Grant Programs

We seek to advance our mission through prioritized investment in the following grant programs

Dating back to the inception of the Foundation in 1948 as well as the Memorial Trust in 1973, the primary and overarching grant making priority has been and continues to be Education.

Click on the grant program above (in blue) to view the full description.

Secondarily, the Foundation considers proposals within the areas of Community Initiatives, Arts and Culture, and Youth Initiatives.

The Board’s objective is to extend the primary educational focus by providing funding support within these additional program areas.

Click on each grant program above (in blue) to view the full description.

As a third priority, the Foundation does consider proposals in the areas of People with Disabilities and Universal Access, Environment, and Historic Preservation.

As these are not core focus areas, funding is often limited. Priority will be given to proposals with an educational focus.

Click on each grant program above (in blue) to view the full description.

Our prioritized investment approach is also depicted in this graphic.

Education

Primary and secondary education, literacy, and vocational training are essential ingredients to improving life outcomes

Program Goal

To reduce barriers that limit equitable opportunities and expand equal access to quality education

Program Strategy

Supporting early childhood education, academic tutoring, literacy, college access, internships, scholarships, fellowships, and journalism focused on underrepresented populations and first generation students

Program Investment

  • Last 5 Years:  $3.1 million
  • Since Inception:  $29.8 million

Investment Highlights

  • YMCA:  The Power Scholars Academy (PSA) is a five-week summer learning program that meets daily and includes 3 hours of math and reading instruction followed by focused enrichment activities. PSA is offered to students from low-income families in Syracuse City Schools with a target on grades 3 to 7.
  • Hillside:  Rock Your Brain is a module-based NYS Regent Exam preparation program that empowers students grades 9-12 to learn, study and achieve graduation success.  This program runs throughout the school year and engages 100 to 125 youth.
  • Partners in Learning:  MANOS Summer Program offers up to 30 pre-school children from low-income, Spanish-speaking families 25 hours of early education per week for five weeks in order to prevent summer slide.  Programming focuses on the development of skills in self-regulation, language, communication, literacy, math, science, and social studies.
  • On Point for College:  Supports identified students with advisement, basic college supplies (including a small clothing allowance), and specific needs of students such as housing/enrollment deposits, textbooks or other limited financial assistance.
  • 518ElevatED:  The Pathways to College program breaks down the systemic educational barriers many low-to-moderate-income, first-generation college students face through a curriculum designed to create critical thinkers and problem solvers with one-on-one guidance and trust developed in a long-term mentoring relationship as well as aiding in easing financial limitations.
  • The Daily Orange:  A fellowship for two students per year focused on rectifying the inequity in opportunities for marginalized student journalists as well as our coverage of underserved communities.  The fellowship provides financial support to students of color at Syracuse University who may not be able to work at the paper otherwise.
  • Syracuse Press Club:  Provide a semester-long intensive journalism workshop in which high school students of color will receive mentoring from professionals as they are shepherded through the planning, creation and publication of a multimedia journalism project.
  • The Reading League:  Offers professional development for educators to learn how scientific research evidence can help them provide the most effective reading and writing instruction for their students.  This is coupled with a local children’s television show that incorporated best reading practices for pre-school children.
  • Oswego Bookmobile:  Literacy specialist assists children to identify their reading level and select appropriate books to take home.  The Bookmobile provides free books weekly throughout the summer to 16 sites in the City of Oswego.
  • Junior Achievement Financial Literacy: Utilizes trained volunteers to deliver proven programs in financial literacy, career and work readiness and entrepreneurship to students in grades K to 12.
  • Syracuse University Maxwell School:  Two graduate students are supported in their study of not for profit management as part of the Masters in Public Administration (MPA) program while also working at the Central New York Community Foundation engaged in community initiatives.
  • Volunteer Lawyers:  Access to Justice Fellowship provides experience and a stipend to law students who are members of diverse populations, that are historically underrepresented in the legal profession, and those who have faced adversity, and thereby may have a diverse perspective on life and the practice of law.

Community Initiatives

A resilient social infrastructure is essential to a healthy local community

Program Goal

To directly enhance the lives of residents within our core geographic regions by expanding services that bridge the poverty gap

Program Strategy

Investing in community centers, safe and affordable housing, human services delivered by shelters and food pantries, and veterans services

Program Investment

  • Last 5 Years:  $1.9 million
  • Since Inception:  $15.6 million

Investment Highlights

  • Rural and Migrant Ministry:  Building renovations to more effectively provide medical care to the underserved farming population often without insurance.
  • Westcott Community Center:  Freezers to increase capacity of food pantry for senior program.
  • A Tiny Home for Good:  Assisted with building four units of housing for individuals facing homelessness as well as increasing the organization’s capacity by partial funding a Project Manager position.
  • Salvation Army:  Renovations of four of the twenty-four room facility for Teenage Women who are homeless and pregnant or have just given birth in order to make the rooms safe and functional.
  • Sleep in Heavenly Peace:  No Kid Sleeps on the Floor in Our Town works with corporate and individual volunteers to hand build bed frames, acquire new mattresses and new bedding and then deliver complete twin beds to children in need.
  • Catholic Charities:  Purchased a van for transportation, expanded culinary arts training program for employment, upgraded the bathroom in a community center location, assisted with renovation of the men’s shelter, and assisted with a construction apprentice training for refugee men seeking employment.
  • Clear Path for Veterans:  Art therapy house construction, photography workshops, wellness workshops to engage veterans with PTSD, and activities to enhance family relationships.
  • Syracuse University:  Support for a community room in the National Veteran Resource Center (NVRC) which will serve as a hub for research and programming for veterans.

Arts and Culture

Engagement in the arts creates a stronger and more vibrant community and culture

Program Goal

To foster arts education and appreciation

Program Strategy

Through educational curriculum, instruction, and engagement of young adults via visiting artists or performances

Program Investment

  • Last 5 Years:  $1.2 million
  • Since Inception:  $7.1 million

Investment Highlights

  • CNY Arts Center:  Provide scholarships for both after school and summer arts education program for underserved youth.
  • Everson:  Assisted with children’s educational space, purchased equipment to expand educational capabilities, and enlarged their technological capacities to reach classrooms virtually.
  • Salmon River Arts Center:  Provide scholarships for underserved population to attend art programs taught at the center.
  • Perform 4 Purpose (P4P):  Offset the cost of providing local youth opportunities to learn, create, and perform music.  P4P also teaches the importance of helping others and giving back to the community by performing live music events for local charities.
  • CNY Jazz Arts Foundation:  The Music Education Pipeline provides scholarships for students to participate in CNY Jazz Youth Orchestra, Summer Jazz Workshop at the NY State Fair, programs serving Le Moyne College, and other local events.
  • Syracuse Stage:  Support for the Backstory to be offered in local schools featuring stories of significant historical figures untold in the standard school curriculum.
  • Syracuse City Ballet:  Enable underserved students and chaperones to attend A Children's Nutcracker and provide educators free New York State Standards level lesson plans for use in preparing for and responding to the performance.

Youth Initiatives

Encouraging young adults to dream and equipping them to succeed can change the trajectory of their lives

Program Goal

To empower young adults in their personal development and to equip them in their professional aspirations

Program Strategy

Developing sustained relationships that offer one-on-one mentoring, character education, skills training, and violence prevention

Program Investment

  • Last 5 Years:  $730,000
  • Since Inception:  $2.9 million

Investment Highlights

  • Building Men:  Serves 200 young men in the Syracuse City School District, grades 6 to 12 to become "A" man of significance, integrity, and relationships through weekly mentorship and leadership opportunities.
  • Once Upon a Star:  Offers weekly structured interactions with mentors to avoid the setbacks that can derail youth’s lives and help break the cycle of incarceration and recidivism.
  • YWCA:  Support for the Girls Inc. afterschool and outreach programs that include a range of activities, speakers, and field trips for girls ages 5 to 18.
  • Auburn Public:  Scholarship support for the year-round youth education programs which engages students aged 8 to 18 in learning an instrument, playing in a band, live sound production, and musical theater program (offered in summer).
  • Mercy Works:  Synergy is a 10 week leadership development & paid internship program for college students.  Students are placed in a summer experience targeted toward their field of study and given applicable instruction in relevant job skills.
  • Center for Community Alternatives:  The Violence Prevention Education Program provides education and peer educator training to middle and high school-aged students at risk of involvement in violence including skill building in how to prevent or deescalate violent situations and how to stay safe when and if they do occur.

People with Disabilities and Universal Access

A person with a physical, mental, or emotional disability should have equal access to opportunity within the community

Program Goal

To support services for individuals with a disability as well as provide universal access to facilities for these individuals

Program Strategy

Supporting programs for people with disabilities as well as required facility renovations to enable universal access

Program Investment

  • Last 5 Years:  $925,000
  • Since Inception:  $4.2 million

Investment Highlights

  • Upstate Foundation:  A 2-day collaborative Adaptive Technology workshop to launch of a Go Baby Go (GBG) program in Syracuse.  GBG applies the concepts of adaptive design to transform inexpensive ride-on toy cars into power mobility vehicles, affording children (up to age 5) with mobility impairments the ability to explore their world.  GBG will also serve as an incubator for high school students to apply STEM skills in real world settings.
  • ARISE:  Support the ARISE Adaptive Design program to allow participants free adaptive designs.
  • Advocates Incorporated:  Advocates Coffee and Eatery provide on-the-job training for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, provide equipment and assistive technology and resourcing materials for building and enhancing job readiness with the help of job coaches.
  • David’s Refuge:  Expand and accelerate of the abilities to offer Mental Health Counseling Services to the caregivers served.  This program offers our clients a direct service with little to no "red tape" making it easier for caregivers to access mental health services
  • Whole Me:  Care Coordinator will educate families and the community about unique challenges facing deaf/hard of hearing individuals by placing family members in programs that promote health, well-being, safety and security in the home, school and community.
  • Child Advocacy Center (CAC):  Created an ADA compliant entrance and parking lot safety lighting to the CAC.

Environment

Stewardship of the local environment is a fundamental responsibility

Program Goal

To support environmental education and conservation initiatives

Program Strategy

Through educational instruction and materials (e.g., curriculum, brochures, signs) coupled with protection of strategic parcels of land and water

Program Investment

  • Last 5 Years:  $415,000
  • Since Inception:  $1.5 million

Investment Highlights

  • Montezuma Audubon Center:  Expanding STEM education programs for the City of Syracuse School District to offer on-the ground conservation, environmental education, civic participation and volunteerism around Onondaga Lake.
  • Onondaga Environmental Institute:  Delivered professional development workshops to teachers across districts in the watershed targeted at building teacher’s capacity by distributing lesson kits that contain all the necessary materials for lessons on the Onondaga Creek watershed.
  • Great Swamp Conservancy:  The trail upgrade project replaced existing interpretive signage panels and posts along the trails as well as install a new trail head kiosk.

Historical Preservation

Preservation of our history is important in order to educate the broader population on past events to inform current events

Program Goal

To preserve historical accounts and artifacts to benefit future generations

Program Strategy

Through educational instruction and materials (e.g., curriculum, brochures, signs) coupled with protection of sites, structures, objects, and events

Program Investment

  • Last 5 Years:  $210,000
  • Since Inception:  $1.7 million

Investment Highlights

  • Colonial Williamsburg Foundation:  Scholarships for teachers to attend the Teacher Institute by spending a week on location in Williamsburg learning about key economic, political and social events that led to American independence.
  • Stone Quarry Art Park:  The Dorothy Riester House Water Mitigation and Structural Stabilization project mitigate moisture issues, repair aging infrastructure, and preserve one of the most unique features which is the interior plant room.