NORFOLK — About 200 local youth and young adults will receive job training, tutoring and paid internships thanks to a $150,000 grant from the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, officials said in a news release.
The three-year grant was awarded to the Hampton Roads Workforce Foundation for the NextGen Pathways program to help Chesapeake, Norfolk and Portsmouth residents between ages 16 and 24.
Participants will be youth who are not in school, working or in the military and may have experienced homelessness, lived in foster homes or have disabilities, officials said.
The Workforce Foundation is among eight area nonprofits awarded $593,802 in grants.
Funds came from community foundation donors’ unrestricted and field-of-interest funds.
Other organizations awarded grants were:
- The Endependence Center, $147,890 over three years to create the Road 2 Independence program. This Transitional Life Skills Program is for area residents ages 16 to 22 who have disabilities. The program will help prepare participants to transition to post-secondary education or careers.
- Girls Influenced by Righteous Living in All Situations (G.I.R.L.S. Club), $40,800 over three years to expand an after-school tutoring and mentoring program to a Title I school in Norfolk. The program works with females who have minimal parental involvement, lack adult supervision and are at-risk of not succeeding in school.
- Places and Programs for Children, $16,777 to add The Creative Curriculum to 27 Children’s Harbor early care and education classrooms in Chesapeake, Norfolk and Portsmouth. The curriculum will help teachers develop differentiated educational activities and will support student-driven learning for pre-school children. Funding comes in part from the Jeanne Atkinson Fund.
- The Planning Council, $25,000 for a planning to help a coalition of more than 14 stakeholders create a system to help disconnected youth in Chesapeake succeed in life. Stakeholders include area nonprofits, government agencies and faith-based organizations.
- STOP Inc., $15,000 to expand an after-school and summer program in Chesapeake’s Geneva Shores neighborhood. The program for youth ages 10 to 17 will focus on science, engineering, agriculture, technology and math (STEAM). Funding comes in part from the Ryan S. Crouse Fund and the Lowery D. Finley Jr. Memorial Fund.
- Tidewater Community College, $154,335 for the Academy for Nonprofit Excellence to offer training courses for nonprofit professionals in Hampton Roads.
- Youth Outreach Urban Resources and Services Ministry (YOURS), $44,000 over two years to implement the Natural Helpers curriculum into its Community Success Leadership Program in Norfolk’s Broad Creek and Ingleside neighborhoods. The program teaches middle- and high-school students to become peer counselors and mentors. Funding came from the Ethel T. Jones Fund and the Community Fund for Educational Achievement.
The community foundation is southeastern Virginia’s largest grant and scholarship provider, officials said.
Since 1950 it has awarded more than $282 million in grants and scholarships to make life better in Hampton Roads, they said.
Details on applying for grants are available here.
