2017 Spaulding-CNC Community Partnership Awards

2017 Spaulding-CNC Community Partnership Awards

Total Awards - $100,000

1 - Boys and Girls Club - $6,834 - The inclusion initiative at the Charlestown Boys and Girls Club is focussed on positioning staff and programs to effectively support individual members, whether they face physical, developmental, or behavioral challenges such as autism spectrum disoprders, sensory impariments, Down Syndrome, physical mobility issues, among others. The goal is to maximize successful participation in our programs through an approach that accommodates the needs of members while maintaining the fundamental nature of Club activities. There is also planned an outdoor adventure lead by the Inclusion Facilitator, certified by the Appalachian Mountain Club.

2 - Charlestown Dog - $1,306 - "Hounds for In-Bounds" is a program for dogs and their handlers to visit elderly, diabled and other homebound residents. These residents can enjoy well-documented benefits in addition to a social connection. A behaviorist evaluates dogs and handlers in advance. Also, Charlestown Dogs organizes "Canine Clean Sweep" where pick up supplies areprovided for walking throughout the neighborhood in organized groups to pick up dog waste and debris.

3 - Charlestown Fire Fund - $5,000 - The Charlestown Emergency Fund was estblished in 1986 after the Sheafe and Wall Street fires. We assist families by providing basic necessities after devastating fires, especailly to those with minimal sources of support.

4 - Charlestown Girls' Softball - $5,000 - Girls' Softball will replace 2007 uniforms and new safety equipment especiall for catchers and pitchers. Safety regulations have changed due to a spike in sports-related injuries. Therefore, we will also purchase safety helments for everyone to contend with the high speed travel of the 11 inch ball and protect against serious head injuries.

5 - Charlestown Lacrosse & Learning Center - $5,000 - The primary goal of CLLC continues to be the enrichment of children in Charlestown through academics, athletics, and community service. We plan to increase and diversify our athletic and educational programs, while extending our reach to underserved portions of our community. Through these efforts, our youth will learn invaluable lessons on leadership, healthy living, teamwork, community service, and responsibility. Furthermore, these lessons will have a profound impact on our participant’s ability to set and achieve challenging academic, athletic, and personal goals.

6 - Charlestown Little League - $5,000 - Charlestown Little League will continue to expand the teen umpire program by inviting 8-10 additional teens to take the training as well as provide refresher courses for the 6 returning umpires from last year.

7 - Charlestown Soccer - $5,000 - Ensure that all Charlestown Youth Soccer Association players benefit from strong coaching at all levels by recruiting professionals. Coaches will teach the fundamental principles of play, develop players' understanding of the game, and ensure that they learn skills and tactical knowledge. Coaches would ensure that players and teams can maintain possession of the ball, develop positional awareness, respond in defense and intelligently construct an attack. Our goal is to ensure that young people have access to healthy activities that keep them busy and occupied particularly as they enter their teen years.

8 - Charlestown Working Theater - $5,000 - The Charlestown Working Theater will support our core educational programs for children and young adults including our two annual productions, and off-site classes in Instructional chess and animation. Our annual holiday performance is geared for ages 6-12, and a Shakespearean youth production is designed for ages 12-19. Instructional Chess is offered in partnership with Charlestown LaCrosse and Learning Center, and Animation in partnership with The Clarence Edwards Middle School and Citizens Schools. We focus on the four core areas of 21st Century Skills: collaboration and teamwork, creativity and imagination, critical thinking and problem solving. Each of our educational programs fosters and enhances these crucial skills.

9 - Charlestown YMCA - $4,250 - The Charlestown YMCA will provide scholarships to 10 new teens with a one-year membership and program access, specifically enrollment in our Teen Leader’s Club program. The goal of our Leader’s Club is to provide teen’s growth and leadership opportunities, while helping them get involved in the community by completing a service project. The funding will also cover attendance of all 10 teens at one Leader’s Club Rally with other YMCA Leader’s Clubs and four college tours. Two teens from the group will also be selected to attend the Northeast Leader's School, a one week event held at Springfield College.

10 - Charlestown Youth Football & Cheerleading - $5,000 - Charlestown Youth Football and Cheerleading provides fundamental teaching, instruction, and coaching. We will support the administrative requirements as part of the newly formed chapter of the American Youth Footbal League - Commonwealth Youth Football Conference. Also, we will pay the required insurance, transportaion costs, referee and EMT fees, and the overall safety and maintenance of our program. We will focus on safety training for players and coaches, and purchase new blocking pads, certify footbal helmuts, and provide gym mats for cheerleaders.

11 - Charlestown Youth Hockey - $5,000 - Through targeted, specific efforts of Micro Hockey and Friday Night Ice, Charlestown Youth Hockey aims to support and develop highly influential groups of youth at the youngest and critical teen ages. The continued efforts of these specific age-appropriate skill and alternate activity programs will continue to provide an environment for safe, healthy and fun activities to educate and build the mental and physical well-being for the youth of Charlestown. Long-term, we aim to support our youth to have the confidence and ability to make smart life choices and practice healthy living habits to benefit from throughout a lifetime.

12 - Courageous Sailing - $4,850 - Courageous Sailing will provide families, whose members participate in Adaptive Sailing Days or in our Swim, Sail, Science Program, the opportunity to sail together with an instructor.

13 - E-Inc. - $2,910 - E-inc. will re-initiate two programs held at the Kennedy Center location - Head Start Science for 30 minutes per week and Planet Protectors for 90 minutes per week. Both programs provide hands-on, discovery-based lessons that aim to engage young learners in the science that drives our local ecosystem. There is a special focus on the connections between a healthy life for humans and a healthy planet. Students will learn to be a "hero", who creates positive change for the earth. Head Start Science occurs in the classroom, and Planet Protectors is a set of weekly science and leadership lessons for elementary-level students after school.

14 - Harvest on Vine - $9,850 - Harvest on Vine will provide Easter hams again to 500 families in 2018, and these funds will be a big start toward raising enough money. In addition, we need new shelving and storage bins to house the many donations received. We plan to outfit the food pantry with the right equipment to do our job eficiently and safely. With this equipment, food will be distributed in an organized way that we can track, and will also increase storage by 50%. Finally, we will purchase a ductless air-conditioning unit for summer to replace broken units and a pallet jack.

15 - Kennedy Center - $5,000 - The Kennedy Center is a small agency with a large mission. As a substantial number of Charlestown residents live in poverty, there is a clearly defined need to maintain, if not, expand the Kennedy Center’s services. Since the 2013 sequestration reductions there has been no increase to the small amount of government funds dedicated to our community services department. As we did last year, the Spaulding/CNC Community Partnership Funds will be paired with other grant sources to help fund the parent-teacher staff that provides the educational parenting skills training and support services offered through our Community Services Center.

16 - Special Townies - $10,000 - Special Townies is a recreational program for children with special needs and their families, with a mission to foster respect, awareness, acceptance, and inclusion within our community of children with Autism and other developmental disorders. We operate out of our clubhouse in Charlestown, where we organize social events and outings, provide resources and guidance to parents, hold meetings, and provide the environment needed for the socialization of special needs children. This funding will go toward keeping our space running so that we may continue to provide these services to our 40+ families. Additional funding will go toward programming, specifically the costs associated with our weekly swim days, Social Saturdays and Sundays, and monthly trips to Sky Zone.

17 - Town Track Club - $5,000 - Town Track Club offers year round youth XC and Track, FIT KIDS afterschool youth fitness programs, adult fitness classes, adult mile to marathon training, and pre-season conditioning for sports teams. Funding is needed for these programs, but priority will be given to support the successful growth of Town Track’s Urban XC/Track project for a free afterschool program that serves primarily Charlestown middle school kids. The project’s focus is to provide opportunities to underserved youth by establishing Cross Country /Track teams for the kids of Charlestown that traditionally do not have those facilities or sports programs at their schools.

18 - Turn It Around - $5,000 - Turn It Around was formed by a group of dedicated Charlestown youth with a mission to raise awareness and educate the community about the dangers of prescription drug misuse. The group's primary function is to increase key protective factors proven to reduce substance use and maladaptive behaviors. Turn It Around offers academic support, caring and consistent adult figures, commitment to community service, and many opportunities to actively engage in fun and healthy activities.

19 - Warren-Prescott Foundation - $5,000 - The Warren Prescott Foundation plans to enhance our music and performing arts program. The theater/auditorium doubles as the music classroom and is used as performance space and for school wide meetings. Money provided through this grant would be earmarked to replace and improve the lighting in our theater/auditorium for performances. These funds will be used as seed money to raise what is needed.