The Arkansas Black Hall of Fame Foundation has awarded $48,000 in grants to projects benefiting minority and under-served communities. The May 25 online grant presentation included several Southeast Arkansas recipients.
"We are pleased to support the efforts of grassroots and other nonprofit organizations in Arkansas through our grant program," said ABHOF Foundation Chairman Charles Stewart. "Their work to improve education, health and wellness, youth development, economic development and to strengthen families helps to validate the mission of the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame Foundation. We are proud of our partnership with these great Arkansas institutions."
The grants are administered by the Arkansas Community Foundation, according to a news release.
Over the past 17 years, ABHOF has made $619,288 in grants to Arkansas nonprofits. This year's recipients are:
• Arkansas Disability Coalition (Southeast Arkansas) – expands telehealth access in Southeast Arkansas to families of children with special healthcare needs.
• Southeast Arkansas College (Jefferson County) – offers a Kids Virtual Learning Summer Camp.
• St. John AME Church Lay Organization (Jefferson County) – funds a project called "STOP" Students Trained to Operate in Peace.
• Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund (Desha County) – awards scholarships to single parent students of Desha County to remove financial barriers that would cause a student to drop out of school.
• Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation (Chicot and Phillips counties) –provides two free prostate cancer screenings/education events -- one in Eudora and one in Helena/West Helena.
• Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub (Central Arkansas) – Xtraordinary Minds PreKoder program introduces children ages 3 to 8 to basic computer coding concepts to enhance their literacy and math skills.
• Barbershop Books (Pulaski County) – partnering barbershops are located in communities that have strong ties to the Black community and support early literacy programs at four barbershops in Pulaski County.
• Central Arkansas Freedom School (Pulaski County) – the facility service area is home to some of the most economically disadvantaged children, ages 6 to 16, in the city of Little Rock.
• EducationCorps Inc. (Pulaski County) – serves high school and GED foster care students interested in attending college or a vocational certification program, with additional academic preparation to pass the ACT.
• Hamilton Haven (Clark, Hempstead, Nevada counties) – provides temporary emergency shelter for families and individuals temporarily displaced.
• OneCommunity (Washington County) – brings bilingual and African-American culturally responsive books and materials to families participating in the 2021 Springdale and Fayetteville Feed Your Brain (FYB), Alimenta Tu Cerebro bilingual Summer reading program.
• The Hub (Ouachita County) – a virtual reading program designed for first and second graders that supplies cookbooks, food for recipes and all supplies needed to read, follow instructions and use math skills for cooking.
• UCA Center for Community and Economic Development (Faulkner County) – funds the inaugural Arkansas Racial Equity Summit.
• UrbanPromise Arkansas (Pulaski County) – supports the Street Leader Program for the summer.
• Village Place (Pulaski County) – in partnership with Ujima Maternity Network to provide prenatal, childbirth and parenting support classes in Census Tract 5.
• Women & Children First (Pulaski County) – provides funds to purchase furniture for survivors of domestic violence moving into independent living situations.
Details: Arkansas Black Hall of Fame Foundation, www.arblackhalloffame.org or Arkansas Community Foundation, https://www.arcf.org.