Opinion: Why being civically engaged is Important for your CT community

What can one do if one feels compelled to become a civically engaged community member? It is sometimes difficult to realize good neighborly intentions beyond signing a petition or donating money by clicking an online donation button. For each of us, the opportunity to be a part of a local grantmaking committee became a creative and collaborative avenue to learn more about our community, engage with residents on urgent social issues, and make a positive impact.In the fall of 2020, we joined a group of Hartford citizens who answered a call about joining an advisory committee on grantmaking, a new initiative launched by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. The Hartford Foundation supported the initiative, known as the Greater Together Community Funds, by allocating $100,000 to each of the 29 towns it supports, half of which was invested, and the other half was available for immediate use. Since that time, the foundation has provided an additional $80,000 to each fund to support grantmaking activities.An advisory committee of resident volunteers oversee each town fund. During the Hartford Advisory Committee’s tenure, we have completed four grant cycles, having funded 33 organizations with almost $88,000 in total awards ranging from $500 to $5,000 for projects that primarily served Hartford residents.The foundation believes that by empowering the residents of the towns it supports, the citizens can directly address the pressing needs of their community. In Hartford, we joined 12 other folks, the youngest being a junior in high school, for our first meeting in September of 2020. Amidst unknowns and fears about public health and safety during the Covid pandemic, a group of strangers navigated virtual meetings about grantmaking with most seemingly having had little or no experience. Perhaps we did it to feel useful during a precarious moment in time when a pandemic made the city’s serious socio-economic issues even more apparent by exposing the inequities that plague cities like Hartford.The benefit of having access to the support and resources of the foundation meant that as a committee, we could craft our processes as we saw fit. We were provided a foundation liaison and templates, but the slate was clean for us to build on. It took time for a group of strangers to develop a rhythm and mutual understanding while only knowing each other virtually and with each person navigating a pandemic in their own way. We had to learn what the grantmaking process looked like, what the application should entail, how to market ourselves, and most importantly, how to define our priorities. Why were we being civically engaged?It was an opportunity to make a positive impact on our community by helping those organizations that had already built infrastructures to assist their neighbors in a variety of ways, whether it was childcare, afterschool arts programming, adult literacy and job readiness sessions, access to health care, and much more. As a new committee, we recognized that smaller nonprofits often needed help accessing funding than larger ones. Larger organizations can hire a grant writer, have political connections, and more resources for sustainability. We prioritized 501(c)(3) nonprofits with annual operating budgets of $1 million or less that served Hartford residents. After two successful grant cycles in year one, the only town to complete this, the Foundation commended our focus on supporting these smaller organizations.Now, four years later, we are a committee of eight, and are seeking new grant proposals due in September. We are very proud of our work. Recently, we visited one of our latest awardees, the Choir School of Hartford, to watch them in rehearsal. The Choir School, hosted by the Trinity Episcopal Church, offers tuition-free training for Greater Hartford singers between the ages of eight and eighteen, and educates students about musicology and general life skills. Their grant afforded the school new study materials and keyboards for students to practice at home. To see the choristers use the materials we purchased for them and to hear their beautiful voices was so inspiring. A choir of aspirational youth, using their free time after school to learn hymns and vocal scores brought home why this journey of civic engagement means so much.If you are inspired and interested in joining our committee (or any of the other 28 towns), visit our website Hartford Greater Together Community Fund: Hartford Foundation for Public Giving at hfpg.org or write to us at hartfordgreater2gether@gmail.com. Our web page also includes information on the 2024 grant cycle and past winners.Lara Langer, is chair of the Advisory Committee for the Hartford Greater Together Community Fund. David Barrett is a member of the committee. Both are original members, having joined in 2020.

Buy cryptocurrency

Source link

Refer And Earn Demat Account – Get ₹300 | Referral Program

Open Demat Account In Angel One For FREE