New & Noteworthy
Hartford Foundation Awards More Than $340,000 in Grants to Support Food Programs, Other Basic Services
33 Nonprofits Receive Emergency Assistance Grants
Every Tuesday and Thursday, AKNEW (Achieve Knowledge Nurture Empower Within) welcomes approximately 25 men and women into their Farmington Avenue offices to help with a variety of services and supports. In its third year of operation, AKNEW is dedicated to improving the lives of underserved populations of the Greater Hartford community. This includes people returning from incarceration, individuals recovering or currently living with substance abuse and mental health challenges, as well as people experiencing homelessness. AKNEW’s key programs are peer focus and support groups around mental health, trauma, advocacy, aging, and computer literacy, as well as a composting and gardening initiative.
While many of the same people come through AKNEW’s doors each week, others sporadically visit the facility making it challenging to provide the range of supports people may need and to track their progress. Much of the tracking was originally done with paper sign-in sheets to collect email addresses and phone numbers. This effort was labor intensive and not particularly efficient or effective.
Over the past year, AKNEW has been utilizing Microsoft 365 Nonprofit Solutions software to modernize and improve its systems to better support the people they serve. To improve and expand upon this work, AKNEW has received an $8,000 grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving to support its case management efforts. The grant enables them to better identify people’s needs including meeting basic human needs such as access to food and mental and physical healthcare and other wraparound services that can remove barriers to individuals’ progress.
“People may not remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel,” said AKNEW Executive Director Toni Meyers. “We are grateful to have developed these power relationships and partnerships with the people we support and our generous partners. Together, we can provide people with the tools and supports they need to live vibrant and productive lives that strengthen our community. This grant from the Hartford Foundation will help to ensure that we can better respond to people’s evolving needs and support their progress.”
AKNEW is one of 33 nonprofit organizations receiving a total of $344,575 to provide food and other basic human needs to residents throughout Greater Hartford. This is the second year the Foundation has made emergency assistance grants available twice a year, based on feedback from nonprofits that having access to funds earlier helps in planning and meeting community needs.
The application process for the second round of Basic Human Needs (BHN) grants began on August 1, 2024. To learn more about this and other grant opportunities, nonprofits can visit https://www.hfpg.org/nonprofits/current-grant-opportunities. The deadline for application submission is September 12.
The Foundation’s BHN Emergency Assistance grants focus on increasing access to food and addressing immediate needs such as personal care items (e.g., deodorant, diapers), utility assistance, emergency transportation, and other items essential to wellbeing. This grant opportunity prioritizes nonprofits that serve neighborhoods and towns in the region with a higher percentage of residents living in poverty, seek to reduce barriers to equitable access to basic needs and provide direct support to clients. Grants are made using an equity lens, acknowledging that many of these barriers disproportionately impact people of color.
These grants support both regional and local agencies in Greater Hartford. Grants range from $3,000 and $20,000 and are primarily funded through the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund at the Hartford Foundation with additional dollars from the Foundation’s discretionary funding.
Of the 33 grants:
- Twenty-one are primarily for food or food assistance ($218,575).
- Four are primarily for emergency financial aid assistance ($55,000).
- Two are primarily for personal care items ($38,000).
- Two are for organizations to provide emergency case management ($23,000).
- One is for emergency clothing needs ($10,000)
“When individuals and families cannot afford to pay for groceries, housing, medical care or other basic necessities, it is incredibly challenging for children to perform in school or for adults to go to work each and every day,” said Hartford Foundation Senior Community Investments Officer Cierra Stancil. “Providing the most basic of human needs helps individuals and families stabilize themselves on their way toward upward social and economic mobility.”
Hartford Foundation First Round of 2024 Basic Human Needs Grants
| Organization Name | Project Description | Primary Purpose | Grant Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| AKNEW | Funds will be used to provide housing assistance, food, transportation, utility assistance, school uniforms, work/school related supplies, such as pencils, pens and paper and other basic needs. | Emergency and/or informal case management services | $8,000 |
| Community Health Services, Inc. | Funds will be used to provide pharmacy gift cards, eyeglasses, dentures, emergency food supplies, clothing, including winter coats and boots, infant formula, disposable diapers, diabetic testing supplies, and other basic needs. | Personal care items (e.g., deodorant, diapers, sanitary products) | $10,000 |
| Community Renewal Team, Inc. | Funds will be used for housing payment assistance, eviction prevention services, utility payment assistance, housing replacement/rapid re-housing services, and other basic needs. | Emergency financial assistance (e.g., rent/mortgage/utility, childcare, bus fare/tokens, gas money) | $15,000 |
| Covenant to Care for Children, Inc. | Funds will be used to provide essentials and/or mandated goods to at-risk young people, birth to 18. Essentials include beds, strollers, bedding, car seats, personal care items, emergency clothing needs, and other basic needs as requested. | Emergency clothing needs (e.g., shoes, school uniforms, coats) | $10,000 |
| The Diaper Bank of Connecticut | Funds will support the delivery and distribution of diapers, period supplies and incontinence products to our partners in the Greater Hartford area. Community partners include, but are not limited to, Charter Oak Health Center, Hartford and East Hartford family centers, InterCommunity, Inc., La Bodeguita de la Gente, and Malta Food Pantry. | Personal care items (e.g., deodorant, diapers, sanitary products) | $10,000 |
| Eastern Diocese PNCC - St. John the Baptist Parish (Manchester) | Grant funds will be used to purchase food and personal care items for distribution during free lunch events, as well provide food, personal care, clothes and emergency rent and utility assistance to families from diverse backgrounds primarily East of the River. | Emergency financial assistance | $10,000 |
| Ellington Farmers Market Inc. | Funds will be used to reimburse food vendors for accepting SNAP and FMNP (Farmers Market Nutritional Program) vouchers and double tokens to directly help nutritionally at-risk families and seniors. The program matches SNAP up to $30 per week per EBT card and matches WIC FMNP vouchers one to one. | Food or food assistance | $10,000 |
| Enfield Food Shelf, Inc. | Grant funds will be used to purchase food items for childrens programs, weekly grocery assistance, home delivery, emergency bag and satellite pantry programs. | Food or food assistance | $15,000 |
| Enfield People for People, Inc. | Funds will be used to provide weekly outreach and informal case management services to the local homeless population and operate an overnight warming center starting fall 2024 through winter 2025. | Emergency and/or informal case management services | $15,000 |
| Family Essentials Network, Inc. (Vernon) | Funds will be used to purchase refrigerators to increase cold storage in response to increased demand at the main location and during homeless outreach in Hartford and Manchester. | Food or food assistance | $7,500 |
| Footwear with Care, Inc. | Funds will be used to purchase nutritious, portable food and drink to assist clients of the resource center. Many of the clients live outdoors and do not have easy access to potable water. | Food or food assistance | $5,000 |
| Friend to Friend, Inc. (East Granby) | Funds will be used to purchase a high-capacity refrigerator and freezer to replace failing equipment. Funds will also be used to purchase fresh vegetables and fruits. | Food or food assistance | $8,575 |
| Gentle Love Diaper Pantry (Manchester) | Funds will be used to purchase diapers, training pants, and baby wipes for distribution through community partners East of the River. | Personal care items (e.g., deodorant, diapers, sanitary products) | $10,000 |
| Gifts of Love, Inc. | Grant funds will be used to purchase food, personal care items, clothing, and other basic needs for the Hartford and Avon food pantries. Grant funds will also be used to support case management services. | Food or food assistance | $20,000 |
| Grace Episcopal Church Hartford | Funds will used to purchase food and for the cost of loading the food supplies to the pantry, which includes truck rental and stipends paid to community members. The food pantry serves the Parkville Neighborhood. | Food or food assistance | $15,000 |
| Greystone Foundation, Inc. (Avon) | Funds will provide emergency financial assistance paid directly to clients' landlord, utility, repair shop, leasing company, or health care provider to assist the clients regain household financial stability without the concern of eviction, repossession, or service interruptions. | Emergency financial assistance (e.g., rent/mortgage/utility, childcare, bus fare/tokens, gas money) | $7,000 |
| Healing Meals Foundation Corporation (Simsbury) | Grant funds will be used to provide nourishing, organic meals to 27 people for three months each while they are facing a medical crisis or receiving medical treatment. | Food or food assistance | $7,000 |
| Hope Home City, Inc. (Hartford) | Funds would be used primarily to support a Saturday morning food program serving homeless individuals residing around South Green Park in Downtown Hartford. Funds will purchase food, water, toiletries, bus passes, emergency hotel stay, transportation, and stipends for part time helpers. | Food or food assistance | $5,000 |
| Horace Bushnell Childrens Food Pantry | Funds would be used to purchase food and personal care items for the food pantry as well as provide financial assistance to meet other basic needs. The pantry primarily serves the North End. | Food or food assistance | $11,000 |
| Horizons Youth Enrichment Program, Inc. (Hartford) | Funds will be used to provide food/groceries and personal care items to youth, young adults and the homeless community. | Food or food assistance | $5,000 |
| House of Bread, Inc. (Hartford) | Funds will be used to purchase meat, poultry, and fish for their pantry services, Kids Cafe, and soup kitchen services. | Food or food assistance | $15,000 |
| IRIS-Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services | Funds will provide emergency financial assistance for immigrants and refugees experiencing housing insecurity. Funds will go to rent or utilities. | Emergency financial assistance (e.g., rent/mortgage/utility, childcare, bus fare/tokens, gas money) | $15,000 |
| Jewish Family Services of Greater Hartford, Inc. | Funds will be used to purchase appropriate, culturally specific food and pantry staples (including Halal and Kosher food) to supplement food purchased from CT Foodshare and Midwest Food Bank. | Food or food assistance | $11,000 |
| Loaves & Fishes Ministries, Inc. (Hartford) | Funds will be used to purchase food, food containers, and supplies for the Asylum Hill soup kitchen as well as food, personal care items, and other basic needs for clients of the food pantry. | Food or food assistance | $14,500 |
| Mount Bethel Church of God EHT, Inc. | Funds will be used to purchase hats, socks, blankets, hygiene products, and other personal care items, as well as food, to support homeless and low-income individuals in the local community. | Personal care items (e.g., deodorant, diapers, sanitary products) | $8,000 |
| Network Against Domestic Abuse of North Central CT, Inc. (Enfield) | Funds will be used to provide stabilizing items while victims of violence begin to rebuild, such as perishable and non-perishable foods, toiletries, baby formula and diapers as well as essentials such as pots and pans. | Food or food assistance | $5,000 |
| No Animal Left Unfed, Inc. (Bloomfield/Hartford) | Funds will support a range of needs from rent, food and personal care items, ADA transportation tickets, and other forms of transportation (bus fare, gas), primarily serving populations who are senior or who are homeless. | Emergency financial assistance (e.g., rent/mortgage/utility, childcare, bus fare/tokens, gas money) | $3,000 |
| Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center (Hartford) | Funds will be used to purchase food for pantry clients, both Emergency Room patients and residents of the community. This includes healthier items such as fresh produce, dairy, and meats, to meet growing community needs and to support the pantry’s shift to a client choice model. | Food or food assistance | $13,000 |
| The Brooks Token, Inc. | Funds will be used to purchase food and supplies for hot meal delivery services. Three meals per week are provided to disabled seniors and their caregivers, homeless individuals, and families. Funds will also be used to provide emergency basic needs including rent, diapers, personal care items, shoes and formula. | Personal care items (e.g., deodorant, diapers, sanitary products) | $10,000 |
| The Health Collective (f/k/a Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective) | Funds will support the purchase of food for distribution at the Manchester and Hartford sites. The Manchester site offers breakfast and hot meals, the Hartford pantry provides essential nutrition to low-to-moderate-income members of the local LGBTQA+ community, including people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). | Food or food assistance | $15,000 |
| Town of West Hartford | Funds will be used to purchase food to support the two food pantries and the home food delivery service for seniors and disabled individuals. | Food or food assistance | $10,000 |
| Urban Alliance, Inc. | Funds will be used to support case management services provided at monthly events in the Greater Hartford Region. Funds will support stipends for the case managers, training and equipment, event advertising, and supplies. Funds will also support training for staff and volunteers from Urban Alliance members who provide basic human needs services to community residents. | Emergency and/or informal case management services | $15,000 |
| Warburton Community Church - UCC | Funds will be used to purchase food and personal hygiene items for the food pantry located in the Behind the Rocks neighborhood. | Food or food assistance | $6,000 |
The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving is the community foundation for Hartford and 28 surrounding towns. Through partnerships, the Foundation seeks to strengthen communities in Greater Hartford by putting philanthropy in action to dismantle structural racism and achieve equity in social and economic mobility. Made possible by the gifts of generous individuals, families and organizations, the Foundation has awarded grants of more than $998 million since its founding in 1925. For more information, visit www.hfpg.org or call 860-548-1888.