State of Nevada awards final Community Recovery Grants for non-profits

Today, the State of Nevada completed awarding $30 million in the Community Recovery Grant program, funded by American Rescue Plan dollars, to support existing non-profits in the State that provide direct and immediate community services in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The program focused on grants that could help with five critical priority areas: investing in schools that prepare all children for success; solidifying a healthy state for all Nevadans; providing good jobs for a diverse, vibrant and sustainable workforce; supporting families with access to quality and affordable child care; and strengthening secure housing for all who call Nevada home.

"Every day, these non-profits do critical work to improve the lives of Nevadans – from fighting food insecurity and homelessness to connecting underserved communities with resources to succeed in education and the workforce,” said Governor Steve Sisolak. “I’m so proud of the work done by Nevada lawmakers to get these federal dollars back into the community to directly help people across our State.”

“Today, I am proud to join my legislative colleagues on the Interim Finance Committee and send dollars to support our state’s veterans, protect seniors from elder abuse, and fight back against sexual predators,” said Senator Marilyn Dondero Loop. She continued, “With the support of the Governor, the legislature has approved hundreds of millions of dollars for the Community Recovery Grant program and is helping Nevadans get back on track."

“Today, the Interim Finance Committee approved various grants to nonprofits across the state that work to support Nevadan families hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Assemblywoman Brittney Miller. She continued, “These organizations do important work helping everyday families with access to affordable childcare, housing, and good paying jobs. I want to thank my colleagues who voted in favor of these grants that will have an immediate impact on our state, and our fellow Nevadans.”

The Interim Finance Committee approved more than 30 applicants to receive Community Recovery Grants:

• StreeHeat Ministries, Inc. This $21,851 grant will help reduce hunger in the local community and direct and assist people to other state and local programs in our community, provide support to the homeless population through meals, basic hygiene needs and services to our homeless and/or underserved school age kids in Clark County.
• Touro University Nevada. This $21,000 grant will allow the Touro Mobile Health Clinic to bring medical care and vaccines directly to those experiencing homelessness in Clark County.
• Latino Arte and Culture. This $51,816 grant will infuse the arts and culture as a healing factor in the Latino-Hispanic community in Washoe County. Funding will all for participants, of any age, to create spaces for the portrayal and discussion of challenging aspects of life experience.
• Girl Scouts of the Sierra Nevada. This $304,536 grant will allow the organization to create the “the Latinx, Low Income and Rural Outreach program” which prioritizes additional connection with girls who are at higher-than-average risk for being left behind academically, socially, and emotionally due to impacts from the pandemic. They organization estimates being an additional 1,000 Northern Nevada girls who are statistically unlikely to be able to participate in Girl Scouts otherwise.
• Asian Community Development Council. This $1,094,125 grant will allow capacity to assist and uplift households with limited English proficiency in the AANHPI community by developing multilingual and/or culturally fluent Community Recovery Navigators for AANHPI communities for food distribution outreach, intake, and scheduling, and to strengthen access to recovery programs and services including Healthcare & SNAP programs in response to COVID-19 pandemic in Clark County.
• Las Vegas Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. This $546,280 grant will help fund the Scout Reach program, which provides opportunities for Las Vegas children in low neighborhoods to give them the total Scouting experience and teach them life skills to which they may not otherwise have access.
• Lend a Hand of Boulder City. This $101,271 grant will allow the organization to hire additional staff members to help continue our expanding transportation and in-home care services to clients.
• Refuge for Women Las Vegas. This $485,869 grant will help the organization continue to provide shelter and trauma-informed care to individuals who are victims of sex-trafficking/exploitation.
• Solutions of Change. This $624,930 grant will help provide community education, rehabilitative counseling, and supportive case management to approximately 100-150 individuals experiencing functional impairments interfering with any major life activities, such as achieving or maintaining health, housing, employment, education, family/friend relationships, or safety, due to COVID in Clark County.
• Child Assault Prevention of Washoe County. This $250,144 grant will help fund the expansion of a workshop to children in Elko and Mineral counties. The workshop, which is already in Washoe, Story, Lyon and Churchill counties, teaches children how to recognize and get help for abusive situations they may encounter with bullies, strangers, internet predators, social media, and issues with safe/unsafe/ secret touching as well as situations with known trusted people that might try to abuse them physically or sexually.
• Northeastern Nevada SAFE. This $92,000 grant will help the SAFE Program in the Elko committee educate volunteers, guardians, and the community on guardianships and elder abuse as a whole. The SAFE program is helping to reduce this mass amount of crime against elders while offering education opportunities and information to those who need them.
• Nevada Partners. This $2,348,050 grant will support the Westside Recovery Plan and help provide direct services, programs, and coordinated activities in the form of housing assistance, health education, early learning and tutoring programs, job training and placement, the WWRP will facilitate community recovery in the WPN and build community capacity to sustain a more equitable and just quality of life for its residents.
• Nevada Outreach Training Organization, No to Abuse. This $24,000 grant will help serve residents in Nye and Esmeralda Counties who have been physical and sexually abused and provide financial assistance and advocacy services to victims of domestic violence.
• Merging Vets and Players. This $46,000 grant will expand programming in Clark County to reach more veterans in need by bring together members for a workout facilitated by expert trainers from the gym. Following the workout they participate in the “huddle,” an opportunity for them to come together, recognizing their earned scars
• Iron Sharpens Iron. This $408,695 grant will help expand a bilingual (English and Spanish) 12-week group mentoring intervention between adult volunteer mentors and youth who lack a positive adult relationship. This relationship exposes at-risk youth to new opportunities for learning and growth, emphasizing positive youth development, academic achievement, health and wellness, prevention services, and other critical areas such as social skills, emotion identification, and problem-solving.
• Nevada Rural Counties RSVP. This $148,221 grant will be used to implement two programs as part of the “No Senior Left Behind” program to address elder social isolation and elder abuse in Nevada’s 15 rural counties.
• Committed 100 Men Helping Boys. This $277,532 grant will provide mental health counseling to children, youth and families from underserved low-income communities in Clark County. The mental health counseling will also focus on helping the targeted clients change their behaviors which leads to changes on how they feel.
• Note-Able Music Therapy Services. This $690,955 grant will help expand community-based music therapy in Washoe County. Services include on-site classes and individualized music therapy, neurologic music therapy, community performances, and music therapy contracts with agencies throughout the region.
• UNLV Food Pantry. This $205,650 grant will help expand the existing food pantry to include a mobile version of the pantry serving food to support up to 200 families impacted by the pandemic in addition to utilizing a food delivery service for those with transportation limitations.
• YMCA of Southern Nevada. This $667,095 grant will help provide after-school academic instruction and help create a lifeguard training pipeline at no cost to young adults undergoing the training. Upon graduation, they will receive a transferable lifeguard credential and be connected with employment opportunities in municipal, resort, and YMCA pools.
• Nevada PEP. This $112,657 grant will help the Statewide organization provide outreach to families of children with disabilities. The organization helps families navigate the education system, mental health care and other child serving systems to achieve home, school, and community success.
• Expertise, Inc. This $322,150 grant will help to provide cosmetology training to students at the Nevada Department of Corrections, Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center. So far, Expertise New Path program has trained more than 60 students, graduated 51 and licensed 44. Thirty of the licensed students have been released from the correctional center and working in their career path.
• Children’s Advocacy Alliance. This $70,693 grant will help youth and young adults impacted by the foster care system who are transitioning out into the workforce and adulthood.
• Nye Communities Coalition. This $118,390 grant will help expand the limited tutoring program currently offered by hiring additional teachers and para-pro instructors.
• Poetry Promise. This $150,000 grant will help the organization provide more creative writing workshops in low-income areas in Clark County.
• Urban Roots. This $92,168 grant will help to provide summer education to children ages 5-15 who reside in low-income neighborhoods and/or attend schools where 60 percent or more of the student body is eligible for free and reduced-cost meals in Washoe County.
• Arriba Las Vegas Worker Center. This $224,700 grant will help the organization provide Occupational Safety and Health Administration trainings in Spanish and help the organization providing workforce development and training for Spanish-speaking Nevadans.
• Equality Project. This $129,370 grant will help fund additional staffing to expand hours for the food pantry at the Henderson Equality Center. Funds will also allow for clients to receive more food each time they visit the food pantry.
• Nevada CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) This $2.5 million grant will help increase staffing levels across the State to ensure the organizations can provide advocacy services for abused and neglected children.
• Green Our Planet. This $2.7 million grant will allow the organization to implement Hydroponics STEM Laboratories at 300 Nevada elementary schools, scaling up STEM education and creating a sustainable future for the state.
• The Foundation for Positively Kids. This $1.4 million grant will increase access to critically needed early intervention services for Clark County children with developmental delays, in particular young children (ages 3-5) with social skills deficits and/or who may be at risk of Autism.
• Angels of Las Vegas. This $66,489 grant will help provide food deliveries to families experiencing cancer and life-threatening terminal illnesses.
• Eddy House. This $1.5 million grant will help support efforts to create a safe shelter and a full continuum of care to femme, women, non-binary and transgender women. It would serve as an entry way toward independence in the community for these youth.

When the Community Recovery Grant program launched in December 2021, more than 300 organizations applied for more than $445 million in funding. The applicants developed proposals that would help Nevada’s most vulnerable communities. State lawmakers prioritized projects that provide access to resources necessary to relieve hardships experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic and projects that will increase services the non-profits provide to the community.

The full list of Community Recovery Grant participants can be found online at NevadaRecovers.com.

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