Central Carolina Community Foundation awarded Community Impact grants totaling $208,960 to 12 nonprofit organizations serving the Midlands.  These grants support creative and innovative programs that address dropout prevention, homelessness prevention and illiteracy reduction.

Alston Wilkes Society received $9,930 to strengthen the existing Midlands Community Services Program which provides homeless ex-offenders with housing assistance, case management, and supportive services for long-term housing success.  Funding will supplement existing services with consistent transportation and necessary clothing and tools to help clients obtain/maintain stable housing and employment.
 
Central Carolina Lutheran Outreach Center received $20,000 to offer English as a Second Language (ESL) programming for 100 adults in both day and night classes.  In addition, it will offer after-school programming for 20 middle school students to include dual English/Spanish language study, basic math skills and resiliency/self-esteem components.
 
College Summit received $30,000 to ensure that youth who would not otherwise be viewed as college-capable are identified and supported.  Programming includes a college-planning course embedded in the school schedule which teaches students skills in organization, planning, and self-advocacy to help them graduate from high school and reach their postsecondary destination.  Funding will provide the program for 550 high school seniors at Eau Claire High School, C.A. Johnson Preparatory Academy, Lower Richland High School and W.J. Keenan High School.  
 
Harvest Hope Food Bank received $10,000 for The Backpack Program, which provides weekly backpacks of child-friendly and nutritious food to fill the gap when free and reduced meals are not available.   Funding will provide food during weekends and holidays for 30-35 low and moderate income children who attend Hyatt Park Elementary School in Richland School District One.  
 
Lexington School District One Educational Foundation received $13,426 for Gilbert High School.  The school will implement a Summer Bridge and Transitional Program for students entering the ninth grade in 2011.  The program targets students who are at risk of failure and/or dropping out of school and helps prepare them for the demands of high school.  Students will participate in a four-week student-centered curriculum that will address their individual needs. 
 
Lutheran Family Services received $10,000 for Angel's House, the first transitional housing facility in South Carolina for female homeless veterans.  The program is designed to provide affordable transitional housing and help the women utilize available community-based support services.  Funding will help two women complete the program, upon which they will have secured and maintained employment and leave with secured, long-term housing.
 
Mental Illness Recovery Center Inc. received $30,000 to help continue the Homeless Recovery Center (HRC), a community based drop-in center in downtown Columbia.  Through this program, MIRCI gets the most vulnerable individuals who are chronically homeless, and have serious mental illness and substance use disorders, off the streets, engaged in treatment, and into permanent supportive housing.  
 
Midlands Education and Business Alliance received $10,000 to provide dropout prevention training for sixth to twelfth grade teachers in selected schools in Richland and Lexington County school districts.  The training provides teachers with strategies on a variety of issues and topics facing students, enabling them to begin working on reducing dropout and absenteeism rates as well as increasing graduation rates.
 
Project Life: Positeen received $10,000 to assist with the Yes I Can Runway and Summer of Innovation programs.  The Yes I Can Runway program focuses on students who are expelled or suspended from school, and provides them a safe, constructive setting to study and complete their schoolwork.  The Summer of Innovation program is a national focus on the crisis in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.  It is a week-long workshop designed to improve STEM teaching and learning in partnership with federal agencies, academic and informal organizations, nonprofits, and industry.
 
Richland One Middle College Foundation received $17,000 for Richland One Middle College (ROMC.)  ROMC is a public school of choice for eleventh and twelfth grade students.  Curriculum consists of a comprehensive model of workplace field studies, school-wide days of service learning and dual credit accrual at Midlands Technical College.  These opportunities, in combination with the core learning curriculum, help reduce typical at-risk behaviors - i.e. dropping out of school and truancy.  
 
Salvation Army received $8,604 for the Emergency Basic Needs Assistance program, which is primarily a homeless prevention program.  The households receiving assistance through this program receive the necessary financial assistance and qualified case management to establish and maintain stable housing, increase monthly income, and connect with agencies and resources that can bring about life long change and a higher quality of life.
 
Save the Children Federation Inc., received $40,000 to provide in-school and after-school literacy programming at two area elementary schools, Bethune-Bowman and Manning Elementary.  Designed specifically to be effective and cost-efficient in rural communities, the literacy curriculum provides high quality programming to children in grades K – 5.  The program helps significantly improve the number of children reading at or above grade level thus increasing the number of children with the tools needed to break the cycle of poverty.