INCF grants boost community programs

The Inland Northwest Community Foundation recently announced the distribution of $392,000 in grants to 24 Inland Northwest organizations ranging from $1,600 to $45,000.

Grants were awarded to programs in the foundation’s three focus areas: economic development, stewardship of natural and cultural resources, and efforts that help citizens solve community problems.

The foundation manages more than 250 funds valued at $62 million and has grant cycles throughout the year. Nonprofits interested in applying for grants should go to www.inwcf.org. Here’s the list of organizations that recently received awards:

•Association for Sacred Encounters in Kootenai County: audiovisual equipment for the exhibition “Sacred Encounters: Father De Smet & the Indians of the Rocky Mountain West.”

•Audubon Washington in Eastern Washington: support to complete the northeast loop of the Great Washington State Birding Trail.

•Blanchard Area Seniors Center in Bonner County: funding to help create a commercial kitchen that will make it possible for the center to establish a meal site program.

•Blue Mountain Heritage Society: support to establish the Columbia County Veterans Memorial.

•Family Promise of North Idaho in Kootenai County: support to help homeless families in Kootenai County by providing temporary housing, employment and housing assistance, as well as individual and family counseling.

•Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and North Idaho: support to enhance leadership development opportunities for low-income and at-risk girls.

•Lake Roosevelt Forum: “Meet Me at the River,” a summer-long river float program that aims to increase awareness and citizen participation in protecting and restoring the Spokane River.

•Lind Senior Center in Adams County: building improvements.

•Mid-City Concerns in Spokane County: meals to homebound seniors currently on a waiting list.

•Palouse Discovery Science Center in Whitman County: support for MathBuilders, a program that teaches math concepts through problem-solving challenges.

•Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute in Latah County: capital improvements to the Urban Nature Center.

•Paradise Valley Volunteer Fire Department in Boundary County: purchase of equipment to increase safety.

•REACH! For the Future in Spokane County: empowering children from low-income neighborhoods to reach their educational and career goals through long-term mentoring, tutoring, enrichment and tuition assistance for higher education.

•Shoshone County Horsemen’s Association: replacement of arena fencing washed away during the Coeur d’Alene River flood.

•Snake River Community Clinic in Nez Perce County: start-up equipment for Dental Safety Net, a program providing dental service for the uninsured.

•Spokane County Medical Society Foundation: support for Project Access, a network of physicians and hospitals providing health care to the low-income uninsured of Spokane County.

•Spokane Neighborhood Action Programs in Spokane County: addition of a housing counselor for the Housing Counseling Program.

•Spokane Symphony Society: the Lincoln Festival, a multiorganizational commemoration of Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday.

•Town of Fairfield in Spokane County: purchase of an energy-efficient furnace as part of the community center revitalization project.

•Transitions in Spokane County: New Leaf Café job training program for homeless and low-income women.

•Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery in Spokane County: playground renovation.

•Wallace District Mining Museum in Shoshone County: collection automation project that allows staff and volunteers to catalog, organize and interpret thousands of objects, photographs, maps and historical documents pertaining to the Coeur d’Alene Mining District.

•Women’s and Children’s Free Restaurant in Spokane County: building support to help organization continue to serve free meals to disadvantaged women and children.

•YWCA in Spokane County: a counselor position for the Alternatives to Domestic Violence Hope and Power program.