Font ResizeBRATTLEBORO -- The Samara Fund, a new component fund of the Vermont Community Foundation, recently awarded grants of $32,000 in its first annual competitive grant round.
Locally, the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont received $3,000 to support the Young Men’s Initiative working to prevent HIV/AIDS.
The Brattleboro Retreat received $2,000 to support dedicated, culturally competent substance abuse and mental health treatment for LGBT patients.
The Samara Fund is the successor organization to the Samara Foundation of Vermont. Founded by Bill Lippert and David Curtis in the early 1990s, the Samara Foundation has a long history of serving nonprofit organizations that support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Vermonters.
Of the 20 organizations that applied for funding, 15 were selected to receive grants. The awards support a variety of programs that address LGBT needs, ranging from Randolph Union High School’s Queer/Straight Alliance and the Lund Family Center’s LGBT adoptive and foster families services, to Vermont CARES and other HIV/AIDS service organizations. The largest grant -- $5,000 -- was awarded to Outright Vermont, the statewide organization serving LGBT youth.
Additional information about the Samara Fund and this year’s grants is available at www.vermontcf.org.
