of its ongoing work to reduce poverty in Hamilton.
The grants are part of HCF’s Tackling Poverty Together program, an $8.4 million, eight-year investment that began in 2004.
“The grants support our strategy of addressing concentrated poverty in Hamilton” says Sheree Meredith, Vice-President of Philanthropic Services. “They continue to focus on eight low-income neighbourhoods in the lower city and have expanded to address the Mountain where poverty is concentrated in social housing complexes. The grants support services and programs we know are effective in dealing with poverty’s root causes – for example, employment skills ‑ and making long term change”.
Grants that illustrate some of the poverty-related issues being addressed include:
- Supporting a program that provides at-risk youth with hands-on training in the building trades. Youth who participate will use homes operated by Kiwanis Non-Profit homes as their “living labs.”
- Creating a community garden within the McQuesten neighbourhood in east Hamilton to provide fresh local food, and also providing workshops on healthy nutritious eating.
- Helping residents of the Montcalm housing complex on the west Mountain to develop a tenant association and provide training in community organizing to identify areas for improving and strengthening the neighbourhood. Support on the Mountain also includes grants for an after-school program for children on the east Mountain, and services to seniors in four Mountain seniors complexes.
“The reality of concentrated poverty in Hamilton is gaining increased public attention through series like the Spectator’s Code Red,” says Ms. Meredith, “but equally important is to help people understand that poverty in any area of the city affects the quality of life across the whole community.”
Grants totalling $87,000 have also been made to both school boards to support children in high-needs schools in nutrition, clothing/hygiene, transportation and learning opportunities. This supplements recently-approved grants to both boards totalling $15,000 for nutrition programs.
In total, some $738,074 has been awarded for 40 new grants, and another $78,000 will be spent on multi-year grants that were previously approved. HCF will also invest an additional $60,000 to assist with education, evaluation and other activities to support poverty reduction strategies, for its total 2010 Tackling Poverty Together investment of $876,074.
Read the backgrounder with complete list of grants here.
Hamilton Community Foundation was founded in 1954 and has three main roles: working with donors to build funds for the future of Hamilton, granting to the widest possible range of charitable organizations and initiatives, and fostering community leadership. Since it was founded, Hamilton Community Foundation has made grants to our community totalling more than $59 million, including approximately $4.0 million last year.
For more information:
Sheree Meredith ,Vice-President, Philanthropic Services
905-523-5600 x 246
Grace Diffey, Vice-President, Community Relations
905-523-5600 x 260