TOTAL GRANTS AWARDED: $37,000
A special thank you to our many contributors!
The New Mexico Children’s Foundation announces its grant recipients for 2010/2011. Our grant cycle is July 1 through June 30 of each year.
Once again a special grant has been awarded in honor and memory of Alice King. Mrs. King founded the New Mexico Children’s Foundation eighteen years ago. This year’s Alice King Grantee is The Children’s Grief Center of New Mexico.
Children’s grief is real and when left unresolved will manifest itself in myriad negative ways. Often the adults who remain in their lives to care for them are struggling with their own grief. The whole family is turned upside down. If the family doesn’t have adequate familial or community support, the effects can go beyond the immediate wrenching emotional pain of the loss. In a survey of 300 incarcerated teens, 96% indicated that someone significant in their lives had died. (Columbia University, 2005). Most disturbingly, 85% of all prisoners on death row experienced the death of a parent during their childhood. (Virginia Simpson, PhD., Mourning Star Center.)
An additional special grant has been awarded this year in honor of Jeanette Miller. Jeanette served as Executive Director of the New Mexico Children’s Foundation for more than 10 years. She gave the Foundation the direction and leadership which is followed to this day. This year, the Jeanette Miller grant has been awarded to Gerard’s House.
- Asombro Institute for Science Education — Las Cruces — $2,000
The Young Science Leaders Program teaches students science and math by engaging them in hand-on projects. - Boys and Girls Club Del Norte — Abiquiu, Chimayo and other communities in the Espanola Valley — $2,500
The Summer Program provides safe, fun and educational activities for children in a structured environment. Funds were granted to be used for transportation to the program and for field trips. - Canones Early Childhood Center — Rio Arriba County — $2,000
Project Literacy Outreach brings early childhood education, child development and early/emergent literacy services to an underserved population of rural isolated, minority families in northern New Mexico. - The Children’s Grief Center of New Mexico — Bernalillo, Sandoval, Valencia & Torrance Counties — $3,000
The Center provides free support groups for bereaved children and their families. - El Rito Library — El Rito — $1,500
It’s YOUR Library is a monthly after school program for 2nd to 6th graders which promotes literacy and lifetime library users. - Embudo Valley Library — Embudo Valley, Rio Arriba County — $1,500
Make a Splash is a popular summer reading program that fosters reading for pleasure and cultural enrichment. - Family Strengths Network — Los Alamos, Rio Arriba and Santa Fe Counties. — $2,500
The Special Saturdays program serves children aged five to fourteen with diagnosed developmental and/or physical special needs and their families. - Gerard’s House — Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Rio Arriba and Santa Fe Counties — $3,000
Programs provide emotional and psychological support to children and teenagers in Northern New Mexico experiencing a life crisis because of the death of a loved one. - Global Opportunities Unlimited — Albuquerque and New Mexico — $2,000
The Therapeutic Horse Back Riding Program provides an opportunity for disabled children of New Mexico to benefit from the proven therapeutic values of Horse Back Riding. - Kirtland Youth Association — Four Corners Area — $2,500
This association operates as a boys and girls club and provides a Summer Literacy and Recreation Program for 220 children in grades K-8. - Run for the BEACH — Ruidoso and Lincoln County — $2,000
The Luna Project for Girls brings girls together monthly for different exercises and activities which promote self confidence, life skills and friendship to help girls become capable and confident young women. - NM Suicide Intervention Project — Santa Fe County — $3,000
Preventing Youth Suicide in Disadvantages Populations implements strategies to build the underprivileged community’s abilities to manage and prevent youth suicide-related crises through peer-based education and counseling. - Oso Vista Ranch Project — Pine Hill and Ramah Navajo Reservation — $1,500
Summer day camps for youth which include equine activities, youth leadership challenge activities and low-ropes courses, culminating in a community rodeo. - Santa Fe School for the Performing Arts — Raton — $1,000
This inclusive theater program provides youth with an opportunity to participate in the production of shows year round and has become a major activity for youth in Raton. - Southeastern NM Down Syndrome Foundation — Roswell and Southeastern New Mexico (8 counties) — $2,500
The Learning Program and Summer Therapy strives to bridge the gap between researching how children with Down syndrome learn and implementing learning programs that most effectively teach the children to read, write and do mathematics. - Valencia County Literacy Council — Los Lunas — $2,500
Family Literacy Pre-school empowers parents to become their children’s first and most important teachers by providing instruction to develop literacy in children ages 0-5 with parents reading daily to their children and staff providing a lending library and numerous educational activities. - Wings for L.I.F.E. — Roswell and surrounding areas — $2,000
Building Assets is a weekly support program offered after school for elementary school children in K-5 whose parents are incarcerated.