2009 Beneficiaries
Health and Wellness
YWCA – Children’s Trauma Services ($100,000 grant)
He sat motionless… except… for the trembling. Slowly, the young child began describing how he tried to stop dad … from beating his mom. It is the littlest victims like this who will receive help through the Impact Oklahoma grant to the YWCA. The $100,000 will enable YWCA to expand services to NE OKC for victims of domestic violence (DV) and sexual assault (SA) – providing critical access to trauma intervention for children and their moms.
The grant dollars will :
- convert an existing space into “Impact OK” play therapy room for child-trauma intervention;
- purchase equipment/supplies;
- fund a Children’s Counselor, Crisis Advocate/Case manager, and appropriate training for:
- trauma-intervention counseling to victims of DV/SA ages 4-17;
- and DV education, support groups, case management and advocacy for adults and children.
Expected to directly impact 260 adult/child victims, the project will indirectly impact an additional 200 family members, un-served and underserved victims in OK County and surrounding areas who will receive life-saving crisis services. Long term impact is a community where women/children can live in violence-free homes – which will impact our community for many years.
Don’t look away – Oklahoma is 4th in the nation for women killed by men; 65% of children in violent homes will be physically abused and 7 of 10 will likely continue the cycle of violence and trauma as adults – beginning the next generation of children abused in their own homes.
Impact the lives of victims, especially the littlest ones – VOTE YWCA!
Education
Skyline Urban Ministries – Jets – an after school program for at risk children ($88,000 grant)
Jets is a 5-day a week after school program sponsored by Skyline Urban Ministries and is open to any child eligible for the free and reduced lunch program in the OKCPS system. We also offer a variety of summer programs for elementary and middle school children. We charge nothing to the families, raising all of the operating costs on our own. We currently have three sites in the metro area serving Mark Twain, Capitol Hill, Eugene Fields, and Gatewood Elementary schools, as well as Martha’s House, a transitional housing program for single mothers.
If awarded the grant we would open two new sites. The first would be a middle school program in SE OKC for our youth who have aged out of the program. These boys hang around our parking lot asking if there’s anything they can do to help us just so they can be in Jets again. The second site would be NE OKC which has a similar problem. Children from the elementary school located just across the street from the church hang around the parking lot wishing they had somewhere to go. Many are forced to roam the neighborhood until a parent comes home from work.
By working with the children so intensely on self-esteem issues, non-violent conflict resolution skills, personal planning and problem-solving, we can and do have a positive effect on the decisions the children make as their futures unfold. Our request of Impact Oklahoma is for $100,000 to open these new sites and purchase two new vans. These children face the greatest risk of violence, abuse, hunger, and gang involvement. Please help us reach out to those children and families in need by offering an alternative for after school time.
Family
Crossroads Youth and Family Services – A Safe Haven for Children in Crisis ($100,000 grant)
These children, who have suffered great losses, need your help:
- A set of twins rescued after three days of huddling on their roof during Hurricane Katrina;
- A sixteen-year-old boy, with no other family, whose mother and new stepfather rejected him;
- An abused family of six children with three different fathers;
- An eleven-year-old girl whose mother, her only relative in the world, died suddenly;
- An eighteen-year-old boy released from state control with no money, family, home, job, car, social security number, high school diploma, or change of clothes;
- A fourteen-year-old girl left with a violent group of white supremacists while her mother sought drugs.
We serve over 400 children each year in our Emergency Youth Shelter. Safe Haven for Children in Crisis has three main goals: 1) Give children comfort and make them feel safe; 2) help them learn; 3) meet their needs. This involves making the seventeen-year-old Shelter more home-like through kid-friendly items such as a safer playground, books, games, and lead-free toys; energy-efficient windows to prevent water leaks; modernizing/upgrading the worn-out kitchen, including adding a dish sanitizer and replacing the refrigerator/freezer that recently died; new furniture and soundproofing for the nursery; and independent living help for homeless older youth. The Shelter has not been remodeled since 1992; after serving 12,500 children since then, the wear-and-tear on the kitchen has been severe. The total proposed budget for this project is $120,000; we raised $20,000 and are seeking $100,000 in grant funds from Impact Oklahoma.