Truliant Foundation Awards 30 Mini Grants to Community Nonprofits
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (September 5, 2024) – The Truliant Foundation is awarding a total of $45,000 in Community Mini Grant funds to 30 nonprofit organizations across Truliant Federal Credit Union’s member communities to enhance and grow outreach efforts.
The Mini Grants program, now in its 16th year, provides, community-based, nonprofit organizations with up to $1,500 in grant funding to support operating, programmatic or capacity-building needs.
"Like Truliant serving its members, the Foundation is proud to offer Community Mini Grants to organizations when they need us most,” said Atticus Simpson, executive director of the Truliant Foundation.
“This program gives the Truliant Foundation an opportunity to build relationships and contribute to our communities by providing small but meaningful support to organizations with fewer resources. They provide essential programs and resources to help our most vulnerable populations, who we all serve together.”
The Mini Grants program accepts and considers proposals annually. Each organization submitted a grant proposal for a project focusing on one of the following areas: youth and education, community development, economic mobility, and financial wellness.
The Truliant Foundation accepts applications from nonprofit organizations supporting communities served by Truliant Federal Credit Union in the Carolinas and Virginia. Among other criteria, qualifying organizations that are interested in applying must have tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and be in existence for at least three years.
Since 2008, the Community Mini Grant program has awarded about $400,000 to more than 420 nonprofit organizations. 2024 award winners are listed below.
North Carolina
Alamance County
- Habitat for Humanity of Alamance County, Burlington, N.C. – The organization, which helps families build new homes, will use the funds to support general operations.
Cleveland County
- Washington Outreach Ministry, Waco, N.C. – The funds will be used by the Summer Feeding Program, which houses more than 40 youth each summer, to stock the kitchen for eight weeks. Most youth come from low-income families and experience food insecurity.
Davidson County
- Building Resources in Disadvantaged Groups Through Economics & Empowerment (BRIDGE), Thomasville, N.C. – Funds will support a three-part financial education program to inmates. Topics include financial goals and understanding credit.
Forsyth County
- Eliza's Helping Hands, Inc., Winston-Salem, N.C. – Funds will support programming aimed at growing job skills and providing financial education to underserved communities.
- H.O.P.E. of Winston-Salem, Winston-Salem, N.C. – Funds will be used to support the Help Our People Eat program's food and packaging supplies for weekend distribution operations.
- LEAD Girls of NC, Winston Salem, N.C. – Funds will be used to purchase touch screen iPads, supplies, and technology needed to upgrade equipment – helping support the organization’s recent move to a new office.
Guilford County
- A Legacy of Hope Inc., Jamestown, N.C. – Funds will be used for activities, a stipend and curriculum materials to help mentees in the Breaking Boundaries Mentoring Program.
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Central Piedmont, High Point, N.C. – Teachers play a key role in supporting BBBS mentoring relationships. Funds will go toward teacher appreciation items like coffee and doughnuts, extra school supplies and snacks.
- Chase's Chance, Inc., Colfax, N.C. – Funds will be used to help young people achieve self-efficacy and meet their goals, and go toward scholarships, summer camp opportunities and supplies.
- Cultural Roots, Inc., Greensboro, N.C. – Funds will be used to support education and development programs, conduct entrepreneur workshops, provide start-up funding assistance, offer mentorship and networking opportunities and facilitate peer-to-peer learning groups, among other items.
- Mega Mission Ministries, Inc., High Point, N.C. – The organization supports students’ efforts to express themselves through the written word and artistic means. Funds will go primarily toward the purchase of food and snacks for the upcoming semester.
- Women's Resource Center of Greensboro, Inc., Greensboro, N.C. – The funds will go toward the creation of a job-search toolkit for the Women to Work program, which provides job readiness training and placement support services, primarily single mothers working toward self-sufficiency.
Mecklenburg County
- A Better World, Charlotte, N.C. – To support the launch of its Allstar Literacy Leaders initiative, funds will cover the cost of books and reading comprehension workbooks for 25 middle school students.
- Bright Blessings, Matthews, N.C. – Funds will used to provide hundreds of essential snack and hygiene kits to local children in need.
- Changing Lives Outreach Center CDC, Charlotte, N.C. – The funds will be used to help buy food and supplies for the center's Curbside/Mobile Food Bank to help reduce food insecurity in impoverished communities.
- CharlotteEAST, Charlotte, N.C. – Funds will go toward the development of the Adopt-a-Teacher program. The program pairs beginning teachers with a community member with an education background and supports other educator needs.
- Circle de Luz, Charlotte, N.C. – The grant will go to the Student and Family Resource Fund, supporting young Latinas by advocating for them in the school setting, with local agencies and beyond, providing translation support, and referrals to partner agencies.
- Classroom Central, Inc., Charlotte, N.C. – Funding will be used to provide core, urgently needed school supplies and to replenish diminished inventories of supplies. The materials distributed are used both in the classroom and at home to assist with learning for students living in poverty.
- Community Culinary School of Charlotte, Charlotte, N.C. – Funds will go toward costs related to the ServSafe® safety and sanitation certification preparation course, workbooks and the ServSafe® exam. The certification is an important component of launching students’ culinary careers and earning better wages.
- Crittenton, Charlotte, N.C. – Funds will be used to advance economic mobility for adult and school-aged clients with educational and professional development needs.
- Despierta, Charlotte, N.C. – The organization, which helps Latina immigrants by providing essential services, will use the funds for community development, to enable meaningful collaborations, and to provide individuals with the resources and connections they need to thrive.
- Families Forward Charlotte, Charlotte, N.C. – Funds will be used to support the cost of monthly educational workshops and financial literacy skills building programs, and to expand their reach.
- Freedom School Partners, Charlotte, N.C. – Funds will help cover essential costs such as books, curriculum, and program supplies related to key personnel and programmatic needs for the 2024 Freedom School summer program, benefitting 700 elementary and middle school students across 12 sites in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area.
- GenerationNation, Charlotte, N.C. – Grant funds will support youth programs, which focus on building knowledge, experience, and social capital for success and leadership in school, in the community, in a career, and in civic life.
- Just Do It Movement INC, Charlotte, N.C. – Funding will help support financial literacy and workforce development workshops for a total of 10 people during a three-month period.
- Peoples Private Learning, Charlotte, N.C. – Funds will support the purchase of a full class set of 30 laptops through the organization's partnership with E2D (Eliminate the Digital Divide), ensuring students, especially those from underserved communities, will have access to a personal device in academic sessions.
South Carolina
Greenville County
- First Impression of SC, Greenville, S.C. – Funds will support the purchase of perishable and nonperishable food items, gas cards and bus passes for the Stella Hill McBee Cook Community Cupboard/food pantry assisting food insecure families in Greenville County.
- LiveWell Greenville, Greenville, S.C. – Funds will purchase infant formula for Greenville County's Formula Bank. The purpose of the Formula Bank is to provide formula to low-income families with babies aged 0-6 months waiting for an enrollment response from WIC.
Virginia
Pulaski County
- New River Community Action, Inc., Radford, Va. – Funds will be used to provide transportation fuel cost assistance to Head Start parents who need it, via a gift card, for use at designated fuel retailing facilities.
Montgomery County
- Literacy NRV, Christiansburg, Va. – Funds will be used to further build the Skill Up NRV program by adding a part-time English for Life ESL instructor to expand and enhance the organization's impact. It will give the program four instructors for 75 adults.
About The Truliant Foundation
Established in 2023 as an independent, 501(c)(3) organization to support Truliant Federal Credit Union's commitment to community and its social responsibility to give back to the neighbors it serves, the Truliant Foundation elevates the “People Helping People” credit union philosophy by providing donations, grants and scholarships to community organizations and relief funds to Truliant employees facing unforeseen personal hardship. Donations to the foundation are tax deductible. To learn more or give, visit www.truliant.org/foundation.
About Truliant Federal Credit Union
Truliant is a mission-driven, not-for-profit financial institution that improves lives by providing great service and straightforward financial solutions. Truliant was chartered in 1952 and now serves 354,000+ members. Truliant has more than 35 branches in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact: Heath Combs
[email protected]
(o) 336-293-2054 (c) 336-442-5736
