Grant awards go to 16 projects

Sixteen local projects and six teachers will receive funding support.

The Portland Foundation on Tuesday announced more than $125,000 in grants via its summer grant cycle and Teacher Creativity Mini Grants.

The foundation’s board approved $123,917 for 16 projects out of a total of 21 requests. It also awarded grants to six teachers.

Jay Community Center received a pair of grants totaling more than $25,000 via two grants, $17,700 for senior programming and $7,500 for the after school Boys and Girls Club programs. (The funding for senior programing came half from unrestricted funds and half from the Ralph and Bertha Green-Tony and Helen Saffer Fund for the Elderly, the Elizabeth A. Starbuck Fund for the Elderly, the Ralph Denver Stroud and Helen Stroud Endowment Fund and the Joseph Vomohr Memorial Fund, all field-of-interest funds established to support senior citizens.)

Arts Place and Jay County Robotics also each received a pair of grants. Arts Place was awarded $15,000 for its 2024 Arts in the Parks program and $7,500 for its 2024 Hudson Family Park summer concert series. Jay County Robotics will receive $5,000 for electronics components for its competitive programs and $2,000 for new fields and game elements.

Also receiving grants of $10,000 or more were:

•Jay County Fair Association — $12,500 for an engineering study on Floral Hall

•John Jay Center for Learning — $10,000 for financial literacy classes

•Youth Service Bureau — $10,000 for its Keeping at Risk Students in School (KARSS) program

Jay County REMC received $8,000 for participation in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. West Jay Community Center was awarded $7,500 for new fitness equipment and Pennville Pumpkin Festival received $5,250.

Other grants were: $5,000 to Youth Opportunity Center for the Family Preservation program in Jay County; $5,000 to the Asbury Senior Safety Net program; $3,342 for the 2023 Dunkirk Glass Days festival; and $2,625 for a concessions cooler for the Portland Rockets.

Lana Hilty, Erin Homan and Brooke Schmiesing all received $300 Teacher Creativity Mini Grants, which are grants of $300 or less to help cover the costs of learning experiences that teachers feel are important but are outside their school’s budget. Hilty (Jay County Christian Academy – fourth grade) will use the funds for Bristlebot Robotics Classroom Kits, while Homan (General Shanks preschool) will purchase books and other classroom items and Schmiesing will puchase Science of Reading phonics kits.

Other Teacher Creativity Mini Grants went to: Beth Mathewson (East Jay Elementary speech) – $240.20 for Heggerty Primary Extension Curriculum; and Pam Smith and Janelle Kirby (West Jay Elementary third grade) – $150 each for membership to iknowit.com.