First Federal Community Foundation announces local grant winners

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Eight nonprofits in Jefferson County have been awarded grants from the First Federal Community Foundation, the foundation has announced.

The foundation recently bestowed grants totaling $365,000 to nonprofits in Jefferson, Clallam, Kitsap, and Whatcom counties. Twenty-five organizations in all received assistance as part of the foundation’s fall 2020 grant cycle.

“Since it began making grants in 2015, the Foundation has contributed a total of $4,441,500 to difference-making organizations in Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, and Whatcom counties,” said Jan Simon, executive director of the foundation.

“All of the recipients in our fall 2020 grant cycle are focused on improving lives in our communities, a mission that is even more urgent during these challenging times,” she added.

Grants awarded in Jefferson County are: 

• Bayside Housing & Services; a $25,000 affordable housing grant to pay for essential services, including transitional housing, meals, and case management assistance in finding jobs and permanent housing, for two Jefferson County families of three for one year.

• Catholic Community Services of Western Washington; a $5,000 community support grant for supplies for the volunteer Olympic Bluebill Builders, retired engineers who install life-saving safety equipment such as access ramps, grab bars, and handrails in the homes of the elderly and those with disabilities in Jefferson, Kitsap, and Clallam counties.

• Jefferson Community Foundation’s Housing Solutions Network; a $25,000 affordable housing grant to promote Jefferson County’s economic recovery by protecting and expanding the availability of affordable housing for its workforce with “Housing Connections,” a program that trains new landlords and connects them to local lenders for renovations, and also helps match them to renters.

• Key City Public Theatre; a $30,000 economic development grant for the theatre’s completion of the Facility Expansion and Improvement Project, to provide for better accessibility, address COVID-related safety issues, and to reopen the theatre, which contributes to the sustainability of Port Townsend’s historic districts.

• Olympic Angels; a $5,000 community support grant to engage 80 new community volunteers to provide long-term relational support, and make deep connections with 30 new foster children and their caretakers in Jefferson and Clallam counties in 2021.

• Parkview Services; a $25,000 affordable housing grant to provide no-cost HUD housing counseling services to prevent foreclosures for approximately 40 struggling homeowners in Jefferson, Clallam, Kitsap, and Whatcom counties. 

• Puget Sound Voyaging Society’s Community Boat Project; a $5,000 community support grant for Shelter From The Storm, a nonprofit that operates a job, leadership and life skills training program, with paid internships for post-high schoolers, ages 18-25, in Jefferson County.

• The Port Townsend Main Street Program; a $65,000 economic development grant to underwrite an events-and-marketing campaign that supports the sustainability of local businesses, increases Port Townsend’s visibility and attracts people and spending to business districts that have been hard hit economically by the pandemic.

First Federal Community Foundation is a private charitable corporation that began making grants in 2015.

“We are acutely aware that many of our neighbors are experiencing great difficulty, with the ranks of the most vulnerable increasing daily,” said Norman J. Tonina, the foundation’s board chairman. “It’s our honor to provide support to these worthy organizations that are providing a lifeline to so many in need.”