At the April meeting of the Trustees, The Collins Foundation was proud to award 21 single-year grants and 10 multi-year grants, totaling nearly $1.2 million to nonprofits across Oregon.
Arts
Peter Britt Gardens Music and Arts Festival Association -- $17,000 to support Britt Orchestra classical programs for Southern Oregon audiences, including young adults, children, and low-income seniors
Portland Actors Conservatory -- $15,000 to purchase a customer relationship management database to increase organizational efficiency and improve services to students, patrons, and audiences in Portland
Portland Playhouse -- $65,000 to renovate a Northeast Portland facility to serve as a theater home and center for community arts
Ross Ragland Theater -- $10,000 to support arts education programs serving K-12 students in the rural Klamath Basin region
Triangle Productions -- $25,000 over two years to build capacity to support part-time actors and technicians in Portland
Children & Youth
CASA for Children of Klamath County -- $30,000 over two years to train additional volunteers to serve more at-risk, low-income children involved in the child welfare system due to abuse or neglect in rural Klamath County
CASA of Douglas County -- $130,000 over three years to expand the Kids in Common collaboration to serve more low-income children in the child welfare system by providing comprehensive wraparound services to their families
Chess for Success -- $70,000 over three years to increase staffing to expand chess club coaching and educational enrichment into more elementary and middle schools serving primarily youth of color and low-income students across Oregon
Heart of Oregon Corps -- $24,000 to employ at-risk teens to restore public lands through a summer conservation program in Central Oregon, and replace fleet vehicles and equipment
My Voice Music -- $10,000 to support affordable music education programs for low-income youth with emotional and behavioral challenges in the Portland area
Parenting Now! -- $30,000 to update materials for a parenting education curriculum serving isolated, at-risk parents with children ages 0-8 across Oregon
Process Work Institute -- $8,000 to provide scholarships to low-income, Portland-area youth with diverse life experiences to attend a leadership development camp
Community Welfare
Alvord-Taylor House -- $40,000 over two years to hire a job developer to expand employment opportunities for high school students and adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities in the Eugene-Springfield area
Bethlehem Inn -- $20,000 to provide shelter and support services for homeless individuals and families in Central Oregon through a challenge match
Center for Hope & Safety -- $50,000 to purchase property and construct a new emergency shelter in Marion County to assist survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking
Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. -- $30,000 to support staffing costs for a collaborative pilot project to improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs by stabilizing housing for low-income youth, ages 15-26
Helping Hands Re-entry Outreach Centers -- $25,000 to support programs and operations for a new homeless relief center in rural Tillamook serving low-income, homeless men, women, and families
Lower Columbia Hispanic Council -- $40,000 over two years to support operations to provide culturally-specific education, health, and advocacy services for low-income, Spanish-speaking residents in Clatsop, Columbia, and Tillamook Counties
Oregon Tradeswomen -- $30,000 to recruit, train, and prepare low-income women of color for employment in the construction and manufacturing trades in western Oregon
Raphael House of Portland -- $25,000 to support Portland-area domestic violence prevention and intervention programs through a challenge match
Rebuilding Together Washington County -- $5,000 to provide free home repair for low-income mobile home owners in Washington County who are primarily individuals with disabilities, the elderly, and veterans
Red Lodge Transition Services -- $35,000 over two years to hire support staff to expand programs serving currently and formerly incarcerated Native Americans, and create transitional housing for formerly incarcerated Native women
Education
Classroom Law Project -- $35,000 over two years to hire a senior program manager to expand civics education programs into urban and rural schools across the state
Friends of Saturday Academy -- $35,000 to support staffing and provide workshop materials and laptops to encourage STEM educational pursuits for low-income girls of color in the greater Portland area
United Way of the Columbia-Willamette -- $110,000 over two years to implement an education collaborative to help middle and high school students of color in the Reynolds School District improve academic achievement
Environment
Friends of Buford Park & Mt. Pisgah -- $75,000 over two years to restore floodplain habitat along six miles of the Willamette River near Eugene and Springfield
Northwest Earth Institute -- $20,000 to support operations and the redesign of the EcoChallenge website to engage more Oregonians in actions to promote environmental health
Health & Science
Looking Glass Youth and Family Services -- $100,000 to purchase a building to house affordable counseling programs serving the mental and behavioral health needs of low-income youth and families in Lane County
Upstream Public Health -- $15,000 to hire a deputy director to strengthen organizational capacity to improve public health policy and reduce health disparities for low-income Oregon children and youth
Humanities
Oregon Council for the Humanities -- $18,000 to support operations and implement strategic plans to enhance statewide programming, serve more diverse participants, and strengthen organizational sustainability
The Willamette Heritage Center -- $10,000 to implement new strategic objectives to strengthen infrastructure and programs that foster sustainability and serve students and residents of the mid-Willamette Valley