Community Quality of Life Grants recipients announced
Published on: Tuesday, November 1, 2016 Takoma Park Newsletter

Community Quality of Life Grants recipients announced

Designed to provide financial support for specific programs, projects and events which improve residents’ quality of life by providing greater access and opportunities for participation in the arts and sciences, the City’s Community Quality of Life Grants program has completed its selection process for FY17. The Grants Review Committee recommended that eight organizations receive funding for their projects (listed here from highest amount awarded to lowest):

  1. Adventist Community Services of Greater Washington ($10,000) This grant will enable ACSGW to offer a basic computer repair program at a reduced cost. Fifteen young people will be trained in ACSGW’s Basic Computer Repair Program. Participants will learn to disassemble, repair and reassemble computers.
  2. Collaboration Council – African Arts Culture and Education Academy (ACE) Essex House Friday Program ($9,412) ACE is a 21st century community learning center project operating four days each week from Mondays to Thursdays at Essex House in Takoma Park, focusing on reading, language arts and African culture for students in first through fifth grades.
  3. Artivate – Takoma Wings Academy ($9,000) Takoma Wings Academy is a three-week summer camp in which middle school boys and girls from low-income, immigrant families investigate the science and engineering of flight in nature, aviation, and space exploration as well as flight as a means of self-expression in the arts. 4. Docs In Progress ($8,238) Documentary Dialogues Takoma will harness the power of video technology to engage Takoma Park residents through screenings, discussions, and hands-on activities to explore how stories define us, express our values, relate our experiences in human dimensions and connect us with each other and the world around us.
  4. Montgomery Housing Partnership – 7610 Maple Outdoor Mural ($6,500) MHP will facilitate the creation of an outdoor mural at its 7610 Maple apartment property. This 36-unit affordable housing property houses a total of 80 residents, including 27 children. Residents, in particular children ages 9-12 who participate in our site-based homework club, will play an active part in creating the mural.
  5. Dance Exchange ($5,740) Dance Exchange sought support for a reboot of its youth programs for the 2016- 17 season, which include weekly classes for youth ages 8-18; a series of off-site youth classes held at the Takoma Park Recreation Center and the New Hampshire Avenue Recreation Center; an end of season performance called Youth Arts Night, and a week-long Teen Leadership Institute.
  6. Takoma Ensemble – Takoma Ensemble Community Outreach Initiative ($5,740) The project is to directly provide tickets to low-income/underserved residents of Takoma Park for four concerts.
  7. Community Bridges ($5,370) Community Bridges and Catylator propose a year-long program to bring middleschool-aged young women to Catylator Makerspace to help them develop more positive attitudes and confidence about STEM and stay engaged with STEM, so they may be better prepared to choose any career.

The City’s FY17 budget includes $60,000 for the Community Quality of Life Grants program. Requests for funding totaled $166,521. Look profiles of some of the grant recipients in future issues of the Takoma Park Newsletter.

This article appeared in the November 2016 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.