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Community Foundation Awards $153,000 in Grants

Community grants

The Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation has announced its latest round of Community Fund grants totaling more than $153,000 in support for local nonprofits and causes throughout our area.

The following organizations are recipients of Community Fund grants from January – March 2024.

The South Dakota Association for the Education of Young Children promotes high quality care and early learning for all children, from birth through age eight, by combining practice, policy, and research. The Community Foundation's grant will help them deploy a South Dakota Childcare Task Force to study the current landscape of childcare in the state and provide recommendations to the legislature on how to improve access, affordability, and quality.

By connecting individuals to resources and support, the Helpline Center offers hope to those affected by suicide and serves the broader community by mobilizing volunteers and developing technologies to streamline social services. Their latest initiative, funded in part by the Community Foundation's grant, is called Transition to Success. This program aims to provide standards of care, uniform protocols, and analytics to help treat the condition of poverty by providing health and human services professionals the tools they need to take a coordinated approach to each individual.

EmBe empowers women and families in our community to be the best version of themselves by leading and supporting success in work, home, and life. The Community Foundation grant will help them provide free swimming lessons to immigrants and refugees from Africa. Learning to swim not only has the potential to save a child's life, but also opens up social and recreational opportunities to help them build confidence and thrive.

Midwest Street Medicine works to improve the health of vulnerable populations, beginning with those experiencing homelessness. By bringing medical, mental health, and addiction care to individuals who face obstacles in getting the care they need, these medical professionals are making a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable members of our community. The Community Foundation's grant will help this young organization expand its operation, hire more full-time employees, and build a sustainable service.

The Legacy Foundation's program, Owen's Outfitters, is a medical equipment lending library that provides equipment and medical supplies at no change to those who need them most. The Community Foundation's grant will help them reduce barriers to accessing their service by adding support for more languages to better serve immigrant populations and expanding their online presence to help them reach individuals and families that have difficulty travelling to their storefront.

Serving the Latino population in Sioux Falls, Caminando Juntos provides legal services, English language classes, workplace support, and youth support groups as part of their ministry. The Community Foundation's grant will support them as they transition from a ministry sponsored by the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to a fully-fledged 501c(3) organization. This restructure also provides an opportunity for long-term strategic planning to ensure their future sustainability.

Children's Home Society's mission is to prevent and heal trauma by working with parents and caregivers to serve children with emotional, behavioral, or mental health needs and who may be victims of abuse. The Community Foundation's grant will support their project, A New Norm, which works to creatively target children and youth ages 9-15 with feelings of anxiety, depression, or other mental health challenges through engaging presentations and the titular book by Tom Roberts.

Bridging the Gap supports people and programs that develop leaders, provide training, build relationships, and improve access to community resources. Their flagship program, Leaders of Tomorrow, will be expanded to offer programming in Spanish, thanks to the grant from the Community Foundation. This initiative aims to create a pipeline of future leaders through its leadership development program specifically addressed to communities of color who don't have access to similar programs that speak to their unique experience.

Aiming to empower people through the therapeutic assistance of horses, HorsePower offers groundwork, hippotherapy, therapeutic riding, and group clinics. As their reach expanded and their horses aged, it became clear that they would need to acquire more horses to continue offering services at their current rate. The Community Foundation's grant will help them obtain an additional specially-trained therapy horse to serve their clients and ensure the continued sustainability of their organization.

LifeScape serves children with the most complex physical, intellectual, and behavioral disabilities, and for those needing specialized medical rehabilitation after accident, illness, or surgery. They support children and families facing these challenges through healing, empowerment and hope.

The Community Foundation Grant will support their Journey of Hope campaign to build a new campus to address the evolving needs of children for generations to come. The new campus will be located on 10 acres of land in northwest Sioux Falls and allow LifeScape to reduce their wait list and serve a broader portion of the community.

Located on a two-acre property in northwest Sioux Falls, Veterans Community Project is a specialized community of 25 tiny homes with on-site, wraparound support services designed to equip unhoused veterans with the tools needed to return to a stable, prosperous, and independent life. Each tiny house provides everything a veteran needs to live with dignity and security: new furniture, appliances, housewares, bedding, personal items, and utilities — all free of charge.

The Community Foundation Grant will support the construction of the Village Center, which will house behavioral and physical wellness programs.