Each year, the Zonta Club of the Joliet Area donates funds to several local agencies/organizations who support women and girls. We were unable to provide grants in 2021 so we are especially excited to share this year's recipients. This year, thirteen agencies and organizations applied and were reviewed by our Service and Advocacy Committee.
Here are the 2021 Recipients:
Bridges to a New Day: $2000 A charitable agency with a mission to provide prevention, intervention and educational services which foster non-violence in the lives of children and adults. The grant will provide 20 hours of counseling services to women in the domestic violence program. The pandemic caused an increase in program cost. A previous grant from Zonta was able to provide 27 free counseling services for domestic violence victims.
Easterseals Joliet Region: $1000
Provides exceptional services, outreach, education, and advocacy so that veterans, people living with autism and other disabilities can live, learn, work and play in our communities. The grant will provide six (6) scholarships plus required supplies for 6 girls ages 8 -17 to attend a “Fun, Fit & Fab” program for the summer with a focus on empowering the girls with disabilities to find ways that they enjoy being active and healthy while meeting peers who may experience the same barriers.
Spanish Community Center: $2000
This agency's mission is to help improve the quality of life for Latinos, immigrants, and low-income people through educational social services. The grant will provide 80 life coaching sessions to Spanish Community Center clients that cannot afford the cost for this service. Life Coaching is an 8-week program offered to clients in order to help them cope with their past and current traumas with professional therapists through virtual, weekly sessions.
The Center has a special commitment to serving youth, and operates innovative programs targeting at-risk grade school students, teens, young moms/dads, and youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Our grant will help support the Sankofa Art Project. The program will provide a platform for budding female photographers and videographers to share their stories of family, history and community. With the help of university students, ten girls (grades 7 – 10) will learn the technical and creative aspects of video and photographic storytelling, editing and exhibiting and will document their creative process and journey on a private Instagram account on the Center’s blog. The project will culminate with an Art in the Garden special event in June 2023 when the youth’s artwork will be exhibited and celebrated and be available at various Joliet locations as requested.
Best wishes to all of our recipients and all of the agencies that applied. To learn more about the Zonta mission and our club's past recipients of the small grants, visit https://www.jolietzonta.org/service-advocacy.
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