Grant Stories
at the Community Foundation of West Alabama
2006

West Alabama has numerous non-profit organizations working tirelessly to meet the cultural, educational, social, health, and welfare needs of its citizens. 

Twice a year the Community Foundation of West Alabama distributes grants to various organizations in West Alabama from the Anna Brown Education, Health and Welfare Fund.  Anna Brown was a much beloved teacher who taught in the city school system for forty years.  In March 2006, grants totaling $18,200 were given through the Anna Brown Fund to Baby TALK of Pickens County, Easter Seals of West Alabama, A Woman’s Place Foundation, Impact, the Indigent Care Fund of DCH Foundation, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of West Alabama, Tuscaloosa Children’s Center, Hospice of West Alabama, and Kid One Transport System. 

Education grants recipients were also selected in March 2006 and have been awarded to support projects at Fayette Elementary School, Westside Elementary School, Demopolis High School, Tuscaloosa Middle School, Northridge High School, Hillcrest High School and Project B.E.T.H.E.L.  These education grants, totaling $4994.76, will support a wide range of art, math, reading, science, and horticulture projects.

Please see below for details of these worthy projects and pictures of check presentations.

The Community Foundation of West Alabama awarded $1000.00 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of West Alabama to help with the costs involved in the screening of volunteers for underprivileged and at-risk children in our community. 

Big Brothers Big Sisters is a non-profit organization which serves many children in the West Alabama community by placing them in a professionally supported one-to-one relationship with mentors.  These mentors spend time with the boys and girls to encourage them to believe in themselves and their dreams.  These relationships also help them grow in their understanding of themselves and the world around them.  Volunteers are at least 18 years old and are willing to spend at least one hour a week with their Little Brothers or Sisters.  Volunteers are thoroughly screened and must pass a criminal background check and a child abuse/neglect clearance from the Department of Human Resources.  The children who participate in the program range from six years old to fourteen and are generally referred to the program by parents, teacher or school counselors.

The impact of the Big Brothers Big Sisters program on the children involved is significant.  Recent studies have shown that Little Brothers and Little Sisters are much less likely to begin using illegal drugs or alcohol, less likely to skip school, more confident in their own performance at school and are able to better get along with their own families. 

The Community Foundation of West Alabama awarded a $1500.00 grant to Project B.E.T.H.E.L. for materials to be used in its educational programs.

Project B.E.T.H.E.L., operating since 1998, is a community-based program designed to provide educational opportunities for students between the ages of eleven and fifteen who would not otherwise be in class.  Coordinated with both the Tuscaloosa City and County school systems, Project B.E.T.H.E.L. is a successful drop-out prevention program aimed at helping students who have been expelled from their schools.  Most of these students, once expelled, have very limited options and might otherwise miss weeks to months of education or drop out of school completely. 

Project B.E.T.H.E.L., housed in Bethel Baptist, provides these students with both academic and behavior management classes.  Teachers and administrators in the program, many of whom have retired from long careers in the public school system, view the goal of the program as encouraging students to finish high school.  Ideally these students will go on to earn a college degree or to be successfully employed.  With a safe and supportive atmosphere, in addition to a one-to-four teacher to student ratio, Project B.E.T.H.E.L. has served over 200 students, many of whom have ultimately earned their high school diploma or G.E.D. and  some of whom have gone on to college. 

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WEST ALABAMA AWARDS GRANT TO HOSPICE OF WEST ALABAMA

The Community Foundation of West Alabama recently announced that a $3,700.00 grant has been awarded to Hospice of West Alabama to be used toward supporting the completion of Allison’s House, a grief center that will open in the summer of 2006.

Allison’s House is located on the campus of the Veteran’s Hospital in a beautiful old home that previously served as a residence for the VA Hospital’s Medical Director.  Allison’s House, named for Miss Allison Harbin, the 16 year-old daughter of Karl and Mary Jane Harbin who died in an automobile accident in 2001, will serve as a specialized center that will expand Hospice of West Alabama’s grief support services.  The new facility will host a variety of activities, including group and individual counseling for adults and children.  The house will also be used on occasion for overnight accommodations for families of patients who are receiving care in Hospice of West Alabama’s inpatient facility, which is also located on the VA grounds.  The house is being completed with the help of the Tuscaloosa Homebuilders Association as well as other groups and individuals.  The grant from the Community Foundation of West Alabama will be used to assist in providing electronics and communications equipment for Allison’s House.

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WEST ALABAMA AWARDS GRANT TO A WOMAN’S PLACE FOUNDATION OF TUSCALOOSA

Pictured: Laura Gregory McKane, Board member of the Community Foundation of West Alabama and chairman of the Grants Committee (on right), presents a check to Co-Presidents of A Woman’s Place Foundation, Inc., Rosemary Childress (middle) and Catherine “Sister” Wright (left).

The Community Foundation of West Alabama recently announced that a $500.00 grant has been awarded to A Woman’s Place Foundation, Inc. of Tuscaloosa to be used in helping with the renovation of homes for the program.

A Woman’s Place Foundation, Inc. is a residential treatment program for women over the age of nineteen who have substance abuse problems.  While involved in the program, women participate in intensive treatment groups on a daily basis as well as in other therapeutic activities.  Treatment is a comprehensive effort that includes education classes, good nutrition, parenting classes, and exercise along with therapy.  The residential setting provides structure and close monitoring so that women can achieve their goals and help begin the important recovery process.  Quality treatment such as this offered at A Woman’s Place Foundation is highly sought after and the organization is working on increasing its available number of beds from fifteen to thirty.  The planned renovation of two houses on the facility’s grounds will also add a kitchen, dining room and meeting room.  A number of individuals and organizations have donated their time and resources to help renovate these houses.  The Community Foundation of West Alabama grant will be used to help supply building materials for these efforts.

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WEST ALABAMA AWARDS GRANT TO KID ONE TRANSPORT

Pictured:  Bill Walker, Treasurer of the Community Foundation of West Alabama, presents the grant check to Tracy Smith, CEO/President of Kid One at their headquarters in Birmingham.

The Community Foundation of West Alabama recently announced that a $3000.00 grant has been awarded to Kid One to help with the costs involved in providing transportation for children and expectant mothers to medical appointments in Hale, Bibb and Pickens counties.

Kid One Transport was founded in Hoover, Alabama in 1997 by a volunteer fireman who saw a need for reliable transportation to medical appointments for children and expectant mothers.  With 25% of Alabama families living at or below the poverty level, and many people living in very rural areas, a significant portion of Alabama’s families have difficulty in finding ways to reach healthcare facilities.  Public transportation is often non-existent or too cost prohibitive for many Alabama citizens.  Kid One is a non-profit organization that offers safe, door-to-door, round-trip transportation to children and expectant mothers to non-emergency medical, dental, vision, prenatal and mental health appointments at no cost to the families they serve. 

To date, Kid One has provided more than 100,000 rides in 38 counties statewide.  Kid One President, Tracy Smith, has been able to witness the many benefits of getting people to the doctor.  She feels that not only does it result in immediate health advantages, but it also offers long-term benefits.  Families who have available transportation are more likely to seek routine health care which can lead to the early detection and prevention of illnesses that can become life-threatening or life-impeding.  Mothers who receive prenatal care are less likely to have babies with health problems or low-birth weight.  Children who see doctors on a regular basis generally perform better in school due to fewer absences and less health issues which can hinder learning.  The Community Foundation of West Alabama grant will help supplement the cost of transportation in Bibb, Pickens and Hale counties where more than 7000 children and expectant mothers live in homes with limited or no transportation.  For more information on Kid One, visit www.kidone.org.

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WEST ALABAMA AWARDS GRANT TO IMPACT: AN ALABAMA STUDENT SERVICE INITIATIVE

Pictured: Jody Blackburn, member of the Board of Directors of Community Foundation of West Alabama, presents a check to Stephen Black, President and Founder of Impact.

The Community Foundation of West Alabama recently announced that a $5000.00 grant has been awarded to Impact: An Alabama Student Service Initiative to be used for FocusFirst vision screenings in school children in nine West Alabama counties.

Impact is Alabama’s first non-profit organization dedicated to developing and implementing service-learning projects in coordination with select universities and junior colleges throughout the state.  Stephen Black, the President and founder of Impact, recognizes that individuals need to be educated for citizenship and that young people in particular are a great resource in working toward positive change.  Part of the vision of Impact is to help young citizens understand, appreciate and engage actively in civic and public life.  Individuals are encouraged to devote time and talents toward meeting local and state needs, to work to affect public policy, to vote and to generally pursue the common good. 

In an effort to fulfill its vision, Impact has developed three “signature initiatives,” one of which is FocusFirst.  FocusFirst has a mission to provide cost-effective direct response to the vision problems of underprivileged children living in urban and rural poverty within Alabama.  Undergraduate and graduate students have been trained to help screen for vision problems in children ages six months to four years.  Volunteers from the University of Alabama and the University of West Alabama alone, through their work with Impact, screened 672 children between August 2005 and March 2006.  This is critically important in the state of Alabama since only an estimated 21% of preschool children receive proper vision screenings.  Of the thousands of children who have been screened since 2004, up to 15% have been found to have an eye disease or disorder that requires follow-up care.  Free follow-up care is provided to all of these children through the Children’s Eye Care Network, run by Sight Savers of Alabama.  The goal of Impact for the 2006 school year is to screen 8000 children for eye diseases and disorders.  The grant from the Community Foundation of West Alabama, as well as donations from other individuals and organizations, will help Impact work toward this worthy goal.

** Click Here to Read About Grants Awarded in the Fall of 2006