The following is a listing of the grants approved by the board at the FHL Foundation’s winter board meeting on February 14th, 2012:
1) The Bridges Project for Education – $25,000
DESCRIPTION – Research confirms that disparities in college access disproportionately affect minority students and lower-income families. Bridges addresses the structural barriers facing these under- represented groups as they enter the college application process. We strive to help students avoid unnecessary debt and increase their awareness of the federal and local funds they qualify for. Over the past fourteen years, we have had the opportunity to work with numerous people in extended families and have seen those families become empowered around the admissions process. We believe this has resulted in a multi-generational effect that will continue to impact the economic and social climate of our community.
2) Children’s Grief Center of NM – $5,500
DESCRIPTION – The mission of the Children’s Grief Center is to provide a safe and supportive environment where children, teens, young adults and their families can share experiences and feelings while grieving a death. Groups are designed to give the children and families the opportunity to talk, draw, write, play or act out their grief journey and process these experiences with others who are going through the same thing. Often when children experience the death of someone close to them, they have trouble forming meaningful attachments later in life. Having the opportunity to work through and discuss their feelings helps them to be able to feel emotionally open again. It costs just $550 to put a child through one year of grief support groups. The requested amount will help CGC put 10 grieving children through an entire year of grief support groups. This will in turn will give those children hope and healing for their futures through the formation of healthy, nurturing relationships.
3) Salt Lake Children’s Center – $2,500
DESCRIPTION – The Children’s Center will host it’s 13th annual Bridging the Gap Conference: Clinical Application of Theory and Research, in Salt Lake City this coming February. This year we will focus on applying what we have learned about attachment directly to clinical practice. Sandra Lindaman will present, “An introduction to Theraplay; Using engaging, interactive play to foster healthy attachment and child-parent well being.” Theraplay is an evidenced based practice that is showing great promise in treating children who have experienced trauma. Pasco Fearon, Ph.D. from the University College, London will present on Mentalization based therapy and provide up to date information on attachment and children’s long term development. Funding will be used to help defray the costs of hosting the conference in order to keep our fee schedule affordable.
As always, if you have any questions concerning these grants, feel free to contact us by using the Contact Us link above. To learn more about the work of the above groups, please click on the link to their respective web sites.
Congratulations to our Winter 2012 Grant Recipients!
