EXEMPLARY GRANTS
$20,000 grant to each organization to work together and develop up-to-date recommendations for how and where renewable energy sources (wind, solar) should be properly sited. Under consideration are impacts of renewable energy sources on wildlife, wildlife habitat and scenic assets. Also considered are best practices for siting and co-locating transmission lines. Of interest are changes in technology since the 2007 Wind Power Task Force recommendations; how expedited and unexpedited zones have worked, and impacts renewables and transmission have had on local economies. As renewable energy policies are developed, the work of this collaboration will enable informed decision-making.
$5,000 grant to propose ways that philanthropy and businesses can work together toward decarbonizing Maine’s energy and transportation network. The effort will explore ways grants from Foundations can help stimulate local economic activity while reducing carbon pollution and encouraging the development of renewable energy sources.
$15,000 grant to help FPFP enable communities in Cumberland, Franklin, Lincoln and York Counties to provide free, nutritious food programs for children in the summer. FPFP regrants funds raised to local communities, trains volunteers and school personnel in providing food to children, helps them purchase equipment, advertise sites for summer lunches, and conducts outreach in needy communities.
$20,000 grant to help hire, train, and support interns and educators in The Leadership School programs. TLS educators and interns train students at Kieve during the fall and spring. In winter, KieveWavus educators embed in local schools to supplement the curriculum, assist teachers, and carry on the lessons learned in the weeklong residential programs students experienced while at Kieve.
Total grants over three cycles: $75,000. Over the course of more than 4 years, residents of the Damariscotta Lake village of Damariscotta Mills worked together to raise funds, pitch in, and rebuild an historic asset that facilitates the passage of a keystone species in the Atlantic Ocean, the alewife, or river herring, from salt water to fresh water spawning grounds. This project, which Horizon funded several times, combines community development, community conservation, historic preservation, and habitat restoration. The Damariscotta Mills Fish Ladder Restoration project has yielded the successful return of over one million fish each year since completion of the ladder.
$15,000 to $20,000 to each organization to play an instrumental role in helping to catalyze, resource and organize local climate and energy initiatives while also integrating with and helping push the goals and strategies of other related efforts such as the work of the Climate Table and the three-way collaboration of the Island Institute, Northern Forest Center and the Grassroots Fund ("3 Partners"). Island Institute supports Community Energy Action Teams (CEAT), inter-generational groups of community members who: lead research into high energy costs and the possibility of renewables; promote, implement, and measure energy-saving changes; quantify savings in dollars, kilowatt hours, and pounds saved on greenhouse gas emissions; and cultivate energy stewardship, leadership, and resource conservation ethics in current and future leaders across island and coastal communities.
$20,000 grant to support the development of an urban squash program in Portland that gives any Portland student access to squash, mentorship programs, homework assistance, and community service. PCS will work with middle school aged students and offer them mentorship and training through high school.
$10,000 grant in support of summer programs that teach reading, arts and dance to students as young as kindergarten through elementary school who live in Portland, and are largely first generation Mainers. Using puppetry, movement, music, theater, and visual arts, this highly collaborative program saw students’ reading levels maintain and improve while building community among Portland’s diverse populations.
$10,000 grant for operating support to OSWLI to enable the work of an Outreach Coordinator to administer, manage, train, and support programs in 36 partner high schools in Maine. Programs aim to focus on socially meaningful improvements including positive change in knowledge, skills, attitudes, behavior, condition or status. The Outreach Coordinator also trains volunteers, advisors and mentors and oversees regular communication and interaction with the high school girls in the programs.
$20,000 to support Phase two of the Charting the Course Initiative. The boats within the collection of the Osterville Historical Museum span over a hundred years and represent the largest collection of both small and large wooden boats in Massachusetts. The latest addition to the collection—a Cotuit skiff: Little Cloud—is the first boat built by 9th generation boat builder Ned Crosby. Charting the Course is designed to present the stories of these legacy boats—updating, and in many cases creating for the first time, dynamic exhibit panels that bring the full story together for visitors with text, archival images, video, and more.
$15,000 grant to support the Cape Cod Rivers Observatory, an initiative of the WHRC, which investigates trends in river chemistry for several rivers on and near Cape Cod. The Cape Cod Rivers Observatory was created in mid-2016 as a local component of a larger WHRC initiative, the Global Rivers Observatory. While most of the Global Rivers Observatory’s work had been focused on the world’s largest rivers including the Amazon, Congo, Yukon, and Mekong, there was a need for similar world class river science on Cape Cod. This is particularly true given the problem of coastal eutrophication on Cape Cod and its link to river inputs of nitrogen (a problem often resulting from septic systems and fertilizer use). Support from the Horizon Foundation will ultimately allow WHRC to transition the Cape Cod Rivers Observatory from a rather informal, largely unfunded effort to a priority project of the WHRC.
$20,000 to support the 25 AmeriCorps members placed in Martin County middle schools in using the evidence-based mentoring program Check & Connect, which is designed to increase engagement in school and with learning so that students can complete high school prepared for post-secondary education and career success. Mentoring and intervention services were provided to 750 students in grades 6-8 at risk of dropping out by exhibiting poor grades, behavior and attendance.
$20,000 to support the Community Engagement Program, which provides extra support on TNC Idaho’s preserves and conservation easements; builds a broader, more diverse base of advocates and future environmental leaders; and helps build future donor support. In addition to enabling TNC to better serve Idahoans, this program is an important investment for the evolution of The Nature Conservancy and its ability to provide a future of healthy lands and waters. The hope is to gain traction in the schools and workplaces through volunteerism. (Photo at left courtesy Edward A. Taft)
$13,000 to support the Y Achievers programs, which provide a continuum of support for the most vulnerable of young people and strives to ensure that every child has opportunities in a community with major disparities. The portfolio includes: “Princeton Young Achievers” – the only after school program for low income children in grades K to 5 living in subsidized housing communities and/or qualifying for free/reduced meals; “Y Scholars” – a Saturday-morning group mentoring program for underrepresented middle and high-school students and families, providing support and guidance for college and careers; “Mini Achievers” - an eight-week summer program designed for low-income rising Kindergartners who have little or no preschool experience; “Latinos en Progreso” - which meets weekly during the school year to support the burgeoning Latino community; and the new initiative, the Princeton Stronger Together (PST) collaboration, focusing on chronically absent low-income boys of color in high school or 8th grade.
$5,000 of funding to support the development of free programming and educational opportunities to supplement the already existing paid programming and live animal exhibits. By offering free educational and interactive programming DNC wants to expand the number of people who visit and get to know and love the natural world. Two new, permanent initiatives include a 45-minute Animal Meet and Greet program for all ages twice a week, and the creation of interactive Explorer Packs for youth to explore the indoor and outdoor facilities as detectives or artists.
$15,000 grant to allow students from Fairfield County Title 1 schools (majority students qualifying for free or reduced lunch) to participate in the award-winning, outdoor science education program Science in Nature, supplementing their classroom lessons with outdoor learning, and exposing them to science concepts not easily taught in the classroom. Horizon Foundation was the first to fund the program in 2012; since then, 60,000+ at risk students and teachers have participated. The program’s initial goal of helping to close the achievement gap in Connecticut for minority and low-income students in an effort to increase science literacy continues to shape the program.
