The Juneau Community Foundation and the city awarded more than two dozen grants totaling over $1.8 million to local nonprofits in an effort to aid Juneau’s most vulnerable residents, the foundation announced last week.
The grants are primarily going to organizations that focus on homelessness, food security, substance use disorders, domestic violence, suicide prevention, senior care and other social services. The grantees were chosen based on input from local nonprofits, community members and the JCF’s Professional Advisory Committee.
Kate Burkhart, a member of the committee, listed some of the committee’s top priorities.
“For five years, the Foundation has worked closely with community leaders and social services providers to identify gaps and prioritize the greatest needs,” Burkhart said in a release, “including supporting additional residential substance use disorder treatment, expanding navigation services for people who experience or are at-risk of homelessness, ensuring a universal breakfast program in all elementary schools, and increasing access to civil legal assistance.”
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The Juneau Hope Endowment Fund was established in 2014 and is managed by the JCF to provide social service grants every year. This is the fourth year that the foundation has provided a combined grant process that includes City and Borough of Juneau Social Service Grants.
Twenty-six grants are going to 25 organizations, drawing money from the JCF’s Hope Endowment Fund ($1.05 million) and the CBJ’s Social Service Funds ($776,400). The Juneau Coalition on Housing and Homelessness is getting $285,000, and will be distributing it to various homeless services in town including Housing First and St. Vincent de Paul’s Navigator Program.
Gastineau Human Services is getting the most money, in two parts. GHS is getting $278,740 for substance use disorder programs, and through the Juneau Coalition on Housing and Homelessness it’s getting $100,000 for its Flexible Funding Housing Program.
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The CBJ Utility Waiver Program is giving nearly $50,000 in utility waivers to nonprofits that house people as part of their mission, and the Avista Corporation gave $10,000 to the Hope Endowment Fund.
The CBJ Utility Waiver support will go to nine nonprofits, including $10,000 each for St. Vincent de Paul and Wildflower Court.
“Through a lot of hard work and dedication, Juneau’s social service organizations provide a web of support for so many of our friends, family and neighbors,” Mayor Beth Weldon said in the release. “The foundation’s grant process helps to make the web even stronger.”
The full list of recipients is included in the release embedded below.
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
