Outreach Grants Awarded for End-of-Year FY2022

Submitted by The Rev. Jeffrey Bower

The Outreach Grant Committee convened on May 26, 2022. The primary work of the committee was to approve grant awards for the last part of FY2022. The committee received seven grant applications totaling $108,000. $66,000 was awarded to the following four organizations:

BU Wellness
$34,400

BU Wellness is dedicated to creating wellness within the black community and provides services for the education, intervention and treatment around HIV/AIDS in the black community, working specifically with the LGBTQ community. The grant award will provide financial resources for the agency to move from its present location that has proven to be a hostile and threatening environment for many of the clients (particularly those who identify as transgender) to a safe place, where clients can receive services with dignity and respect.

Damien Center/Damien Cares
$12,000

Damien Center/Damien Cares provides support to the LGBTQ Community, providing education, intervention and treatment resources for HIV/AIDS as well as other general resources to support the LGBTQIA+ Community. The Outreach Grant of $12,000 will go directly to support the food pantry housed at the Damien Center.

Coburn Place
$12,000

Coburn Place provides transitional support to families suffering from domestic violence and abuse. The grant is to support the organization’s core program for connecting survivors of domestic violence to housing, advocacy, and community resources.

Indy Learning Team
$7,600

The Indy Learning Team is devoted to reading literacy and provides materials and tutors for elementary age children in programs at both Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church and the MLK Center. The Indy Learning Team partners to provide access to evidence-based literacy training and instruction so students have a strong literacy foundation and communities develop literacy resources. The grant award will defray the costs of book distribution for the children who participate in the program, allowing them to begin to build their own libraries while also having the social and emotional support to excel.