Smoke Signals 9
OCTOBER 1,2012
Community Fund has now distributed $57.7 million
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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.
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