Princeton Nonprofit Receives $15,000 Grant To Help Underprivileged Youth

Princeton, NJ -- A Princeton nonprofit has received a $15,000 grant from the Princeton Area Community Foundation to continue to help the region’s youth, the foundation announced on Monday.

HiTops received the grant for its Health and Risk-Reduction Education for High Risk Youth Populations program. The program provides medically-accurate, age-appropriate, prevention and risk-reduction education to young people.

The grant was part of $545,000 awarded through the first round of the 2016 Greater Mercer Grants program that will be used to support 22 nonprofit organizations.

“These grants will be used to help some of our most vulnerable residents,” Princeton Area Community Foundation Board of Trustees Chair Carol P. Herring said. “With these grants, we are investing in our communities, helping them to grow stronger.”

More than 54 organizations applied for funding during this grant cycle.

“Our grants program helps support the critical work of local organizations,” Princeton Area Community Foundation President and CEO Jeffrey M. Vega said. “The number of applications we received shows the great need we have in our community. Our new strategic plan includes a focus on children and adolescents living in poverty, and as we concentrate on this issue, we hope many local philanthropists will work with us.”

Also part of the grants was a $25,000 grant for Mercer Street Friends’s Food Bank. Its food distribution programs serve about 30,000 children and adults; the organization provides food at pantries and soup kitchens and also provides weekend meals for almost 600 children faced with food shortages in their homes.
Food packs are provided to students at schools in Ewing, Hamilton, Hopewell, Lawrenceville, Princeton and Trenton.