NORFOLK, Va. — Author's note: The video above is on file from September 15, 2021.
A philanthropy group through the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, The Community Leadership Partners, has awarded $200,000 in grants to 15 organizations across the region that are designed to benefit "opportunity youth."
A spokesperson for the HRCF said "opportunity youth" are people 16-24 who may or may not be in school, working or in the military.
The organizations that received money help teenagers and young adults develop important skills and find work or return to school.
“Since 2010, the Partners have awarded more than $2.3 million to organizations helping youth in Hampton Roads," Kate Hofheimer Wilson said, the associate vice president for development at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. “We are excited to support these groups that advocate for and provide vital support to our region’s young people.”
Here are the 2021 grant recipients and their purposes:
- Big Brothers Big Sisters Services, Inc. - $5,000 for mentorship programs for military family youth
- Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters - $15,000 for their Child Advocacy Center, which helps youth who have experienced varying forms of abuse.
- Communities in Schools of Hampton Roads - $20,000 for coordinators at Booker T. Washington and Granby high schools who help students at risk of dropping out.
- Community Harvest Outreach - $2,000 for job preparation training and support services.
- ForKids, Inc. - $15,000 for housing stabilization and housing support services.
- Hampton Roads Workforce Foundation - $20,000 for their NextGen Regional Internship Program, which provides workforce counseling and development services for youth who have dropped out or at risk of dropping out.
- Neighborhood - $12,000 for workforce training and job placement services in Chesapeake's South Norfolk community.
- New Vision Youth Services, Inc. - $2,500 to provide educational support and ABE/GED classes.
- StandUP For Kids Hampton Roads - $17,000 to go towards providing dental care for homeless and at-risk youth.
- The Literacy Lab - $8,000 to go towards training and mentoring of young men of color who will then provide literacy intervention to pre-K children.
- Tidewater Friends of Foster Care, Inc. - $24,000 for weekly tutoring services to help close learning gaps for local youth in South Hampton Roads.
- Tidewater Youth Services Foundation - $15,000 to provide various help for court-involved youth and independent living skills education for youth in group living homes.
- Together We Can Foundation - $17,500 for their Life-Work Portfolio Program, which prepares youth for the workforce.
- Virginia Beach CASA - $20,000 for their Bridges to Success mentoring program to help youth become independent.
- Wesley Community Service Center, Inc. - $7,000 for educational services to help Portsmouth youth get their GED.