Community Foundation for Greater New Haven

Nonprofits providing services in Greater New Haven and the Lower Naugatuck Valley might be eligible for a grant from The Community Foundation or its partner the Valley Community Foundation. Most deadlines are in the wintertime, so NOW is a good time to start planning.

Grants and opportunities include:

Neighborhood Leadership Program Grants (Deadlines Feb 11)
Responsive New Grants (Deadline for Pre-application March 4)
Out-of-cycle Responsive New Grants (Deadline varies based on need)
Grants $5,000 and Under (Applications accepted year-round)
Sponsorships (Applications accepted year-round)
Scholarships (Deadlines vary)

Take the eligibility quiz & check out the grant opportunities.

Reception, Hartford Public Library, July 9: Arts & Archives on the ARTWALK: The Intersection of History and Art Featuring Mary Catherine Bateson

Saturday, July 9, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. at the Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library for the Opening Reception of Arts and Archives on the ARTWALK: The Intersection of History and Art.

This event features Distinguished Cultural Anthropologist and Best-Selling Author Mary Catherine Bateson.

Arts and Archives on the ARTWALK is Hartford Public Library’s showcase exhibit of original works created by burgeoning artists in the “Arts and Archives: Master Classes in the Arts and Humanities for Older Adults” workshop series held at the library this past year. Master artists provided hands-on instruction in sculpture, pen-and-ink drawing, visual arts, poetry writing, memoir writing, digital photography, and music appreciation with a focus on blues and jazz. Each series included a Hartford heritage-based seminar and made available the special collections of the library’s Hartford History Center.

Mary Catherine Bateson, daughter of noted anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, lectures extensively on creative aging. Four of her books, including her most recent title, Composing a Further Life: The Age of Active Wisdom, will be available for purchase, with a portion of the proceeds going to benefit the Hartford Public Library’s services to the community. Dr. Bateson will sign books after her remarks.

“Arts and Archives: Master Classes in the Arts and Humanities for Older Adults” is funded in part through the Library Services and Technology Act of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The reception and exhibition is free and open to the public. The exhibition will run on the library’s third floor ARTWALK through September 2, 2011.

“We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn.” ~ Mary Catherine Bateson

For more information contact Brenda J. Miller, Curator, Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library, 500 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103-3075, 860 695-6347.

Save This Date: Thursday, August 25, 2011

This sounds like fun.

The Mental Health Association of Connecticut (MHAC) will host its first ever Membership Day to make friends, raise awareness, and increase membership.

A full day of fun at Lake Compounce Amusement Park is $10.00 to MHAC members and membership is FREE, so you can't go wrong!

More information as it comes, or contact Maryann Steele a call at 800-529-1970, extension 16 and/or msteele@mhact.org.

New IMLS Grant: Learning Labs in Libraries and Museums

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, is co-funding a new grant called “Learning Labs in Libraries and Museums.”

FY 2011 Deadline: August 15, 2011
Grant Amount: Planning and Design Grants: up to $100,000
Grant Period: 18 months
Matching Requirement: Cost sharing of at least one third is encouraged, but not required

Program Overview: These grants will support the planning and designing of up to 30 Learning Labs in libraries and museums throughout the country. The Labs are intended to engage middle- and high-school youth in mentor-led, interest-based, youth-centered, collaborative learning using digital and traditional media. Grantees will be required to participate, in-person and online, in a community of practice that will provide technical assistance, networking, and cross-project learning. Projects are expected to provide prototypes for the field and be based on current research about digital media and youth learning. There will be two project deadlines for this grant program, with the second deadline planned for spring 2012.

Information is available on the IMLS web site at and through www.grants.gov, funding opportunity number LLP-FY11.

Part of President Obama's “Educate to Innovate” campaign, this part of a nationwide effort to bring American students to the forefront in science and math, to provide the workers of tomorrow with the skills they need today, and to re-envision learning in the 21st century.

The program, in partnership with the Urban Libraries Council and the Association of Science-Technology Centers, will support the planning and design of up to 30 Learning Labs in libraries and museums that are based on current research on how young people learn through new media. The program will also build a community of practice among the grantee institutions.

“America's libraries and museums will become even more powerful innovation hubs for our young people,” said IMLS Director Susan Hildreth. “This exciting national collaboration will engage young people in learning that is interest-based, youth-centered, flexible, and collaborative using innovations already taking place in science and technology centers, art museums, libraries, and other cultural institutions.”

This partnership underscores the critical role the nation's libraries and museums play in helping citizens build and develop skills in areas such as information, communications and technology literacy, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, civic literacy, and global awareness.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. See the sites for more information about the MacArthur Foundation's Digital Media and Learning Initiative, the Urban Libraries Council, and the Association of Science-Technology Centers.

Congratulations to CT’s 2011 Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) participants

Washington, DC - The Conservation Assessment Program (CAP), which assists small museums in providing appropriate care for endangered collections, has announced this year’s participating museums. In 2011, 101 museums in 36 states and Puerto Rico will have the condition of their collections and historic structures assessed. CAP is administered by Heritage Preservation and funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through its National Leadership Grants program.

• Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, $3,590
• Connecticut River Museum, Essex, $7,020
• Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, $3,390

The wide array of 2011 recipients includes the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta, Georgia; Waikiki Aquarium in Honolulu, Hawaii; the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie, Illinois; and the Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center in Lawton, Oklahoma. View the complete list of 2011 CAP participants.

“Museums offer us a window to ourselves, our communities, and our planet,” said Susan Hildreth, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. “By caring for over 198 million artifacts, America’s small museums preserve the stories of people, places, and cultures. I am proud that the IMLS partnership with Heritage Preservation, through the Conservation Assessment Program, provides museums with the information they need to preserve their collections for generations to come.”

CAP helps small to mid-sized museums of all types, from art museums to zoos, obtain general assessments of the condition of their collections, environment, and historic buildings. Following an on-site assessment, the museum receives a report recommending priorities to improve collections care. This report assists museums in educating staff and board members on conservation practices, creating long-range and emergency plans, and raising funds to improve the care of their collections.

Since 1990, 2,600 museums have participated in CAP, including museums in all 50 states and the U. S. territories of the District of Columbia, U.S. Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Republic of Palau, and Puerto Rico. As a result of Heritage Preservation’s new three-year cooperative agreement with IMLS, CAP will provide additional online resources and networking for its community of small museums and assessors.

“For more than twenty years, participating museums have used CAP to demonstrate to private, local, state, and federal funding sources that support of collections care is an excellent tool for engaging new audiences, contributing to a museum’s mission to promote learning and, thereby, ensuring that the museum’s collections will be available for the future,” said Lawrence L. Reger, President of Heritage Preservation.

The 2012 CAP application will be available on Heritage Preservation’s web site www.heritagepreservation.org on Monday, October 3, 2011. To be added to the CAP application mailing list or for more information, call 202-233-0800 or e-mail cap@heritagepreservation.org.

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. To learn more about the Institute, please visit www.imls.gov.

Heritage Preservation is a national non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of the United States. By identifying risks, developing innovative programs, and providing broad public access to expert advice, Heritage Preservation assists museums, libraries, archives, historic preservation and other organizations, as well as individuals, in caring for our endangered heritage.

REFORMA's Mora Award, 2011

The 2011 Estela and Raul Mora Award is sponsored by REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-speaking. The Award is presented annually to the most exemplary program celebrating El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day), also known as Día. The Mora Award consists of a $1,000 stipend and a plaque to be displayed by the winning library or school.

Libraries and schools that plan and implement Día programs in 2011 are eligible to submit an application by August 15, 2011.

Access the application and find out more about Día at the ALA’s Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) page.

Penguin Young Readers Group Award

The Penguin Young Readers Group Award, made possible by an annual gift from Penguin Young Readers Group, annually provides a $600 stipend to up to four children's librarians to attend their first ALA Annual Conference.

Deadline: 12/1/2011.Selection Criteria.Each applicant will be judged on the following:

• Involvement in ALSC, as well as any other professional or educational association of which the applicant was a member, officer, chairman, etc.
• New programs or innovations started by the applicants at the library in which he/she works
• Library Experience

Women Helping Others Foundation

Grants of up to $40,000 are routinely awarded by the Women Helping Others Foundation to nonprofits and grass-roots charities working to provide resources to underserved women, children, and families.

Specific projects and programs addressing health and social service needs are the priority, and deadlines are in early September.

Recent CT recipients included:
• Everybody Wins! $5,000
• Everybody Wins! $5,000
• Junior League of Hartford $9,000
• A Hand Up, Inc. $14,000
• Time For Life $5,000

Congratulations goes out to Yale & the Wadsworth Atheneum

Congratulations goes out to Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and the Yale University Peabody Museum in New Haven. Both received Conservation Project Support grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) totaling almost $233,000.

Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford
Award Amount: $132,000; Matching Amount: $264,000
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment
Contact: Linda Roth, Interim Chief Curator

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art will purchase and install a new mechanical heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system for its collections storage area. The new system will provide efficient and sustainable climate control systems for new, well-insulated storage spaces that will contain furniture, metalwork, ceramics, glass, and sculpture collections. Improved storage will maximize storage efficiency, improve security, and create work and study spaces for staff and scholars.

Yale University, New Haven
Award Amount: $100,901; Matching Amount: $101,322
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment
Contact: Catherine Sease, Senior Conservator

Yale University Peabody Museum will conserve and improve storage of its 2,000-item Historical Scientific Instrument Collection, which includes objects directly associated with 18th- and 19th-century scientists and instrument manufacturers as well as several 20th-century Nobel Prize winners. Students and staff will unpack, document, and rehouse the collection in new museum-quality cabinets in a new storeroom equipped with environmental controls and a monitored security system. The collection will be organized according to scientific discipline and will be readily accessible to students, faculty, and researchers both physically and virtually through an online digital image database. This will promote the long-term preservation of the collection while improving access to individual instruments for study and teaching.

IMLS granted a total of 31 awards totaling $2,641,657 for Conservation Project Support Grants after having reviewed 136 applications requesting $10,719,667. See the full list of funded projects.

“These grants support the essential work of caring for museum collections,” said IMLS Director Susan Hildreth. “The grant roster is a delight to read and includes conservation activities that protect art and artifacts from nearly every corner of the globe; native and endangered animals and plants; and time periods that span from early cretaceous fossils to 21st century e-games!”

For more information about this funding opportunity including program guidelines and contacts, please visit the IMLS website.

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. To learn more about the Institute, please visit www.imls.gov.