Sedona Arizona (June 9, 2011)-The Yavapai County Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Arizona Community Foundation, recently awarded $180,417 in grants to 30 nonprofit organizations serving Arizona’s Yavapai County.

“We are proud and honored that wise investors who believe in the power of endowment have chosen YCCF to steward their giving,” said Michael Bacigalupi, Advisory Board Chair. “These dollars go far to meet the vast needs of our community, and we take the trust of our donors as a great privilege.”

YCCF’s 2011 Grant Cycle recipients are:

· Cottonwood Police Department’s 2011-2012 K-9 Program: $4,091 to assist in per diem and fuel expenses for training in narcotic search for both K-9 Units and for veterinary care for both canines.

· Prescott Police Department Canine Unit Improvement Project: $7,000 to obtain necessary equipment to improve and enhance the effectiveness of the Prescott Police Department’s canine program.

· Prescott Valley Police Department K9 Program: $6,000 to update the equipment utilized by our K9 Handlers; maintain and care for their canine partners; provide our K9 Officers with advanced training opportunities; and provide quality healthcare for our canines.

· Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office 2011 K9 Program: $9,000 to provide necessary equipment and training for canines and handlers.

· Horses with H.E.A.R.T.’s Visually Impaired Children’s Happy Horse Experience: $2,688 to expand availability of programs designed for the visually impaired children as well as children with other disabilities including specifically visually impaired with additional multiple disabilities to provide confidence, muscle tone, balance, posture, motor and cognitive skills, coordination as well as inter-personal and social skills.

· Prescott Valley Early Bird Lions Foundation’s Sight First Program: $1,792 to assist low income families with children secure proper eye care.

· Franklin Phonetic Primary School’s Piano Lab: $2,000 to provide quality music education for kindergarten through eighth grade students using a complete Yamaha piano lab with supplementary curricular components.

· ‘Tis Art Center and Gallery’s After School Art Education Program: $676 to support STEPS, After School Art Education program, which provides Prescott area children with tuition free art education classes designed to enhance student academic development, cultural awareness and sensitivity to the world in which we live.

· Central Arizona Land Trust’s Yavapai Agricultural Lands Preservation Project: $8,875 to expand the Yavapai Agricultural Lands Preservation Project, Ranching in the Future landowner workshops, by providing private land owners and governmental representatives new information in establishing permanent conservation agreements for agricultural land protection in Yavapai County.

· Community Forest Trust’s Catalyzing Citizen Stewardship Program: $5,800 to create an ethic of stewardship through a volunteer partnership with the Prescott National Forest, giving community members a direct role as stewards of trails and other recreational and natural resources.

· Friends of the Agua Fria National Monument, Black Canyon City Heritage Park Visitor Center: $2,000 to support the purchase and installation of several energy-saving items in the Black Canyon City Heritage Park Visitor Center building, the future office for the nonprofit Friends of Agua Fria National Monument.

· Sedona Recycles’ Expanded Polystyrene Recycling Project: $3,000 to enable Sedona Recycles to accept Styrofoam from the public and provide free Styrofoam recycling in the Verde Valley.

· Verde NRCD (Natural Resource Conservation District) Education Center’s Top Ten: Wanted/Native Unwanted/ Invasive Species Project: $2,295 to support a partnership with Verde Valley Schools and Verde Natural Resource Conservation District to educate 7th grade students about the economic, social and ecological impacts of native and invasive plant and animal species in the Verde River watershed.

· Coalition For Compassion and Justice’s Health Care Access Assistance Project: $1,738 to support the Health Care Access Assistance Project, which assists low income and uninsured adults and children who are ill or injured with much-needed emergency medical assistance.

· Golden Cobra Center of Fitness’ Scholarship Program: $1,738 to provide scholarships to deserving children who wish to learn healthy lifestyles through competition, teamwork and accountability.

· Catholic Charities Community Services’ Paths of HOPE Prosperity Programs: $5,700 to help Yavapai County’s most vulnerable develop their own plan for accessing the resources of prosperity through financial education, personal development, planning and mentoring.

· Civitan Foundation’s Transportation for Special Needs: $2,000 to support transportation for residents of Yavapai County with special needs to participate in Camp Civitan, a residential, recreational camp designed specifically for individuals with physical and developmental disabilities.

· Cornucopia Community Advocates’ Cornville Food Bank Capacity Building Project: $4,462 to assist the Cornville Mission Food Bank and Thrift Store to become financially self-sustaining in its new leased building.

· MATForce’s Yavapai County Peer 2 Peer Recovery Coaching Program: $1,500 to support matching trained volunteer coaches with individuals in recovery to provide support, access resources, embrace positive behavioral change and assist in removing obstacles.

· Boys and Girls Clubs of Northern Arizona’s Project Learn Program: $3,625 to support Project Learn, which provides daily homework help and tutoring, along with daily participation in high-yield learning activities, led by trained staff and volunteers, to foster increased academic success, improved school attendance and decreased delinquent behavior.

· Coalition for Compassion and Justice’s Weekend Family Food Project: $10,000 to support the Open Door Weekend Family Food Project, which reduces the risk of weekend food insecurity in 450+ at-risk hungry children ages 5 and under in the Greater Prescott Quad City Area.

· Friends of Beaver Creek Library Collection for Special Needs Patrons: $1,500 to support the purchase of library materials not provided by the county library network, targeting children K-12 in public schools, homeschooled and children with special needs.

· Highlands Center for Natural History’s Saturday Nature Mornings for Bigs and Littles Program: $3,500 to provide Saturday morning nature activities at the Highlands Center for Natural History for children and their adult mentors enrolled with Yavapai Big Brothers Big Sisters.

· Camp Verde Adult Reading Program Technology Upgrades for Computer Instruction: $6,780 to upgrade six computers that students use for the New Century Education program, learning websites, citizenship websites and for learning basic computer skills to enhance future employment opportunities.

· Prescott Area Women’s Shelter Successful Lives Onsite Workshops: $2,800 to support an AmeriCorps VISTA position to implement on-site workshops at the Prescott Area Women’s Shelter focused on career development, emergency budgeting, empowerment and health to give homeless women the skills and resources to be self sustainable.

· Yavapai County Sheriff’s Response Team’s Mountain Rescue Program: $4,000 to support the acquisition of equipment to supplement existing equipment and enhance the capability for safely rescuing people in mountainous environments.

· Yavapai Regional Medical Center’s BreastCare Community Resource Center: $2,800 to provide up-to-date, multimedia educational tools and support services to ensure informed decision making about breast health and throughout breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.

· United Way of Yavapai County’s Community Impact Initiative: $5,000 to support the Community Impact Initiative’s “Commitment to Learning” care area, which promotes lifelong learning by establishing collaborations among existing nonprofits to target the unmet educational needs of children, indigent adults, seniors and the disabled.

· Prescott Unified School District’s Hungry Kids Project: $9,150 to supply 85 PUSD students, identified as having little or no food on the weekends, 6 nutritious meals (2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 dinners) every Friday throughout the school year in order to provide nourishment and to increase their ability to learn during the school week.

· Jewish Community Foundation, Yavapai Help Line: $10,000 to establish a resource referral center for social services in Yavapai County.

An additional $49,000 will be directed to other projects and programs.

YCCF’s 2011 Grant Cycle was funded from the Yavapai County Community Fund and nine field-of-interest endowment funds: The Yavapai Children’s Fund, Margaret T. Morris Children’s Fund, Law Enforcement Canine Fund, Yavapai County Fund for Environment, The Ophthalmic Science Foundation Fund, Yavapai County Healthcare Fund, Prescott Gateway Music and Art Fund, The Education Foundation of Yavapai County Fund, the Tanney Fund and the Richard and Jonne Markham Fund.

To learn more about these organizations and projects, contact YCCF Grants and Operations Coordinator Tracey McConnell at 928-499-9795 or tmcconnell@azfoundation.org. To learn how you can contribute or help YCCF grow its endowed Community Fund for future years, contact ACF North Central Regional Manager Carol Chamberlain at 928-708-9632 or cchamberlain@azfoundation.org.

The Yavapai County Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Arizona Community Foundation, is an 18-year-old permanent philanthropic endowment for the enduring benefit of our community. Its mission is to lead, serve and collaborate to mobilize enduring philanthropy for a better Arizona. It secures, manages and allocates donors’ gifts for charitable purposes in the County while working to improve the quality of life for local residents.

Since the inception of YCCF in 1993, the Community Foundation has contributed millions of dollars to Yavapai County nonprofit organizations and the communities they serve. To learn more, visit www.yavapaifoundation.org.