The Licking County Foundation exists to help support causes that benefit the community, but its officers understand time spend seeking grants takes away from those organizations ability to do their work.

That is why the foundation this year began a pilot program to offer three-year grants to community partners, according to foundation program officer Amy Dell.

Dell said the program was started to reduce the time it takes organizations to apply for their grants and the time it takes the foundation to award them. She said organizations qualified for the new program by being long-term, reliable operations.

Mental Health America of Licking County was one of nine organizations to receive the multiyear award, netting $50,000 annually over three years, so long as it meets the foundation’s benchmarks. MHA director Penny Sitler said she was grateful to the foundation for the new grant, noting that writing grants is a large time commitment for her organization.

“That really helps us in terms of being able to use staff to deliver more programming,” she said.

Other multiyear grant recipients were:

• Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools of Licking County: $25,000
• Licking County Center for Visual Impairments (LCCVI): $30,000
• Licking County Family YMCA: $25,000
• Licking Memorial Health Systems: $50,000
• Newark-Granville Symphony Orchestra: $20,000
• Newark Midland Theatre Association: $30,000
• Ohio State Legal Services Association: $25,000
• Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio: $10,000

In total the foundation announced $1.4 million in grant awards at its annual event Wednesday at Licking Memorial Hospital.

Recipients of community and strategic grants were:

• American Red Cross of East and South Central Ohio: $6,000
• Behavioral Healthcare Partners of Central Ohio: $2,500
• Catholic Social Services: $15,000
• Denison University: $8,250
• Fostering Further: $4,500
• Habitat for Humanity-MidOhio: $10,000
• Licking County Community Health Care: $7,500
• Licking County Health Department: $20,000
• Mid-Ohio Foodbank: $15,000
• Newborns in Need, Greater Newark Chapter: $3,500 
• The Salvation Army: $60,000
• Utica Area Foundation: $5,000
• The Works: Ohio Center for History, Art and Technology: $10,000
• Together We Grow, Inc.: $10,000

Recipients of capital grants were: 

• Boys & Girls Club of Columbus, Inc.: $25,000
• Hospice of Central Ohio: $10,000
• Licking County Humane Society: $25,000

Published Mar. 22, 2019 in the Newark Advocate