Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation Awards $3.4 Million in Grants

Investments to Improve Math and Reading Education, Foster-Care Services, and More

More than $3.4 million in grants and initiatives were approved recently by the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation board of directors, bringing its 2017 grants approved to more than $6 million.

“These grants reflect the values of the Barancik family and their commitment to investing in the work of our amazing partners.” – Teri A Hansen, president and CEO of the Barancik Foundation

The funding includes nearly $1 million to improve reading proficiency and math instruction in Sarasota County elementary schools. In addition, more than $1 million will fund innovative work to create a new medical model for treating children with trauma. Several of the grants also support diverse programs serving preschoolers, children, teens and families in Sarasota’s Newtown community.

“Our Board is focused on strengthening the capacity of our public school educators and nonprofit organizations.”

The grants approved this month by the Barancik Foundation include:

Education

Child-abuse prevention and anti-bullying education – Child Protection Center – $50,000 to hire an additional prevention educator for its Personal Safety and Community Awareness Program team, which will enable the organization to reach an estimated 27,000 children and adults annually with child-abuse prevention and anti-bullying education.
Science education outreach program – Florida State University College of Medicine – $498,379 over five years to deliver Students Together Reaching Instructional Diversity and Excellence (SSTRIDE), a science education outreach program targeting minority and low-income students, at McIntosh Middle School and Sarasota High School.
Elementary math teacher training – Sarasota County Schools – $480,000 to build professional capacity in math instruction across the school district. The grant provides 800 elementary school teachers with specialized training and resources for lesson-plan development, changing the face of professional development and deepening the teachers’ understanding of math concepts in order to help every child learn, and not fear, math.
Elementary school literacy experts – Sarasota County Schools – $511,000 to employ literacy teachers trained through the Reading Recovery program at seven elementary schools, allowing the district to expand the program so that every school has a literacy expert. Reading Recovery teaches the bottom 20 percent of first grade students to read with an 85 percent success rate.
Closing the 30 million-word gap – Talking Is Teaching Campaign – up to $10,000 to implement a pilot awareness campaign this summer to encourage parents to talk, read, and sing with their young children in an effort to improve early learning and close the word-gap experienced by children from low-income families.

Humanitarian Causes

New medical model for treating childhood trauma – All Star Children’s Foundation – $1 million over four years to provide trauma-informed foster care services in Sarasota. This grant will fund the position of Director of Pediatric Psychological Trauma and Intervention at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital for four years; train four trauma-certified licensed therapists at All Star Children’s Foundation; and support development, implementation, and evaluation of trauma-based therapeutic interventions for abused children.
Academic and social enrichment for youth in Newtown – Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota County – $435,170 over five years to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Newtown Estates Park Club, which was created in 2015 with funding from the Foundation to serve unattended youth in the Newtown Estates neighborhood.
Club At Night safe evening alternative for teens – Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota County – $65,620 to provide teens in the Newtown community with summertime academic and social enrichment programs in a safe environment and include an evening meal. Club At Night is a pilot program that will run daily from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. during evening hours when teens are most vulnerable to violence, drug and sex.
Early Childhood Court services – Manatee Community Foundation – $125,000 to support the Manatee County Foster Care Initiative, a collaboration of nearly 30 public and nonprofit agencies working together to create a system of care for children being displaced by the heroin/opioid addiction epidemic in the region. Funds will specifically pay for an Early Childhood Court Community Coordinator for 12th Judicial Circuit Court and a marketing campaign to fill a gap of more than 100 foster care homes in the county.
Miss Susie’s Lunchroom – Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce Foundation – $50,000 in start-up funds for a redevelopment project to create a full-service restaurant in the Newtown neighborhood, providing workforce and economic development in the area. Restaurant revenue would be reinvested in restaurant workforce and economic development projects in the community.
Connecting seniors and preschoolers – Pines of Sarasota – $96,000 to offer professional intergenerational programming for residents of the Pines senior living facility and children in the preschool run by the organization in the Newtown community.
Tax preparation for low income families – United Way Suncoast – $60,000 to support the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, which provides free tax-return preparation and filing for low-income families in Sarasota and DeSoto counties.
Revitalizing Sarasota’s Bayfront – Sarasota Bayfront Planning Organization – $100,000 over two years to create a master redevelopment plan for 42 acres of Sarasota Bay-front property owned by the City of Sarasota.

About Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation

The Charles and Margery Barancik family has long believed in the power of philanthropy to shape our world and enrich the lives of all people. It was the expression of this belief that led them in 2014 to establish the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation—a private, family foundation located in Sarasota, Florida. The Barancik Foundation creates initiatives and awards grants in Sarasota and beyond in the areas of education, humanitarian causes, arts and culture, the environment, and medical (research/resources). For further information, please contact Kelly Romanoff at KRomanoff@BarancikFoundation.org.

Source:
The Barancik Foundation
barancikfoundation.org