Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation’s Board of Directors recently approved $8 million in grant awards. The funding will help increase access to quality educational opportunities, connect vulnerable residents to vital services for their health and well-being, expand water-quality monitoring along our coast, and more.
EDUCATION
Barancik Foundation awarded four grants focused on improving access to and enhancing the quality of educational opportunities. “When students succeed, our entire community prospers,” said Teri A Hansen, President|CEO of Barancik Foundation. “These grants demonstrate our belief that a quality education is the best way to help students reach their full potential and our commitment to supporting teachers to make that possible.”
- Sarasota Housing Authority will use a $420,000 grant to provide more educational opportunities directly on its public housing campuses, including a new, full-day early elementary program at the Janie’s Garden complex and expanded after-school tutoring at its Orange Avenue site.
- UnidosNow was awarded $650,000 to strengthen its work of elevating the quality of life of the Latino and Hispanic community through education, integration, and civic engagement. The organization will expand its flagship Future Leaders Academy, a rigorous college and career preparation program for low-income, first-generation students, and bolster its own operations as it scales to serve the region’s growing Hispanic population.
- Sarasota County Schools will use a $1.2 million grant to design and implement continuous, district-wide professional development for teachers, school leaders, and staff, a priority in the school district’s five-year strategic plan.
- The Foundation also earmarked $300,000 for its TIME Fellowship program, which will provide 25 Sarasota County Schools educators with grants up to $12,000 to complete personal projects designed to renew them professionally and personally, ultimately inspiring creative new approaches in their classrooms and schools.
HEALTHCARE ACCESS
Barancik Foundation awarded two grants that will connect vulnerable residents with services for their health and well-being.
- Senior Friendship Centers will use a $367,190 grant to support and expand its Friendship at Home program, which provides social connection, crisis intervention, and food security to help homebound seniors continue to live stably and healthily in place.
- MCR Health was awarded $218,000 for community outreach to connect more patients in Sarasota and Manatee counties to the nonprofit health system’s no-cost and low-cost healthcare services.
COMMUNITY WELL-BEING
- Project 180 Sarasota will use a $475,000 grant to support housing infrastructure and staff capacity so it can serve more formerly incarcerated individuals as they reintegrate into the community.
- Parenting Matters received a $265,000 grant to strengthen its in-home parenting education program, which supports families and reduces the risk of child abuse and neglect, while also bolstering its organizational capacity to meet the increasing demand for its services.
ECONOMIC STABILITY
- The Salvation Army Sarasota County was awarded a $400,000 grant to support programs for families facing homelessness, financial struggles, and addiction issues.
THE ENVIRONMENT
- Marie Selby Botanical Gardens was awarded a $995,000 grant to temporarily relocate and care for its priceless collection of living plants during Phase Two construction of the Master Plan for its Downtown Sarasota Campus.
- Suncoast Waterkeeper was awarded $400,000 to expand its environmental water-quality monitoring as far south as Lemon Bay in Englewood, enhance mangrove monitoring in vulnerable areas, and educate North Port residents about harmful forever chemicals.
MORE GRANTS
Barancik Foundation’s Board of Directors approved $2,185,000 in grants to nearly 30 organizations whose programs Chuck and Margie Barancik supported on a regular basis.
The Board also approved $75,000 to seed a Leadership Development Fund, which will be used to invest in training and other opportunities for leaders at partner nonprofit organizations to enhance their leadership and management skills and strengthen their program impact.
