Collier Community Foundation grants go to education, housing and human services in 2023
The Collier Community Foundation awarded $62 million in grants this year to nonprofit agencies with an emphasis on education, human services and housing.
The amount is not a record because the foundation internally transferred $20 million for educational grants.
Last year’s total award amount was $43 million and that included $5 million in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, according to foundation spokeswoman Cindi Withorn.
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The total this year involves $13.6 million in donor advised fund grants and $23.9 million in agency fund grants.
Another $7.1 million was allocated for the Golden Gate golf course affordable housing project that is a collaboration with Collier County.
Phase one involves building 252 apartments for essential workers and phase two will be 120 apartments for seniors.
Collier commissioners in October unanimously approved measures to allocate nearly $21 million from various county and state sources, including $4.8 million in land costs.
A groundbreaking was held last month near the site at the southwest corner of Golden Gate Parkway and Collier Boulevard.
“We are proud to play a key role in providing housing options for our essential workers and seniors that will allow them to live and work in our community,” Eileen Connolly-Keesler, president and chief executive officer of the foundation, said in a news release.
“Our board and staff are invested in planning today to provide long-term solutions for our community tomorrow, such as the critical issue of affordable housing,” she said.
A breakout of some of the grants
Among the nonprofits benefiting from Collier foundation grants is St. Matthew’s House, the homeless recovery organization, which received $30,000 for its empowerment center that provides educational programs for program participants for their long-term stability.
Steve Brooder, chief executive officer of St. Matthew’s House, said the organization is grateful for the foundation’s grant.
“Along with our major donors, the community foundation recognizes the tremendous benefit this new state-of-the-art learning and development center will provide to help lift people experiencing food insecurity, unemployment, and underemployment out of their circumstances with meaningful instruction,” he said in an email.
The 3,600-square-foot empowerment hub was unveiled in November and expands the organization’s job training and education to at-risk populations at large in the community. It is named after Scott and Dolly McCartan for their confidential donation to the hub located at 4330 U.S. 41 E.
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The hub offers flexible classroom and meeting space for continuing education, life-skills training, financial literacy, home ownership education and will encourage small business incubation.
A Housing Alliance getting launched
Another Collier foundation grant of $25,000 was awarded for consulting work to launch what’s called the Housing Alliance Inc.
The alliance is bringing together nonprofits, developers, the community, employers and private interests, said Michael Puchalla, executive director of the Housing Development Corp., a fair housing outreach organization in the community.
The idea is to have one centralized nonprofit that is a resource hub on what’s being done on affordable housing, to help bring different interests together, and for such things as sharing best practices, he said.
A website for the alliance is being developed for launching in February that will also be a navigation source, especially for residents who need assistance with their affordable housing needs, whether it is for rentals or learning how to become first-time buyers, he said.
By category, the foundation grants are as follows:
Arts, culture and humanities - $1,495,229.
Education - $33,086,000
Environment and animals - $945,559
Health - $3,349,008
Housing affordability - $7,123,809
Human services - $10,376,801
Public; societal benefit - $2,253,523
Other - $69,308
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Collier Community Foundation 2023 grants include affordable housing
