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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2012)
Smoke Signals 9 OCTOBER 1,2012 Community Fund has now distributed $57.7 million if fcJJ mi im M ill r 111 Hi Mil Photo by Michelle Alalmo Julia Willis, Spirit Mountain Community Fund grants coordinator, talks with Jeanne Lusignan, program coordinator for the Corvallis Multicultural Literacy Center, during the fund's quarterly check presentation in the Governance Center Atrium on Wednesday, Sept. 12. The Literacy Center received a $4,905 grant for culture exploration kits. COMMUNITY FUND continued from front page Fund grant award for the group. Many of this year's recipients have received awards in previous years. "We are proud to have long-standing partnerships with some of our grantees," said Spirit Mountain Community Fund Director Kath leen George. "Consistency and sustainability are essential to some programs. While SMCF is a one year funder, there are some non profits whose mission is so aligned with Tribal values that we are not surprised to find that they have brought us successful applications for many years." A grant to Woodburn-based Farmworker Housing will improve family and children literacy among farm worker parents whose first language is indigenous to South and Central American roots and whose second language is Spanish. Most do not speak English. "We're teaching kids and their parents to read," said Executive Di rector Roberto Jimenez. The $15,000 grant will allow the group to provide services to 60 families, up from the 40 it served before the award. This was the seventh Community Fund award to Farmworker Hous ing. Since 2001, the Community Fund.Jias given $252,851 to the nonprofit. Eugene-based Willamette Farm & Food Coalition received $20,000 to teach children and families in Lane County about local sources of good quality food, and also increase their access to it, said Program Director Megan Kemple. The grant will allow the program to reach more than 1,000 children and families, and is the fourth grant the group has received from the Com munity Fund. Since 2008, the fund has given $35,000 to the group. Beyond Toxics received $5,000 for a project entitled "Environmental Justice & Toxics Exposure: Madres por la Salud (Mothers for Health) Project." The funds will enable Project Coordinator Alison Guz man to work with Latino mothers in their lower income communities in an industrial area of west Eu gene to teach about "the connec tion between the environment and health," said Executive Director Lisa Arkin. The funds will enable Guzman to work with 40 to 50 mothers and, including their families, it will translate into helping four times that many people, Arkin said. The 12-year-old organization is "one of the few environmental jus tice nonprofits in Oregon," Arkin said. "We're giving voice to an under served population in Eugene," said Guzman. The Community Fund has given the group three grants totaling $15,000 since 2007. "These recipients represent a great cross-section of our communi ty," said Community Fund Program Coordinator Louis King. Grants to six Oregon Tribes in cluded $75,000 to the Burns-Paiute Cultural & Heritage Preservation program; $100,000 to the Confed erated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw for a Dental Clinic Electronic Dental Records and Digital X-ray system; and $58,000 to the Grand Ronde Tribe for the Seven Tribes Exhibition and Display Cabinetry Project. "The Tribe is much more than the casino," said Community Fund Board Chairman Sho Dozono. He was joined at the check presen tation by Tribal Council members who are also on the Community Fund board: Reyn Leno, then vice chair, now chairman; Toby Mc Clary, then a Tribal Council mem ber, now Tribal Council secretary, and Tribal Council member Steve Bobb, who gave the invocation. "The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde is a very generous Tribe," said then-Tribal Council Chairwoman, now Tribal Council member Cheryle A. Kennedy, "and it always has been." After a few years of reduced funds, stemming from the 2008 eco nomic meltdown, funding available for gifts today is "moderately back on the rise," said George. The Community Fund has now distributed $57.7 million to non profits in 1 1 western Oregon coun ties and to Oregon's nine federally recognized Tribes since its incep tion in 1997. ,y 1 XJ 'him,j ---r J IWM1 "if ;VnattTlT:rBS ma ta enin teresstcit on teS:!lrtiI;3TniSvj(-..r r- , f lnf7n
