Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation Board approves more than $5 million in grant funding

The Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation recently approved grants for 13 nonprofits that support the community in the areas of education, humanitarian causes, mental health treatment capacity, arts and cultural growth and strengthening the environment.

Three of the grants will boost organizations that are improving youth mentoring, creating the best chance for new babies from challenged communities, and educating children living with autism.

Support for education, training

· $150,000 to the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce Foundation for the organization’s Career Edge program.

· $225,000 to increase organizational and program capacity at Project Light of Manatee, which will provide stipends to qualified instructors, update/replace technology, add a part-time administrative support position, and continue to support students in a myriad of ways.

· $650,000 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast to consolidate two offices and create a 100-person capacity mentoring center. This grant will help Big Brothers Big Sisters serve 500 more children and meet the more complex needs of the organization’s youth and their families.

· $1 million to the Florida Center for Early Childhood to invest in staff and infrastructure.

Humanitarian causes, children

· $50,000 matching grant to Southeastern Guide Dogs for its fundraising campaign and to support children and teens with vision loss. This program fills a critical gap in the working-dog industry by being the first and only service dog school in the United States to offer guide dogs to children and teens with vision loss.

· $130,000 to Meals on Wheels of Sarasota to expand its workforce and its grow fundraising capability.

· $230,000 to the Florida Policy Institute to support a regional and statewide housing analyst. FPI launched this position in 2022 at the behest of the Barancik Foundation to help policymakers at all levels of government and in private and philanthropic institutions to figure out ways to combat the dearth of workforce housing.

· $550,000 to Child Protection Center to support existing staff and to add capacity.

· $650,000 grant to CenterPlace Health for expansion of its obstetrics program.

· $400,000 to Samaritan Counseling Services of the Gulf Coast to support the organization’s Future Community Counselors strategy.

· $750,000 grant to Easterseals Southwest Florida to grow the Autism Center for Excellence.

Arts and culture, environment

· $150,000 to Westcoast Black Theater Troupe for finding and funding trained production staff. This grant establishes a fund that will help the organization mentor and train entry level personnel critical to continuing the growth and success of the troupe while contributing more skilled artistic production talent who would be available to the organization and the arts sector in the larger community.

· $265,000 grant to Sunshine Community Compost to grow its personnel and reach. This grant will allow Sunshine Compost to increase staff capacity by adding a full-time program manager and increasing the hours of the executive director to a full-time position.

The Barancik Foundation believes in the power of philanthropy to enrich the lives of all people. For more information, visit barancikfoundation.org.

Submitted by Barancik Foundation

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Barancik Foundation approves more than $5 million in community grants