Grant Success Stories

Kids Discover the Trail

A collaborative program between the Ithaca City School District, the Ithaca Public Education Initiative and the Discovery Trail

A group of local fourth graders dressed in period dress from the 1890’s are experiencing a day in the classroom from 1892 during their visit to the Eight Square School House, the oldest school in Tompkins County, built in 1827. They are on a field trip as part of the highly successful, curriculum-based “Kids Discover the Trail” program. This is a collaborative program between the Ithaca City School District, the Ithaca Public Education Initiative and the Discovery Trail. Organized visits to eight of our cherished educational institutions by children from pre-K to fifth grade offer “learning across diverse fields including art, science, botany, history, literature, nature, ornithology and paleontology,” as well as a strong social component building bridges among children from different schools. In 2010, a $10,000 grant to the Trumansburg Central School District Foundation from the Community Foundation’s Tompkins, Today and Tomorrow Fund supported expansion of this program to the Trumansburg School District to support the Trumansburg Kids Explore & Discover (TKED) program. The program gained immediate support from teachers and resulted in a smooth expansion. The Community Foundation is interested in exploring the possibilities of continued expansion of this pioneering program to other school districts within Tompkins County. A recent $10,000 grant to the Discovery Trail from the Community Foundation’s Tompkins, Today and Tomorrow Fund will allow for a feasibility study to be carried out determining capacity and potential for this expansion. Results of the study are anticipated later this year.

Ithaca Free Clinic

Ithaca Health Alliance’s Free Clinic

A community foundation provides local resources directed by residents designed for a place’s unique way of solving problems. Access to health care is a long term and very current issue of great concern to many in the United States. Locally a number of Ithacans have developed a nationally renowned model expanding service to those of our neighbors and friends most vulnerable by launching the Ithaca Health Alliance’s Free Clinic. Community Foundation grants have assisted in physical plant renovations, expanded pediatric and ob-gyn care, secured equipment, and increased access by supporting diagnostic procedures and provider-malpractice insurance. Grants have been made from the Women’s Fund, the Howland Foundation process, and donor advised funds.

S.T.A.M.P

Southern Tier Advocacy & Mitigation Project, Incorporated

Southern Tier Advocacy & Mitigation Project, Incorporated (S.T.A.M.P.) is an all-volunteer, notforprofit, Ithaca-based community organization that challenges pollution, criminalization, exploitation, and incarceration. They have received grants from donor advised funds, field of interest funds and from the Howland Foundation.

S.T.A.M.P. achieves success by encouraging self-respect, empowerment, leadership, and selfdetermination among young people, adults, and families most affected by criminal justice and environmental policies. This unique organization reflects the local values of combining social justice, community organizing, and environmental activism in order to develop critical thinking capabilities in those most underserved by traditional education.

S.T.A.M.P.’s request for its Green Guerillas Youth Media Tech Collective resulted in a grant from an anonymous fund at the Community Foundation. Green Guerrillas study documentary and narrative filmmaking; make their own media from posters to movies; do outreach at community events; and advocate for equitable living and learning environments. They travel beyond Tompkins County to meet peers and share their work.

Through stories underrepresented in mainstream environmental movements, Green Guerrillas actively assert a rarely heard or respected local voice into the global conversation with confidence in their ability to define themselves and their futures.