Six nonprofits will receive grants to support community engagement projects aimed at improving the lives of people in Reading.<\/p>\n
The winning projects will receive a combined total of $25,000, the Wyomissing Foundation and Barrio Alegr\u00eda announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The foundation funded the awards, which are meant to bring people together and connect them with arts programs, community activities and important services.<\/p>\n
Barrio, a Reading-based community organization focused on neighborhood engagement and the arts, coordinated the selection process.<\/p>\n
The awards, called FARO grants, are named after the Spanish-language word for \u201clighthouse.\u201d The name alludes to the search for traditionally undersupported community projects, Barrio\u2019s director of operations, Anthony Orozco, said in a release.<\/p>\n
Foundation President Pat Giles said the winners are selected each year by a committee of neighbors, rather than nonprofit executives and board members.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis grant program is all about neighbors helping neighbors,\u201d Giles said. \u201cSo, it just makes sense for a group of neighbors to also be the ones to evaluate the grant requests and make the tough choices about which ones they believe will make the most difference in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Orozco said he was happy to see so many different, innovative projects among the applications.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was important for us to attract not only small nonprofits, but also just everyday people with great ideas,\u201d he said. \u201cWe received more than 20 amazing applications, and this year we have lots of awardees who are neighbors with that spirit of action and creativity we look for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Applicants without nonprofit status were paired with established nonprofits in the area, Orozco noted.<\/p>\n
The following are the selected projects:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Artist Development Series by Berks County rapper and producer GMS; sponsored by the Yocum Institute for Arts Education.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Cypher at the Squares\u00a0City Park hip-hop dance meetups by Maldonado Arts and Movement Foundation; sponsored by Barrio\u00a0Alegr\u00eda.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u201c23\u201d The Aftermath of Gunviolence,\u00a0safe spaces for grieving neighbors by\u00a0Shaykayarira Delrio-Gonzalez; sponsored by Centro Hispano Daniel Torres.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Cultivating Connection: a monthly women\u2019s gathering series by Flowers From Us, To Us; sponsored by Tec Centro Berks.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Alive: Trauma-Informed Kickboxing and Therapeutic Services for Vulnerable Populations, by Alive Trauma Informed Kickboxing and Therapeutic Services; sponsored by Betterview Counseling and Trauma Recovery.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Business English Cohort for Unfunded Small Businesses\u00a0by Small For Small.<\/p>\n
Projects aimed at getting neighbors involved over a long period of time rather than single, one-off events were prioritized, Giles said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne-day events can be fun, informative and bring people together in a variety of ways, but only for a very limited amount of time,\u201d Giles said. \u201cCommunity engagement initiatives can provide deeper interaction, learning and support over a longer period of time, which have a better chance for building relationships and developing skills or knowledge that benefit people more intensely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Orozco said he looks forward to seeing the projects take flight over the next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a unique opportunity for these neighbors,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is going to be a learning experience for many of them and for some of them this might even become a defining moment of their lives. We\u2019re just honored to be a part of it in a small way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six nonprofits will receive grants to support community engagement projects aimed at improving the lives of people in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,857,182,139,28,736,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-185314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-essential-reading","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}