The Bell Charitable Foundation is excited to announce that nine organizations have been selected to receive a round of grants that total $200,000.
altafiber, which formerly did business as Cincinnati Bell in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, launched the BCF in 2022. This round of of grants focused on organizations driving Economic & Social Mobility and Environmental Sustainability initiatives. The BCF also supports organizations driving Technology and Health & Wellbeing initiatives.
In the Economic and Social Mobility Pillar, BCF announced funding for the following organizations:
La Soupe: La Soupe’s chef-based model utilizes its volunteer network to rescue perishables from farms, grocers, and wholesalers. Its highly talented team of chefs and volunteers transform this food into healthy soupes and meals, which are distributed to roughly 150 share partners that feed the food insecure.
Back2Back: The Communities of Belonging program provides trauma-informed after-school and summer learning groups to 200 K-12 students living in poverty. These activities empower students to develop socioemotional and academic skills to mitigate traumatic dysregulation, succeed in school, and achieve adult social and economic mobility.
Samaritan Car Care Clinic: This organization’s goal is to help 250-300 low-income families each year with shared cost car repairs. In 2022, the Clinic helped 315 families. Referral partners include Brighton Center, Life Learning Center, Welcome House, Ion Center for Violence Prevention, Lincoln Grant Scholar House, and St. Vincent de Paul of NKY. Those agencies have no other resources besides the Clinic to help their clients with car repairs. In the first nine months of 2023, the Clinic helped 187 families.
Glad House: The Champs Program provides a comprehensive after-school and summer program for children ages 5-12 impacted by parental addiction. It provides life skills groups, substance abuse prevention education, cultural enrichment activities, nutritious meals, homework assistance, and social recreation with peers.
Life Learning Center: LLC focuses on barrier removal for individuals stuck in the cycle of poverty, substance use disorder (SUD), and incarceration, allowing them to be successful in all aspects of life. LLC’s Foundations for a Better Life curriculum is designed to lift at-risk populations to higher stability, status, and social standing via life skills training that leads to acquiring and sustaining a living wage career.
In the Sustainability pillar, BCF announced funding for the following organizations:
The Nature Conservancy: There are more than 77,000 farms in Ohio, and 90% of them are managed by families or individuals. The Nature Conservancy inspires farmers to adopt innovative in-field and edge-of-field practices. Regenerative practices like cover crops, conservation tillage, and 4R Nutrient Management build up soil health and improve water quality over time, ensuring productive yields and a local food system that is healthy for communities, even in the face of a changing climate. The BCF's investment in this program will advance regenerative agricultural systems in Southern Ohio – helping to stabilize production in the rich foodscape that feeds its customers.
Big Island Resource Conservation and Development Council: The Nutrition Grown Farming Educational Program is a hands-on farmer training program that helps farmers increase crop yields and quality using ecologically friendly methods. The organization believes it’s important to produce more crops in state, and decrease food imports from thousands of miles away. This will decrease our biological footprint and care for our Hawaiian land and people.
Groundwork Ohio River Valley: This organization recognizes the role that youth play in creating more climate-resilient cities by developing the Climate Conservation Corps, one of the nation's largest youth green workforce training programs. Groundwork's Climate Conservation Corps (CCC) is an established initiative in partnership with Cincinnati Public Schools, City and County Parks, NASA, and the National Park Service.
Tri-State Trails: Pop-Up Bike Shop (PUBS) series and Low-Stress Bike Map (LSBM) distribution increase access to the healthy and environmentally friendly act of riding a bicycle. This team organizes PUBS in low-income and underserved neighborhoods. The PUBS series provides in-kind bike repair services and gear giveaways, educates participants about bicycle safety and routes, and advocates for more bicycling infrastructure. The organization also distributes over 12,000 copies of the LSBM in 150 unique locations in Greater Cincinnati throughout the year.
Please send questions regarding the Bell Charitable Foundation's work to BCF@altafiber.com, or check out our website at www.BellFDN.org.