NEWS

Grants to aid homelessness, higher education

Jill Callison
jcallison@argusleader.com

The first in a series of grants awarded through a partnership between the South Dakota Community Foundation (SDCF) and the Bush Foundation were announced Tuesday in Sioux Falls.

Recipients will use the $71,950 divided among eight proposals from seven agencies to help with homelessness, higher education and developing a network of potential housing partners in Centerville.

Two of the grants come from the South Dakota Community Foundation’s South Dakota Fund, with the other six from the Bush Foundation’s Community Innovation Grants.

“For 27 years, the South Dakota Community Foundation really has been about connecting people, good people, with great causes throughout our state,” said SDCF president Stephanie Judson.

Last year, the SDCF awarded $5.5 million in grants through 650 funds it manages and through its grant-making program. Community Innovation Grants will be awarded twice more this year, each time totaling about $75,000, with $300,000 to be given out in 2015.

“South Dakota Community Foundation is proud to pull together resources to make today’s award possible,” Judson said.

The recipients included Dakota Resources of Renner, with a grant of $10,000, and the Abbott House of Mitchell, also $10,000.

Dakota Resources, known as South Dakota Rural Enterprise until two years ago, served as a champion and a catalyst for rural communities that want to reach their potential, president Beth Davis said.

It will use the funding to develop a statewide sustainability plan to expand its resource base and expand its impact on rural communities in South Dakota.

“We have contracted with Frontier Agency out of Watertown to help us tell our story,” Davis said. “We’re struggling to make it clear to other communities the resources that we have.”

Dakota Resources’ rural entrepreneurship program has taught participating communities how important it is to nurture existing businesses, rather than devote all resources to bringing in a new industry.

“We’re giving them the tools, guiding them, coaching them and giving them the confidence,” Davis said.

“We want communities to be vital, thrive and take responsibility for their own futures.”

At the Abbott House, a residential treatment center for abused and neglected adolescent girls, the new Bridges program provides a therapeutic transitional living program.

Participants live in a home in a family setting with a married couple in charge, said Virginia Wishard Lambert, Abbott House’s development director.

Two independent-living apartments also are available for girls who are 18 years old but need someone to turn to for guidance as they begin to live completely on their own. No other program similar to that is available.

“The kids that we serve need more therapeutic care, not just foster homes,” Wishard Lambert said.

A total of 21 girls will take part in the Bridges program. Abbott House is expanding to a second therapeutic-foster-care facility.

“We’ll provide the type of home you or I would live in,” Wishard Lambert said.

Other recipients include St. Francis House; Lutheran Social Services’ Everyday Heroes mentoring program and the Center for New Americans program; Centerville Development Corp.; Sioux Falls Family YMCA and Kilian Community College.

Recipients

• St. Francis House, $7,450

• Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota Everyday Heroes Mentoring Program, $7,500

• LSSSD Center for New Americans Program, $5,000

• Kilian Community College, $10,000

• Dakota Resources, Renner: $10,000

• Abbott House, Mitchell, $10,000

• Centerville Development Corp., $10,000

• Sioux Falls Family

YMCA, $12,000