BRATTLEBORO — The Samara Fund, a component fund of the Vermont Community Foundation, has awarded $38,000 in general operating support and project grants to 11 nonprofit organizations in its 10th annual competitive grant round as part of the foundation.
The Samara Fund's priorities for the 2021 grantmaking cycle included projects and services focusing on and led by LGBTQ+ youth, elders, BIPOC, and populations in rural areas, as well as support for transgender-specific projects and LGBTQ+- competent health care, mental health, substance abuse, and HIV/AIDS services.
Local recipients of the 2021 Samara Fund Grants include:
• AIDS Project of Southern Vermont received $3,500 to support the Prevention/Harm Reduction Program, which serves more than 450 individuals through community education and outreach.
• New England Center for Circus Arts received $3,500 for LGBTQ+ sustaining scholarships, ensuring equitable participation in its youth development programs, weekly classes, programs for pre-professionals, summer camp, and adult programming.
• Out in the Open received $3,500 to support its services for rural LGBTQ+ communities, including direct mutual aid; creation of rural LGBTQ+ spaces for connection, organizing, and education; educational resources; leadership development; rural LGBTQ+ health justice resources; and movement building, including organizing to ban the LGBTQ+-panic defense in Vermont.
The Samara Fund is a community-directed fund that helps ensure lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) Vermonters are connected, healthy, appreciated, safe, and empowered. Visit vermontcf.org/samara to learn more.