Arsht-Cannon Fund Awards $600,000 in Grants Statewide to Benefit Delaware’s Hispanic Community

WILMINGTON, Del. – The Arsht-Cannon Fund at the Delaware Community Foundation is proud to announce that it has awarded approximately $600,000 in grants during the 2013 fiscal year (July 1, 2012-June 30, 2013). For the fifth straight year, the Arsht-Cannon Fund (ACF) has awarded grants to improve the quality of life for Hispanic families living in Delaware by supporting access to health care, education, and innovative youth programs. “The most effective grant-making results in expanding opportunities for Hispanic Delawareans to improve their physical and mental health, life-long learning and education, employment, and empowerment. These impacts are essential for the growth of Delaware’s society and economy,” Arsht-Cannon Fund Director Dr. Christine Cannon said. Healthcare grants targeted programs providing services Latino families need most. The ACF awarded grants to Christiana Care’s Promotoras for Healthy Families to reach 175 new families at high risk for cancer, diabetes, asthma, and HIV/AIDS through its collaboration with the Latin American Community Center and other community organizations in New Castle County. The ACF also awarded a grant to the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition’s ¡VIDA!™ program, which provides Latinas in middle and western Sussex County with screenings, information and support. AIDS Delaware received a grant to increase HIV testing and to diagnose, treat, and instruct Latinos in their native language, to help reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. The Ronald McDonald House also received a grant to continue providing culturally sensitive support and a nurturing environment for Latino families from Kent and Sussex counties. Given the insufficient number of bilingual and bicultural mental health professionals in Kent and Sussex counties and the high demand for services, several agencies received support to hire qualified bilingual and bicultural therapists. The ACF made grants this year to La Red Health Center, Delaware Guidance Services (Parent–Child Interaction Therapy), Survivors of Abuse in Recovery, La Esperanza (mental health and domestic violence programs), the Family Counseling Center of St. Paul’s Church (Nurtured Heart Program), and the Limen House (drug and alcohol treatment). The ACF continued its tradition of providing education grants to help families succeed by learning English and preparing for their continuing education and careers. This year, the ACF awarded grants to support English as a Second Language (ESL) programs conducted by the Latin American Community Center in Wilmington, La Esperanza in Georgetown, POLYTECH Adult Education in Dover/Camden, Literacy Volunteers Serving Adults, and the Lutheran Church of Our Savior in Rehoboth Beach. Additional education grants were awarded to the Food Bank of Delaware’s new Culinary School in Milford for scholarships for four Latinos, and the Schwartz Center for the Arts in Dover for the second annual Hispanic Heritage Month celebration on October 4 and 5, 2013. To support innovative youth programs that promote growth, education and leadership opportunities for Latinos, the ACF awarded grants for startup costs of the Academia Antonia Alonso, a dual-language, expeditionary learning charter school opening in Wilmington in 2014; scholarships for four amazing Latinos entering sixth grade at Nativity Preparatory School in 2013; and inclusion of more Latinas statewide in the Delaware Adolescent Program, Inc., an alternative school with many educational, health, and social service benefits for pregnant adolescents; and three classes of English Language Learners at Cape Henlopen High School to participate in the “Circles of Respect” Program, facilitated by internationally known restorative justice practitioner Charito Calvachi-Mateyko. The Arsht-Cannon Fund (ACF), a donor advised fund at the Delaware Community Foundation, is a gift of the late Honorable Roxana Cannon Arsht and S. Samuel Arsht to maintain a civil society now and in the future. Today, grants are provided to improve the quality of life for all Delawareans by focusing on the needs, assets, and issues of Hispanic families and by funding nonprofit organizations’ programs that result in opportunities for Hispanic Delawareans to achieve optimal physical health and mental well-being, early and life-long continuing education, and leadership roles in their communities. For more information about the Arsht-Cannon Fund please visit www.arshtcannonfund.org About the Delaware Community Foundation The Delaware Community Foundation manages charitable funds for individuals, families, businesses and organizations, and distributes income from the funds as grants to humanitarian, educational, health and cultural entities throughout the First State. With more than 1,200 funds, $225 million in assets and annual grants of about $13 million, the Foundation provides a lasting source of charitable funding to benefit Delawareans today and for generations to come. For more than 25 years, the Foundation has been connecting people who care with the causes they care about, helping to make Delaware a better place to live and work. For information, please call 302.571.8004 in Wilmington or 302.856.4393 in Southern Delaware or visit www.delcf.org.