Abilis provides support for people with developmental disabilities to build able lives and strong communities. Funding for Abilis will support workforce development and training to provide employment opportunities at the Darien YMCA and Darien Library cafés.

Americares Free Clinics provides free, high-quality health care to low-income, uninsured community residents. The funding supports the general operating expenses of the Stamford and Norwalk clinics.

Boys and Girls Club Stamford empowers over 500 Stamford youth by providing an environment to develop productive, caring, and responsible citizens. The organization focuses on children's academic success, character, and healthy lifestyles. The grant will support nutrition, athletic, and wellness programming.

The mission of Building One Community is to advance the successful integration of immigrants and their families. Funding supports its Workforce Development Program, which helps prepare immigrants for living-wage work and a path toward self-sufficiency.

Carver provides before- and after-school programs led by certified teachers to equip learners and ensure timely K–12 grade transitions. Funding supports more than 50 before- and after-school and summer programs for underserved K–12 Norwalk students through diverse, year-round programming that promotes equity and helps close achievement gaps.

Child Guidance Center of Southern CT is dedicated to improving the mental and behavioral health of children and teens. The grant supports their Mobile Crisis program, providing immediate crisis stabilization, assessment, ongoing treatment, and case management for youth experiencing serious psychiatric symptoms or reactions to traumatic events.

Children’s Learning Centers of Fairfield County (CLC) provides comprehensive early childhood education. CLC prepares children from low- and moderate-income families for kindergarten and helps to close the opportunity gap. CLC operates six Stamford preschools that serve nearly 650 children.

Domestic Violence Crisis Center’s (DVCC) mission is to prevent and eliminate domestic violence by educating communities and supporting individuals in building safer lives. Last year, DVCC directly served more than 3,600 clients with crisis intervention, counseling, safe housing, and education programs.

Domus builds loving relationships with young people facing adversity. The grant supports Domus’ school engagement program, which helps disengaged students acquire the social and emotional skills, attitudes, and habits needed to succeed in school and beyond. Domus’ family advocates serve more than 400 high school youth in Stamford.

Family & Children’s Agency (FCA) is a leading human service provider in Fairfield County whose mission is to build better lives and strengthen our community. The funding supports FCA’s ASPIRE program, which aims to close the opportunity gap in Norwalk through after-school programming for 137 6th–12th grade students.

Family Centers (FC) provides quality health, education, and human service programs to help residents overcome barriers to self-sufficiency and success. The funding supports Family Centers’ School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs), located at seven schools in Stamford, that deliver high-quality medical, dental, and mental health services to 1,980 underserved students.

Filling in the Blanks fights childhood hunger by providing meals to children in need on the weekends, bridging the gap when they are not receiving nutrition from their schools or camps. Funds will be used to provide Weekend Meal Bags to 3,400 students in Darien, Stamford, and Norwalk.

Food Rescue is dedicated to eliminating hunger and food waste. The organization engages volunteers and food donors through its proprietary app to transfer nutritious excess food to social service agencies. The funding supports staffing to help their expansion efforts in Stamford, Norwalk, and Darien.

Future 5 connects motivated, under-resourced students in Stamford to the people and resources they need to achieve their educational, career, and life goals. Funds will support the College Prep program which helps students access a college education.

Horizons at CT State Norwalk works to advance educational equity for Norwalk students. The grant helps fund Horizons’ six-week, full-day, tuition-free summer program that includes academic instruction, enrichment opportunities, and social-emotional education for 120 Norwalk students.

Horizons at New Canaan Country School works to ensure underserved Stamford and Norwalk students graduate from high school prepared for college or career. The grant supports Horizons’ summer program for 290 youth in grades K–9 with academic, cultural, and athletic enrichment that helps prevent the summer slide.

Inspirica strives to end homelessness and housing insecurity by helping individuals and families achieve stability through support services and affordable housing. Inspirica addresses the root causes of housing insecurity by providing job training and case management. Inspirica owns twelve facilities, housing approximately 475 people each night.

INTEMPO enriches the lives of low-income children, predominantly from immigrant backgrounds and communities underrepresented in the arts, by providing classical and multicultural music education. The funding supports INTEMPO’s after-school music program for 123 students.

Kids In Crisis’ mission is to build healthy communities where children and families thrive through prevention, counseling, and 24/7 crisis services. The funding supports the Teen Talk program at Norwalk High School and Middlesex Middle School. Teen Talk counselors provide confidential individual, group, and family counseling to help students prevent and manage crises and reduce the risk of self-harm and violence.

Laurel House helps individuals and families achieve and sustain their mental health to lead fulfilling lives. Its core purpose is social inclusion, early intervention, and recovery. The funds will support rtor.org (Resources to Recover), a service overseen by two clinicians that provides robust website content regarding mental health diagnoses, treatment, and vetted providers.

Liberation Programs’ mission is to provide prevention, treatment, and recovery services to help individuals and their families impacted by substance use and mental health conditions. The grant will help support the Mobile Outreach Program in Stamford and Norwalk. The mobile vans provide low-barrier, community-based services for those needing immediate care, harm reduction services, overdose reversal, and connections to care.

Mid-Fairfield Community Care Center’s mission is to ensure equitable access to mental/behavioral health and wraparound community support services. The organization is one of the largest providers of trauma-focused, culturally responsive child and adolescent mental health care in Fairfield County. The grant enhances their capacity to provide evidence-based interventions to children and their families.

New Covenant Center operates the largest soup kitchen and food pantry in Stamford and offers additional support services, which together aim to reduce food and economic insecurity for more than 5,000 Stamford residents. The funds support its food and nutrition programs, as well as funding for case managers.

Norwalk Housing Authority operates the Learning Center, a free after-school and summer program that provides academic intervention, social-emotional learning, and enrichment for students living in public housing. The funding will support its Student Success Tutoring Program, which provides one-on-one tutoring in math and reading.

Open Doors is the largest homeless service provider in Greater Norwalk and operates the only homeless shelter in the city of Norwalk. Through homeless services, housing stability programs, prevention, and street outreach efforts, Open Doors guides people in the cycle of homelessness toward achieving housing stability. Open Doors also operates the Economic Opportunity Hub that helps guide individuals to financial stability.

Pacific House’s mission is to prevent homelessness or, should homelessness occur, provide emergency shelter and support services to assist homeless individuals in accessing stable housing. Pacific House operates 130 units of affordable supportive housing. The funds support the Emergency Shelter, which is the only local shelter for homeless adult men and young adults.

Person to Person (P2P) supports families and individuals as they move toward stability with healthy food, clothing, housing assistance, and a path to economic opportunity. P2P strives to meet both the immediate and long-term needs of the low-income population in the Norwalk-Stamford metro area. The grant helps P2P provide nutritious groceries, quality clothing, and assistance with rent or other emergency expenses.

Saint Joseph Parenting Center (SJPC) works to strengthen families, especially those that have a higher risk of abuse or neglect, by providing parenting education and case management services. Their goal is to protect and improve the lives of children by educating and supporting parents. The funds support SJPC’s parenting programs and case management.

Senior Nutrition Program, a program of Catholic Charities, addresses the nutritional and social needs of homebound seniors and the disabled through Meals on Wheels. Daily nutritious meals are delivered to approximately 275 homebound clients.

SilverSource provides a safety net for low-income, low-resource seniors, addressing their financial and medical emergencies to avoid the loss of housing, utilities, health, and nutrition. The grant is for SilverSource’s Individual Assistance Program, which provides services to Stamford-area seniors experiencing economic hardship. Last year, SilverSource helped nearly 1,800 seniors in Stamford.

Stamford Cradle to Career’s mission is to collectively align community resources to ensure equity and excellence in education for every child in Stamford. The grant supports the Stamford Summer Literacy Initiative (SSLI) program which provides professional development, coaching, supplies, and family engagement to embed literacy in summer camps in Stamford to reduce summer learning loss. Last summer, the program served 459 students in grades K–3.

STAR serves individuals who have intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and provides support services to their families. Funds will support participation in day, vocational, and recreational programs, promoting independence, inclusion, and personal growth.

Stepping Stones Museum for Children’s mission is to broaden and enrich educational opportunities for children. The funds will support its Camp ELLI (Early Language and Literacy Initiative), a kindergarten-readiness summer program that is free of charge to low-income children in Norwalk.

The Depot supports Darien’s youth by providing them opportunities to connect, grow, and give back. The Depot serves more than 250 middle and high school youth with both daily drop-ins and scheduled activities. The funding will enable The Depot to provide staffing for its programs, clubs, and events.

The Rowan Center counsels and advocates for victims and survivors as they process their experiences of sexual violence and provides community education to prevent sexual violence in the future. The grant helps support The Rowan Center’s sexual violence prevention education for students in Darien, Stamford, and Norwalk.

Waveny Certified Nursing Aide School educates and trains students—many of whom may be food or housing insecure—to become nurses’ aides. Students “earn while they learn” and receive structured on-the-job training and mentoring with a guaranteed full-time position at Waveny. Since its inception in 2022, the Waveny CNA School has successfully launched 170 new certified nursing aides.