Through The Community Foundation’s competitive grantmaking process, The Community Fund, generous donors like you, are seeing their charitable gifts at work. Grants in Action recognizes the impacts of notable grant awards, and the significant impact they are having on strengthening the Jackson Hole community. Thank you for making Jackson Hole a better place:
Teton County Government
Snake River Corridor Management Plan
This project is a partnership of local agencies, both public and private, protecting land that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is “divesting” from its holdings. It is helping protect public access to these lands. All parcels are located along the Snake River. One of the most popular and utilized parcels is the Emily’s Pond area. Without this project, our community may have lost public access to 24 separate parcels totaling 1,200 acres.
Teton County School District #1
Academic Competition Scholarship Fund
Before this scholarship program was created, families of local students who won academic awards were not always able to celebrate the student’s success. Academic awards are frequently followed by regional and national competitions. For many local families, the news of an award was followed by the expense of traveling to the next level of competition. Can you imagine your child coming home excited that they had won an award and announcing that they were now asked to compete in Washington, DC and you are not able to pay for the trip? Many parents would arrive in the Foundation office, embarrassed and looking for help. The Foundation’s ability to grant to individuals is limited by IRS regulations and the need far exceeds our funding availability. Foundation staff worked with the school district to create a formal scholarship program to specifically address the needs of these hard-working students. Now academic award programs are tied directly to a scholarship program to support families who demonstrate need as they continue to the next level of competition.
El Puente
Assuring Access to Health Care
The El Puente program provides 24 hour medical interpretation services, bridging the cultural gap between our growing Latino community and local health care providers. Saint John’s Medical Center reports that this service provides critical access to our local health care system, and the hospital demonstrates their support through financial underwriting. Last week The Community Foundation and Saint John’s Medical Center were joined by the Wyoming Business Council with a $35,000 HUD program grant in supporting this important program.
Our Families Our Future
CLIMB Program
The Climb Wyoming Young Parent program trains and places single mothers in jobs that successfully support their families. This grant is specifically providing mental health and substance abuse evaluation, including 32 two-hour group sessions, 13 substance abuse evaluations and 10 one-time sessions for thirteen weeks. This program support allows the CLIMB program to assist local single mothers to better care for themselves and for their families.
Friends of Pathways
Pathways and Trails Safety Campaign
Last year, Ed Henry was killed in an accidental collision on a local bike path. In the wake of this tragedy, this grant has put 1,000 bike bells on local pathways, immediately increasing safety for everyone using the pathways.
Saint John's Medical Center Foundation
Eden Alternative Training
This grant provides training for Certified Nursing Assistants working in the Living Center. Eden Alternative is a national training program, designed to shift nursing home management from a medically-centered approach to a resident-centered approach. Utilizing the new approach, nursing home residents have the ability to make fundamental changes in their facility and how it is run. Changes initiated by residents of the Living Center include the introduction of pets, an increase in privacy through the remodeling of bath areas and an increase in the individualization of menus and food preparation. Due to this funding and new management approach, St. John’s Medical Center reports a decreased need for psychotropic drugs and a decrease in unexplained weight loss in Living Center clients.
