MIAMI, Feb. 3, 2004 – The Urban League of Broward County is launching a new employment skill-building program that will help low-income hard-to-employ individuals overcome the obstacles of getting and keeping a job.
A new $675,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will support the league’s effort to assist ex-offenders, non-custodial fathers, and other men and women who have little or no work experience. The program will include training workshops, job coaching and help in meeting needs such as childcare and transportation. As part of the venture, the league also will provide families with resources and assistance to become homeowners, another key aspect of gaining financial self-sufficiency.
Knight’s grant to the Urban League is part of more than $1.3 million in new grant funds recently approved by the Miami-based foundation for organizations serving low-income families and children in Broward County. The foundation’s new community investments in the county will focus heavily on the central Broward neighborhoods surrounding the historic African-American Sistrunk Boulevard business corridor. Grant funds will also support youth programs, leadership development and civic engagement.
According to Knight President and CEO Hodding Carter III, the latest grant awards in Broward reflect the foundation’s strong emphasis on community revitalization and civic engagement, particularly targeting the low-income neighborhoods in and around the 33311 ZIP code.
“The foundation has a long history supporting Broward-based groups, but what’s new is our sharpened focus on a limited set of community needs, and geographically defined population,” he said.
“While Knight Foundation is certainly one of this region’s major funders, we recognize that we don’t have the resources to do everything. With the good advice of our local community advisory committee, we’re trying to zero in on a narrower range of needs, so that we concentrate our dollars and our partnership-building work in ways that will make a measurable difference,” Carter said.
Suzette L. Prude, Knight’s community liaison program officer for South Florida, said the cluster of recent Broward grants is based on in-depth local community knowledge and the foundation’s effort to build strong partnerships with key local nonprofit organizations.
Other new grants supporting programs for Broward residents include:
Positive Images of Broward County, Inc., Oakland Park, $233,700 for a job readiness and life skills training program for low-income young women.
Jack & Jill Children’s Center, Fort Lauderdale, $124,800 to provide tuition assistance for children of low-income working families.
Community Foundation of Broward, Fort Lauderdale, $100,000 for a small grants program supporting community organizations active in leadership development and civic engagement in central Broward County.
Women of Tomorrow, Miramar, $100,000 for a mentoring program for teen-age girls.
Museum of Discovery and Science, Fort Lauderdale, $96,000 for an internship program.
Over the past two years, additional substantial Knight grant funds have been awarded for similar community development initiatives in two low-income Miami neighborhoods – the historic African-American Overtown district and the predominantly Hispanic East Little Havana, home of many recent immigrants.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities.