CURRENT GRANTS
2023 GRANTS
On January 19, the Women’s Fund of Smith County awarded 7 impact grants totaling $369,320 for 2023. These grants awards bring our cumulative giving since 2009 to $2,885,445, impacting 32 Smith County nonprofit agencies and countless lives.
Thank you to our Women’s Fund Members, our sponsors and donors, and many other community partners who have helped make our mission possible!
Children’s Advocacy Center of Smith County – $60,000
Meeting Room Furnishings
Together, we presented a grant award of $60,000 to Children’s Advocacy Center of Smith County. This funding will be used for training tables and chairs to outfit a variety of additional meeting spaces in the organization’s new facility. These furnishings allow CAC to launch new groups, as well as expand those CAC currently offers. These include a new investigative/intervention group for those identified as at risk for trafficking; therapy support groups for parents, boys and girls; Trauma Informed Schools summer programs for educators; and multidisciplinary team case coordination. The mission of the Children’s Advocacy Center is to protect and restore the lives of abused children through team investigations, healing services, community outreach and strategic partnerships.
East Texas Food Bank – $60,000
Tyler Resource Center
Next, we awarded $60,000 to the East Texas Food Bank. This funding was given in support of the Food Bank’s Tyler Resource Center, a new multi-service food pantry that will be located at the organization’s distribution center in Tyler, in an area of high need, where ETFB will serve an estimated 500 Smith County households each week. Since October 1988, the East Texas Food Bank has provided food to over 200 partner agencies and food programs, in an effort to feed children, the working poor and seniors throughout 26 counties in East Texas.
East Texas Symphony Orchestra – $35,000
All Access to the Power of Music
Our third grant of $35,000 was awarded to the East Texas Symphony Orchestra and will enable the organization to empower more than 3,500 Smith County students, including every 4th & 5th grader in Tyler Independent School District, by providing National and Texas standards-based instrumental music education. ETSO hopes to remove barriers so all students can experience and participate with the Link Up curriculum created by Carnegie Hall culminating with an interactive ETSO performance. The curriculum is proven to develop creative capacities, cognitive skills and make personal connections to music.
East Texas Veteran’s Community Council – $54,320
Camp V Our Place Patio
A grant of $54,320 will enable Camp V to begin construction on a new patio. This project is aimed at providing social, educational, and support gatherings to help Camp V better identify and assess the needs of and serve the rapidly growing number of women veterans and families in East Texas. ETVCC will use funds to transform the space behind the Women Veterans Service Center into an attractive and functional gathering place. Planned renovations include construction of a large patio with comfortable seating, and outdoor kitchen, and a children’s play area.
The Fostering Collective – $50,000
Family Resource Center Makeover
Together, we awarded $50,000 to the Fostering Collective to be used for a Family Resource Center makeover. The project will mobilize The Fostering Collective to expand tangible and therapeutic support services for foster/adoptive families by developing a Sensory Room, Resource Room, and an upgraded Collective Closet with the essentials families need to care for foster children. The project allows for a full-time staff member, the Resource Center Coordinator, to provide support and referral services for foster and adoptive families as well as therapy scholarships for foster families in crisis.
PATH – $60,000
PATH Community Playground Project
We gave an award of $60,000 to PATH to support its Community Playground project. PATH Community Homes owns 52 properties that are the foundation for PATH’s Transitional Housing Program. Several of the properties surround an open space owned by PATH that was developed into a playground for the neighborhood approximately 15 years ago. PATH will use this grant to purchase new equipment and refresh the existing property in order to provide a warm, inviting, safe place for all families in the surrounding neighborhood to use and enjoy.
Starbrite Therapeutic Equestrian Center – $50,000
Hire an Additional Full-Time Instructor
Our final award of $50,000 was granted to Starbrite Therapeutic Equestrian Center. This funding will allow Starbrite to hire an additional full-time Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor (CTRI) to serve the organization’s wait list of eligible participants. Starbrite is a service organization that utilizes equine assisted activities to spread the Love of Christ by empowering youth, adults, and veterans with a variety of needs and abilities.