Greenbelt Community Foundation recently awarded grants to four local groups. The volunteer-run foundation originally provided grants for new initiatives, but in recent years has expanded its support to enhance existing programs. This year’s grants support projects by the Eleanor Roosevelt High School (ERHS) art department, the Center for Dynamic Governance, alight dance theater and Boys to Men mentoring group.
The ERHS art department will use the $4,500 grant for the purchase of pottery wheels so students can learn to throw pots, in addition to hand-building and basic sculpture techniques using clay.
The Center for Dynamic Community Governance expects to use their award of $4,845 to provide three days of no-cost, dropin training for Greenbelt residents in a program called Bountiful Community Organizations: Growing Skills and Nurturing Talent. The training includes meetings facilitation, consent-based decisionmaking and conflict resolution and transparent communication.
Alight dance theater received $4,882 for Faerie, a project that uses myth and folklore to examine and celebrate the complexities of identity in people of all ages. Alight dance theater will host a series of free outdoor performances within Greenbelt that are followed by workshops with Community Foundation Here Finds Funds for Four Groups by Kyla Hanington residents. Some of their planned events include participation in Artful Afternoons at the Community Center, a performance at the Labor Day Festival and a final performance of Faerie that features community members as well as members of the theater.
Boys to Men was the final recipient for this funding cycle. Based at Greenbelt Middle School, it is an afterschool program that provides guidance and positive role-models to boys. The program was awarded $5,000 to further its work leading boys via activities such as game days, guided discussion about media Dancers from alight perform Faerie. PHOTO COURTESY OF ALIGHT DANCE THEATER and other strategies. The program will also take the participants on four guided field trips in the upcoming year.
The Greenbelt Community Foundation was founded in 2006. Sylvia Lewis, Daniel Hamlin, Bill Duncan and Kap Kapistan were among those instrumental in its formation, and many residents have served on its board, volunteered or provided financial support. For more information on volunteering, donating and how to apply for grants, visit the greenbeltfoundation.org.