Tallahassee – Volunteer Florida announced today that it is awarding $212,000 in grant funding to 20 nonprofits and service organizations across the state. The Volunteer Generation Fund (VGF), funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service, will be administered by Volunteer Florida. The nonprofits and service organizations will match the funding by providing $218,920.00, bringing the total investment in Florida communities to $431,420.00.
Volunteer Florida CEO Chester W. Spellman said, “As the Governor’s lead agency for service and volunteerism in Florida, we are proud to announce this investment in communities across the state. Our VGF grantees will put volunteers to work helping job-seekers find employment, providing STEM education opportunities, serving at-risk mothers and babies, and feeding the hungry.”
The VGF program will help local nonprofits recruit, manage, and support approximately 4,750 skills-based volunteers, who will collectively contribute 38,000 hours of service throughout the state – a value of $876,660.00. Skills-based volunteerism expands the impact of community organizations by leveraging professionals’ skills such as accountants, IT consultants, attorneys, and teachers. Each grantee will recruit 200 volunteers, who will serve 1,900 hours.
The 2015 Volunteer Florida VGF grantees are as follows:
Boys and Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County, Inc.
Palm Beach County
Boys and Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County, Inc. serves high-risk, underrepresented children and teens between the ages of six and 18 by providing academic and social enrichment programs after school.
BRACE (Community Organizations Active in Disaster, Inc.)
Escambia County
BRACE, a community-based disaster coalition, works with families before, during, and after disasters to prevent homelessness.
Catholic Volunteers in Florida Incorporated
Orange County
Catholic Volunteers in Florida Incorporated provides support to the St. Vincent de Paul Re-Entry Project, which aims to improve job access and economic opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals across the state of Florida.
Chapman Partnership
Miami-Dade County
The Chapman Partnership operates two Homeless Assistance Centers with 800 beds located in Miami and Homestead. Chapman Partnership serves approximately 5,000 men, women, and families with children annually, providing emergency housing, meals, health, dental, and psychiatric care, day care, job training, job placement, and assistance with securing stable housing.
Community Action Stops Abuse Inc. (CASA)
Pinellas County
CASA, a certified domestic violence center, provides emergency shelter; support groups; individual counseling; child care; safety planning; legal, mental health, and substance abuse advocacy; information; and referrals so that men, women, and children are safe, self-sufficient, and economically empowered.
Family Support Services of North Florida Inc.
Duval County
Family Support Services of North Florida Inc. (FSSNF) serves as the lead agency for child welfare services in Duval and Nassau counties. FSSNF will engage skills-based volunteers to support to the Foster Buddies mentoring program, supporting children in foster care.
Feeding Northeast Florida
Duval County
Feeding Northeast Florida serves as the central food bank for a network of nearly 180 partner sites across a 17-county service area in Northeast Florida.
Flagler Volunteer Services, Inc.
Flagler County
Flagler Volunteer Services works directly with local non-profits, government agencies, and others to connect volunteers with service, including students who seek community service hours for scholarships and resumes and seniors who want to serve their neighbors.
Florida Department of Health
Lake County
The Florida Department of Health in Lake County supports Hands on Health in Lake County, engaging skills-based volunteers to serve individuals and families in local county health department programs.
Goodwill Industries of North Florida Inc.
Duval County
Goodwill Industries of North Florida will work with Take Stock in Children to recruit quality volunteer mentors. They will work with low-income, at-risk youth to reduce the number of high school drop-outs and increase the number of students who finish college and enter the workforce successfully.
Growing Hope Foundation
Monroe County
The Growing Hope Foundation improves access to healthy food through its farmers’ market, as well as helping individuals become self-reliant by growing their own food.
Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services Inc.
Pinellas County
Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services, Inc. is a non-sectarian, community-based, nonprofit that serves families and individuals in crisis.
Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Broward County
Broward County
Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Broward County (HMHB of Broward) works to reduce infant deaths by strengthening families through a comprehensive approach to prenatal care, including parenting education and support services.
Jewish Family and Community Services of Southwest Florida
Collier County
Jewish Family and community Services of Southwest Florida is a non-sectarian organization dedicated to meeting the human service needs of individuals residing in Collier and Southern Lee counties. Skills-based volunteers will serve at-risk seniors.
Junior Achievement of North Florida
Leon County
Junior Achievement Big Bend, a satellite office of Junior Achievement North Florida, will put community volunteers to work to provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give K-12 students knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship.
Lightner Museum of Hobbies
St. Johns County
The Lightner Museum is a nonprofit museum in the historic downtown district of St. Augustine. Skills-based volunteers will create public learning experiences in each of the Museum’s gallery spaces and support education initiatives.
Parker Street Ministries, Inc.
Polk County
Parker Street Ministries, Inc. is a nonprofit organization committed to individual, family, and community restoration, reconciliation, and revitalization in Lakeland’s Parker Street community and surrounding impoverished neighborhoods.
Rebuilding Together Broward County Inc.
Broward County
Rebuilding Together Broward County provides home repairs, safety upgrades, and energy retrofits to low-income homeowners with priority given to veterans and military families, the elderly, and disabled individuals and families. The Safe and Healthy Homes program encourages long-term residency and stability by increasing the number of safe and healthy housing units.
Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Science
Leon County
Volunteers will directly address community education needs by providing STEM-based education opportunities, including natural sciences and environmental stewardship, to students with limited access to STEM programs.
United Way of Citrus County Inc.
Citrus County
Skills-based volunteers will support the ReadingPals program in Citrus County. The volunteer-based program pairs adult volunteers with pre-kindergarten students to strengthen key reading skills.
Click here to see a list of VGF grantees.