Foundation Awards $453,250 in Grants

The Mary Black Foundation announced that it awarded $453,250 in grants to 7 nonprofit organizations serving adolescents of Spartanburg County. This funding is through the federal grant Mary Black Foundation receives from the Office of Population Affairs (OPA). In 2014, the Foundation received a five-year, $5.3 million grant from OPA to reduce teen pregnancy throughout Spartanburg County.

Grants Awarded

• BirthMatters was awarded $82,000 to provide the evidence-based curricula SHARP and Seventeen Days to teens in the community 15 years old and older. This funding will also provide continuation of their community health worker model in which the Rapid Assessment for Adolescent Preventative Services (RAAPS) is used with teens 16 years old and older to asses risk and navigate them to medical care.
• Bloom Upstate was awarded $36,000 to provide the evidence-based curricula Making a Difference and SiHLE to females in the community. This funding will also allow Bloom Upstate to offer the positive youth development model Girls Circle to females completing the evidence-based curriculua throughout the year.
• City of Spartanburg  was awarded $138,000 to provide the evidence-based curricula Making a Difference and SiHLE to teens in the community at the Parks and Recreation facilities. In addition, the funding will provide high quality positive youth development programming for teens, allow the Parks and Recreation facilities to continue to offer safe spaces through their Friday Teen Nights, and offer a day of youth advocacy for youth called RiZe.
• In Heaven’s Hands Ministries was awarded $26,000 to provide the evidence-based curriculum Love Notes and soft skills employment training for youth 16 years old and older in the community.
• Spartanburg School District 1 was awarded $28,000 to provide all middle and high school students the evidence-based curricula Healthy Futures: Nu-CULTURE and Love Notes as incorporated into their South Carolina Comprehensive Health Education Act standards.
• Spartanburg School District 5 was awarded $40,000 to provide all middle and high school students the evidence-based curricula Healthy Futures: Nu-CULTURE and Love Notes as incorporated into their South Carolina Comprehensive Health Education Act standards. In addition, this funding will be used towards an after school positive youth development program for students at Byrnes High School.
• Spartanburg School District 7 was awarded $103,250 for three different projects.
  • $45,000 was awarded  for the continued implementation of My Brother’s Keeper at Carver Middle School. This model includes replication of the Aban Aya curriculum and group-based mentoring. This funding also includes scholarships to summer camps for students participating in Aban Aya who are unable to afford out of school time opportunities in the summer.
  •  $30,000 was awarded to provide the evidence-based curriculum Love Notes in the after-school setting to 75 youth.
  •  $28,250 was awarded to provide all middle and high school students at Whitlock Flexible Learning Center the evidence-based curricula Healthy Futures: Nu-CULTURE and Love Notes as incorporated into their South Carolina Comprehensive Health Education Act standards, In addition, this funding for Whitlock will be used to allow staff to participate in the Capturing Kids’ Hearts training and incorporate a high quality positive youth development mentoring model into the Healthy Futures- Nu-CULTURE curriculum.

To learn more about the Foundation’s focus areas and about how to apply for future grant funding, visit www.maryblackfoundation.org.