Foundation grants $825K to camps, job programs

School-weary children may look forward to the summer with glee, but their parents may not. Affordable child care often is difficult to find, particularly for low-income families.

Toward that end, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving has approved nearly $825,000 in grants to provide summer learning and job opportunities located in Greater Hartford to 7,600 school-age Hartford children and youth.

Thegrantssupport36programs including reduced-fee or free camperships and enrichment, tutorial and counselor-in-training programs — that are open to Hartford children and run from four to eight weeks.

“We want to make sure these programs are going to reach the kids who most need them,” Megan Burke, Hartford Foundation director of community impact grant-making, said in a news release. “We are specific that we are looking to serve Hartford kids, just because we have limited resources and that’s where we see the greatest need.”

Another priority, other than low- or no-cost availability to Hartford children, is that the programs cover the average working day, Burke said.

“We really prioritize those programs that have a before- and after-care program, that might make it possible to drop a kid off at 7 a.m. and even pick them up as late as 5 or 6 p.m.,” Burke said. “Not everyone has the same working schedule — sometimes we get people who work nights and weekends, so we’re not going to be able to accommodate everybody. But we are looking for programs that have a full schedule and have multiple weeks.”

Finally, Burke said, the foundation looks for a variety of options for children and youth.

“Some kids like the sports camps; some kids like an arts camp; other kids like a mix of everything,” she said. “In these situations, we really look to fund some programs that are outside of Hartford, but that provide transportation, so parents can make sure their kids are safely transported from their home or close to their home to somewhere like Auer Farm in Bloomfield, or somewhere else that is going to give them a new and different experience. And we want there to be choices for parents.”

The programs that received grants are the following, with how much they received in parentheses: 4-H Education Center at Auerfarm ($36,000); Actup Theater ($30,000); Almada Lodge-times Farm Camp Corporation (Channel 3 Kids Camp) ($26,500); American School for the Deaf ($22,000); Boys & Girls Club of Hartford ($45,000); Camp Courant ($45,000); Catholic Charities ($21,000); Center for Latino Progress: CTPRF ($40,000); Center for Leadership and Justice ($36,000); Connecticut Science Center ($12,000); Connectikids ($36,000); Ebony Horsewomen ($15,500); Futures, Inc. ($30,000); Girl Scouts of Connecticut ($36,000); Goodwin University ($10,000); Harc, Inc. ($20,000); Hartford City Mission ($10,000); Hartford Friendship Kids’ Camp: Home ($16,500); Hartford Neighborhood Centers ($13,000); Hartford Public Library ($20,000); Hartford Stage ($25,000); Hartford Youth Scholars ($10,000); Hispanic Health Council ($15,000); Horizons at The Ethel Walker School ($20,000); Horizons Inc. ($32,000); Oak Hill ($15,000); Organized Parents Make a Difference ($40,000); Real Art Ways ($8,000); Sankofa Kuumba Cultural Arts Consortium ($10,000); Spectrum In Motion Dance Theater Ensemble ($17,750); The Salvation Army ($30,000); Trinity College ($12,600); Watkinson School ($11,500); West Indian Foundation ($12,000); YMCA of Metropolitan Hartford ($25,000); YWCA Hartford Region ($20,000).

More information about all of the programs is available at ctyouthdirectory.org.