Shineman Foundation awards $390K to area nonprofits

OSWEGO — The Richard S. Shineman Foundation announced that it provided 12 Central New York not-for-profit organizations serving Oswego County with awards in its second grant round of 2018 at its July board meeting.

The awarded projects cover a wide range of focus areas, including health and welfare for children and adults, education, arts and culture, community parks, and capital campaigns.

The funded projects will benefit Oswego County in a number of areas. The largest award, $110,000, was given to CNY Arts Center for its capital campaign to renovate and transform a building in downtown Fulton as a new community multi-arts center, the foundation said in a news release.

Several health and welfare grants were awarded, including the Food Bank of Central New York receiving bridge funding through September to support a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) coordinator in Oswego County. Two new programs — Hannibal Backpack Program and Erin’s Angels in Phoenix — were provided funding to feed children over the weekends for the upcoming school year. 

In education, the Shineman Foundation awarded the Oswego YMCA with a grant to expand its early learning programs for children age 2 to 5 and to begin offering “extended care” options for kids whose parents work non-traditional hours. Fitzhugh Park School received a third-year grant to continue the expansion of its “successful” Leader In Me program, the foundation said. The Reading League was allocated funding to train educators to be “reading coaches” in all Oswego County elementary schools. Funding was also given to Grace and Glory Ministries to support the implementation of two new programs: Trading Post and Little Scholars Preschool, the release stated. 

Another arts and culture grant was awarded by the Shineman Foundation to the Research Foundation for SUNY for continued support of the SUNY Oswego art department’s “At the Art Studio” program to offer workshop experiences in the arts for children in grades K-12. 

Other Shineman Foundation grants awarded at the meeting included a grant to the Town of Richland for its Haldane Center Improvement Project to “maximize” use of the facility’s ice rink, sports fields, and walking trails, per the release. The foundation also made a grant to Purpose Farm to build a pole barn to alleviate “cramped conditions in the main barn used for programming for children that have emotional trauma from neglect, abuse, or other causes.”