Valley United Way’s Board of Directors recently approved fourteen Special Needs Grants totaling over $33,000. The highly competitive grants were awarded to agencies serving the Valley in a variety of areas designated by donors for special funding. Jack Walsh, President and C.O.O. of United Way said that the grants are designed to meet special and emerging needs that arise during the course of the year. He said, “We had more applications than ever before for funding this year which reflects the current state of the economy. The grants will have an impact on issues ranging from children’s issues to senior citizens”.

The following agencies and programs will be receiving funding under the program:

An earlier grant under this program was made to Valley Regional Adult Education to assist them with improving high school graduation rates. That grant of more than $12,000 was made through the Project Graduation fund set up by Sikorsky Aircraft as part of a regional effort to improve graduation rates.

Agencies submitted applications for their special needs and those applications were reviewed by United Way's Allocations Committee headed by Peter Galla. The Committee made their recommendation to the Board of Directors which approved the funding.

United Way conducts the Special Needs grants process once a year in addition to its traditional allocations process in the spring.    
 

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