Impact Fairfield County (Impact FFC), the area’s premiere women’s collective giving circle, awarded two $100,000 Grants to Bridgeport nonprofits: New Reach and nOURish BRIDGEPORT. In addition, these two organizations each won an additional $1,000 general operating grant.
Impact FFC also awarded three $20,000 unrestricted general operating grants to Children’s Learning Centers of Fairfield County (CLC) (Stamford), Future 5 (Stamford), and Wakeman Boys & Girls Club (Bridgeport).
The winners of the $100,000 Grants were selected by a vote of Impact FFC’s 262-women membership at their Annual Meeting in Darien on May 4. The vote followed a rigorous application process which narrowed down an initial pool of 59 nonprofit applicants to five finalist organizations which presented at the Annual Meeting. After undertaking a comprehensive review of the applications and conducting site visits with 15 deserving organizations, members selected the five finalists, and ultimately the two winners, based on criteria including the organization’s demonstrated impact, the population served, and the long-term sustainability of the project.
Impact FFC’s 2022 Grant winners are:
New Reach, a leader in providing homelessness prevention, emergency shelter, and housing solutions. New Reach will use the Grant to expand their Stable Families program, which collaborates with social workers, landlords, and lawyers to keep families from becoming homeless. The Grant will enable them to serve 50 additional families, most of whom are women of color with children. Kellyann Day, CEO of New Reach, spoke to the fact that “housing is such a crucial issue” as “without it, it’s really difficult to do anything else.” Thanking Impact FFC, she said, “Your support is just amazing, and it’s going to impact so many moms [and] kids and keep them in their housing so that they can be stabilized and do all [the] great things that we know that they are capable of doing.”
nOURish BRIDGEPORT, which addresses food insecurity and the inaccessibility of nutritious produce in Bridgeport by providing groceries, formula, diapers, and hot meals to Bridgeport residents. nOURish BRIDGEPORT will use the Grant to support development of a nonprofit indoor hydroponic farm, growing produce to be sold at cost to food pantries and to supply Bridgeport farmers markets. Reverend Sara D. Smith, Esq., President and CEO of nOURish BRIDGEPORT, said “this grant is like throwing a big stone of hope into a pond of food insecurity,” speaking about the ripple effect that the investment will have in terms of the health and advancement of the Bridgeport community. “Thank you, [women of Impact FFC], for helping us nourish Bridgeport.”
This year’s Grant winners are both based in Bridgeport, a community which Impact FFC is proud to have supported over the years. Including the funds awarded to today’s two Grant winners and finalist Wakeman Boys & Girls Club, Impact FFC has given over $700,000 to causes in Bridgeport. Kadisha Coates, an Impact FFC member, said, “Impact Fairfield County is making a lasting imprint on the city of Bridgeport, where I live. It is incredibly satisfying to know that Impact FFC meets the true needs of people in my community and many others.”
In addition, the other two finalists who received $20,000 operating grants – Future 5 and Children’s Learning Centers of Fairfield County – serve the Stamford population, a community which has received over $600,000 in Grants from Impact FFC. Said Ronice Latta, an Impact FFC member who resides in Stamford, “In a time when demand is high and resources are low, Impact FFC helps fill the gap. Their generous support empowers deserving nonprofits to meet— and sometimes exceed – the needs of those they serve. As a longtime Stamford resident, I have witnessed firsthand the transformational change the grants have on disadvantaged communities. The partnership and investment not only alleviate immediate financial pressures, but also strengthen organizations over time. The impact is exponentially great!”
2022 was a record year for Impact FFC, with its greatest number of members and funds to be distributed since inception. In its seventh year of investing to transform the lives of Fairfield County’s neediest, Impact FFC has reached $1.6 million in total grant funding. “You could feel the power of the collective giving model come to life in the room this morning. All five organizations brought our members to tears with inspiring stories of how they are changing lives in our community. We are so proud to award $262,000 this year and to continue to make transformational change in the future. All Fairfield County women are welcome – join us for 2023!”,” said Steviann Martines, Co-President of Impact FFC.
About Impact FFC:
Impact FFC is a collective giving circle whose mission is to empower women to engage in local philanthropy through deeper knowledge and active participation in grantmaking. It unites women by pooling membership funds to provide large, transformational grants to nonprofit organizations across Fairfield County.
For more information or to join Impact FFC, please contact membership@impactffc.org.
