One of the fundholders at YouthBridge Community Foundation of Greater St. Louis delights in supporting organizations that provide health-related services to children. Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital, with its “Care Beyond the Bedside” model of care, has been a natural fit for partnership.
The U.S. Marines website states that Marines share a belonging that is more than mere togetherness. This is quite evident at FOCUS Marines Foundation (FMF), a YouthBridge fundholder grant recipient. Founded in 2010 by Marines, the organization is led by volunteer veterans.
When Barbara Carswell, YouthBridge Community Foundation of Greater St. Louis CEO, became aware of Rung for Women a few years ago, she was impressed with the group’s mission and successes. As she learned more, she automatically began pondering a possible match to a YouthBridge fundholder.
Pony Bird has received several grants from a major YouthBridge Community Foundation of Greater St. Louis fundholder over the last eight years. Pony Bird’s mission of enriching the lives of individuals with disabilities is a perfect match for YouthBridge and for this fundholder.
Only in the world of YouthBridge Community Foundation would it seem commonplace to host a board meeting for an organization whose members live across the country – and who have never met in person! Restore Orphan Fund (ROF) members recently took advantage of YouthBridge’s invitation to visit St. Louis to meet each other and meet the YouthBridge staff, while bringing a little joy to the lives of area children living in foster care.
Working with The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis, a 2023 recipient of a Heritage Grant, is one example of YouthBridge’s commitment to older youth. According to The Scholarship Foundation Executive Director, Faith Sandler, the agency has benefited from donor-designated gifts from YouthBridge fundholders over the years. Now as a Heritage Grant recipient, The Scholarship Foundation is honored to be “selected based on what [they] do rather than who [they] know.”
Heritage Grants awarded by YouthBridge Community Foundation of Greater St. Louis are inspired by fundholders with big hearts who care about the financial sustainability of the nonprofits they love. After careful research and much consideration, YouthBridge determined that CASA of St. Louis fit the Heritage Grant requirements perfectly this year.
The Girl Scout mission to “build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place” is a tall order. It requires passion, dedication, a fierce belief in girls’ abilities, and of course, financial resources to support programming that nurtures these traits.
Remember the excitement of that new backpack, new box of crayons or freshly sharpened pencils – especially on the first day of school? Over 90,000 St Louis area kids share that joy because of the efforts of KidSmart. Founded in 2002, KidSmart’s mission is to empower children in need to succeed in school by providing free essential tools for learning.
“Inclusion” is defined as the state of being included or being made a part of something. Thanks to One Classroom, children with physical or intellectual disabilities are now educated in the general classroom of many Catholic schools in the St. Louis area. Rather than being segregated from their age peers, students’ individualized needs are addressed in the classroom as they work toward their individual potential.
The mission of the Down Syndrome Association of Greater St. Louis is to serve, support and celebrate the lives of all individuals with Down syndrome and their families, through every stage of life. The pillar of the organization is family support from the moment that a family receives notice that their unborn child may have Down syndrome through the end of the loved one’s life – and even beyond.
St. Francis Community Services (SFCS), a ministry of Catholic Charities of St. Louis, received a YouthBridge YEP STL! grant the first time they applied. YEP STL!
Through a $120,000, two-year, Think Big for Kids grant from YouthBridge, Story Stitchers is creating a series of public service announcements (PSAs) to help change the stigma around mental health care and provide information on accessing it.
This spirit of unity and the voices of young people 60 years ago that echo today in the work of Cultural Leadership, a nonprofit dedicated to creating a more just community by training area youth to be the next generation of civil rights leaders. The organization is a 2023 recipient of a YouthBridge YEP STL! grant.
CFS has found strength in its endowment fund and relationship with YouthBridge, says Mitchell. Established in 2019, the fund is helping to drive some important initiatives and “we see it as an opportunity for our services to continue on for another 50 years,” she says.
YouthBridge announces four new recipients of the capacity building grant – developed to assist nonprofits in building, strengthening and sustaining their organizations.
It shouldn’t matter your zip code; all kids deserve to thrive. We are hoping to impact literacy numbers by drawing in kids through positive stories that represent them and spark a greater interest in reading.
To honor our mission of partnering with donors around the sustainability of nonprofits, YouthBridge awards two Heritage Grants each year to child and youth serving organizations that are regularly supported by our clients. Heritage Grants provide $75,000 in unrestricted support over three years. This month, we highlight 2021 Heritage Grant recipient, Annie’s Hope.
2020 was a pivotal year in a lot of ways. For the St. Louis Area Diaper Bank, it marked six years of serving the region, more than six million diapers distributed through 60 partner agencies, and the launch of a new initiative to expand resources for low-income women.
We honor our veterans this month and salute the organizations dedicated to helping them live productive and rewarding lives after service, such as FOCUS Marines Foundation. YouthBridge partner Wayne C. Kaufmann Foundation has faithfully funded FOCUS since 2016, helping the organization to continue its mission of serving our nation’s veterans in their transition to civilian life.