Responsibility Report Entires
Lighthouse Promise, Inc. DBA Lighthouse Academy at Newburg
Computer Room Update
Yes
We are very excited to begin this fall with the new updated computer room which will allow students to be able to focus on their studies in a much more effective and quiet environment. With these funds, we were able to utilize other funding designated for programming in order to serve 138 students for this year per September 1 with our fall programming beginning on Sept. 6 where we will welcome 80 students on our role to our Out of School time learning program M-Thursday following their school day. We will be able to continue to provide, not only homework assistance, and a hot meal each day, but healthy living activities and Social Emotional Learning programs, Arts Enrichment programs and more every evening. Our computer lab is integral in homework as many students utilize a Chromebook. We also are able to use this area for access to additional learning programs and for Junior Achievement as well as additional programs such as our Black History narrative contests.
We have been able to attain our goals with the help of partnerships such as yours. Funding is critical to our performance and the ability to help our students each day. In addition, other partnerships are also important such as our partnership with Dare to Care who provides nutritious hot meals for our students each day, and others such as our partnership with Jay Cee Kitchen, Bounce Coalition, Looking for Lillith, Arts programs and music programs run by retired or current teachers and more.
DATA AT A GLANCE:
• Lighthouse Student Average Attendance at JCPS: 97.2% vs JCPS Average Attendance 94.3%
• Fall 2022 to Spring 2023: 90% of students attending 30 or more days showed an increase in at least one core subject area or obtained the federal standards for “does not need improvement” (letter grades A, B or Satisfactory.)
EARLY ELEMENTARY: Spring Reading: 59% S or higher; Spring Math: 73% S (Currently 89% had an S or higher in Science, and 89% had a S or higher in Social Studies.)
Upper Elementary and MIDDLE:. Spring Reading/Language Arts: 92% C or higher; Spring Math: 92% C or higher. (Currently 100% had a C or higher in Science, and 100% C or higher in Social Studies.)
• The number one teacher comment on report cards say Lighthouse students are more confident in group discussions and behavior is improving.
On August 5, 2023, Lighthouse Health and Back to School Fair served 912 people giving away 600 Pure Tap Water Bottles, 700 free lunches from JCPS Bus Café, 80 free dental checks from Kare Mobile Dental Clinic, 118 free sports and back to school physicals , 200 free vision screenings from the South Oldham Lions Club, 783 free backpacks full of school supplies. (We had 60 total volunteers).
SURVEYS: In surveys conducted and filled in by parents and students, we found
• Almost 90% of students feel they would be home (alone or with siblings), watching T.V. if they were not at Lighthouse.
• Almost 93% of our middle school students feel they are getting better grades, being more creative, building on things they learn at school, and learn about what they want to do in the future because of their time at Lighthouse.
• 92% of middle schoolers said they attend because they have friends in the program and 77% say it is also because of their relationships with the adults at the program.
• 100% of parents feel students are more successful at school because of Lighthouse along with helping students social/emotionally.
Grade Data 2022-2023 Early Elementary
Aug 22-Nov22 Nov-Jan23 Jan-March Mar-May
Reading
O: 24% 14% 24% 31%
S: 40% 45% 45% 45%
NI: 36% 41% 31% 24%
U:
64% Maintained an S or higher 59% 69% 76% S or higher
Math
O: 20% 14% 24% 31%
S: 36% 59% 65% 65%
NI: 44% 27% 11% 4%
U:
56% Maintained an S or higher 73% 89% 96% S or higher
Science
O: 32% 17% 17% 17%
S: 64% 72% 72% 72%
NI: 4% 11% 11% 11%
U:
96% Maintained an S or higher 89% 89% 89% S or higher
Social Studies
O: 28% 17% 17% 17%
S: 68% 72% 79% 79%
NI: 4% 7% 4% 4%
U: 4%
96% Maintained an S or higher 89% 96% 96% S or higher
Grade Data 2022-2023 Letter Grades
August ’22-Oct 22 Oct-Nov. 22 Jan.23-Mar. Mar-May
Reading/LA
A: 42% 52% 37% 52%
B: 50% 8% 26% 32%
C: 8% 32% 29% 8%
D: 4% 4% 4%
U: 4% 4% 4%
100% Maintained a C or higher 92% 92% 92% C or higher
Math
A: 34% 28% 37% 42%
B: 42% 32% 33% 34%
C: 8% 32% 22% 20%
D: 16% 4% 8% 4%
U: 4%
84% Maintained a C or higher 92% 92% 96% C or higher
Science
A: 60% 56% 56% 56%
B: 24% 24% 33% 33%
C: 6% 16% 11% 11%
D: 4%
U:
100 % Maintained a C or higher 96% 100% 100% C or higher
Social Studies
A: 16% 56% 52% 52%
B: 42% 28% 18% 18%
C: 42% 12% 22% 24%
D: 4% 2%
U:
100% Maintained a C or higher 96% 98% 100% C or higher
Thank you so much for your help and your past support of our programs. We are blessed to have partners such as you who help us meet the needs of our students each day, year after year.
I think it would be helpful to advocate for nonprofits in the for profit world. For example, being an advocate for transportation to Out of School organizations with the school systems. For us, getting students to us when the school day ends is imperative and we rely of JCPS buses (and I am sure other organizations do as well). Of course, the bus situation is horrible for everyone, but to continue to acknowledge the importance of all the extra hours of learning students are provided in the OST environment with the "JCPS Powers that Be" so they make it a priority. I would imagine this is the same for all organizations such as ours whether located in urban or rural areas across Kentucky.
We are so excited that we got the opportunity to meet Grace Akers and Karina has been a huge help when we had questions. Thank you!
Entry Notes
The Prisoner's Hope
Employee Program Coordinator Position
Yes
The Prisoner's Hope was able to hire a Directly Impacted Person to take on the role of, Employee Program Coordinator, for Re Imagined Workforce Solutions. There is no better person to work with those who are justice involved as someone who has been there themselves. This year we have helped 12 returning citizens find permanent employment. We were able to find jobs for 12 others who were already out in the community with no job leads. They were given our info in regards to helping them find employment. Our Employee Program Coordinator was able to meet with 16 of these individuals and help build resumes and apply for jobs on line. He has also been out in the community working on obtaining more employer partnerships. We also found a great resource in National Reentry Workforce Collaborative in which we will attend a conference in October and bring back vital information to the team. We have also enrolled our Assistant Director and Employee Program Coordination in a Reentry Specialist Certification class to ensure we are using best practices moving forward with helping our returning citizens find jobs and careers as they begin their new lives.
We had a hard time finding the right person for the job that would accept the money we could pay them.
Don't ever give up! God will always make a way!
KSWF have been so helpful in helping us help our people! Thank you
Entry Notes
The Cleveland Home dba Life Adventure Center
Middle School Resilience Building Partnerships
Yes
We were able to provide two summer camps (one specifically for Mentors and Meals, and one for Middle School students), three on-site programs and one overnight programmatic experience for Mentors and Meals, and five mobile units for Woodford County Middle School, in addition to three on-site experiences for WCMS.
We learned so much! We wouldn't ask, in the future, for camp for middle school students - rostering students was more difficult than we anticipated, and we found that our school-year programming was so much more effective in terms of advancing our mission and in our impact on the students involved.
We were incredibly grateful for this funding though as it allowed us to do some proof-of-concept work with our local middle school -- who is paying for the programming themselves this year!
Allow some flexibility in grant funding so recipients can pivot based on the needs of the people they serve (and you may already do this - camp rostering was so difficult that I wished we had reached out about applying that money to the next school year).
Lovely people to work with -- I feel like you all truly grasp what we're trying to do and want to be a partner in that process.
Entry Notes
Yes Arts
Yes Arts
Yes
We received $10k for supplies, with which we were able to purchase furniture for our new building - Yes Arts at City Hall - as well as tech equipment such as doorbell cameras, and program supplies such as paint, paper, craft supplies, and printmaking screens. We were able to buy quality supplies that we can reuse without replacing, which saves us money in the long run. With this assistance we were able to purchase all the supplies we needed to initiate our arts programming.
We also received $5k for training, which we used to offer Family Thrive training to all of our staff, as well as some community members and volunteers. These funds also paid for our program leaders and youth mentors to attend in-house training that covered overviews on substance use disorder and prevention, ACES, and trauma-informed care, and professional development webinars for our Executive Director and Bookkeeper.
We learned the importance of caring for our employees to ensure a successful work environment. From little things like sharing notes of appreciation and giving gift cards to more structural support, such as encouraging taking time off and mental health days, shows Yes Arts staff that we respect and appreciate their work. If employees are not cared for internally and shown that it’s important to care for themselves, then it is not reflected in our programming. We need to be the example. Also prevents burnout, which saves Yes Arts money in the long run.
You can’t be everything to everyone. It can be really hard to say no when people want to partner with us, but it needs to happen sometimes. If, for example, there is a good cause that doesn’t exactly align with our mission, we need to say no. If you keep saying yes it will burn everyone out. More no’s means more concentrated work that is focused on mission fulfillment.
Being selective in staffing - so much of nonprofit work is about the people who work for the organization. If the wrong people are in the role, there are some things that are not trainable, such as mission-based passion and a deepening understanding of a role. We need people who deeply embody protective factors. Our staff represent us - we have to be patient and diligent about hiring the right people.
The importance of strong branding and marketing for our organization as a whole, and for our programs. Everything we put out is stylized so that when people see it they recognize it automatically. This is especially important for a new organization or an organization that has been rebranded.
General Operating Support is so important, however, it is very difficult to find those funds. More General Operating Support would be very helpful.
An opportunity to get publicity around this award would be appreciated. An event, social media campaign, or rep visit to Yes Arts would help us get more funding, because our community would see that we are in relationship with reputable organizations that are doing important work.
Kentucky Social Welfare Foundation has a very specific guideline for who they fund; they are clear on who they are, who they fund, and what they want to support. Sometimes it can be hard to know if we fit it into an org’s mission - with KSWF we don’t have to wonder. That is much appreciated!
Entry Notes
Neighborhood House
Youth Thrive Organizational and Community Training
Yes
KSWF supported three trainings to build staff and community capacity around inclusion, coaching tools, and building resilience in youth. The trainings were:
1. A full-staff workshop related to LGBTQIA+ inclusion (January 2023) where 40 staff worked with the former director of The LGBT Center at University of Louisville to examine our some of our assumptions and identify gaps in understanding about the experiences of kids who are queer.
2. A six-session coach training (January and February 2023), where staff from multiple departments learned tools for having positive, proactive conversations about growth and accountability. These tools—an accountability pathway, a series of “powerful questions,” examinations of our value systems, and more—will help our staff better walk alongside youth in a positive, affirming way as they work towards their goals. Partner organizations attended this training (though their tuition was not funded by KSWF) to encourage collaboration and a shared understanding of the tools. These organizations were St. John’s Center, Food Literacy Project, and AMPED.
3. Youth Thrive training, led by the Center for the Study of Social Policy (March 2023). Staff from Neighborhood House, Louisville Urban League, Russell Place of Promise, and Sowing Seeds of Faith participated in this four-day training. Eleven youth members from Neighborhood House participated in a companion training for youth at the same time. (Slots in the youth training were offered to the same partner organizations at no cost, but partner organizations had trouble filling their slots.) Youth Thrive focuses on protective factors to prevent and mitigate trauma and provides evidence-based strategies for young adults and professionals. These principles range from strength-based approaches to the role of race, racism, identities, privilege, power, and bias when working with young people. Each promotive and protective factor was dissected and applied directly to how Neighborhood House works with and supports youth. Staff participated in team-building and critical thinking activities. Other activities included putting staff members in the shoes of a young person trying to navigate the systems of support. Reflection assignments allowed staff to remember what it was like for them as young people. Key takeaways from the training included concepts around connecting before you correct, and, at the core, remembering that relationships are the intervention. This training (and subsequent implementation) has helped us jumpstart significant changes within the Youth Development Program, as we have started to use Youth Thrive as our guiding framework.
These trainings have given us shared experiences and shared language about difficult topics. We were able to create spaces, in partnership with the staff members from other organizations, where we could share vulnerable moments and learn from one another. For example, in the inclusion training, folks from our team talked about how we have navigated family relationships between kids who are trans and their families. During Youth Thrive training, team members talked about triggering situations for them personally, from their own past or on challenging days, can make it difficult to work with youth effectively. Staff were then able to learn from what one another did well—and how we would handle a similar situation differently now.
This work to build trauma-informed, evidence-based capacity and skills across the organization will take more time, but these trainings were unique opportunities to learn together beyond just the content that was presented.
While we expected these three learning opportunities to complement one another, we did not realize the extent. The Youth Thrive training was richer because our team was already working on inclusion and using affirming coaching tools.
One thing that we did with the Youth Thrive training was to create an abbreviated version of the training with the key learnings for Neighborhood House. We were then able to use this content to train the new, seasonal staff who work with kids during our summer Dreamers’ Academy. This “train the trainer” model is something we will continue to build on as we expand Youth Thrive to new staff, as will being part of the new Kentucky Youth Thrive Network for ongoing training/partnership opportunities.
KSWF’s grantees show the range of similar needs in disparate geographies. We in West Louisville are particularly concerned about the rising rates of youth homicide—something that is seen of as a problem in Louisville and Lexington but not the rest of the state. This is one of the driving forces behind our interest in Youth Thrive because the danger may get worse before it gets better. I encourage all statewide funders to build awareness of gun violence primary prevention strategies as critical for saving kids’ lives, particularly among community and government leaders. These strategies are similar to other primary preventions efforts—building strong communities and supporting families—and require sustained commitments to/investments in Kentucky kids who live in West Louisville.
I appreciate that the application and reporting processes are straightforward and not burdensome. Thank you for your flexibility in reallocating funds in this year’s grant to include all three of these training opportunities.
Entry Notes
Barren Heights Christian Retreat Center
2023 Retreat Weekend Sponsorship
Yes
Your grant of $5,000 enabled Barren Heights to host 2 respite retreat weekends at our Barren River lake Retreat Center. At each weekend 3 special needs families are served by 4 host volunteer families. Fourteen families benefited from your generous donation. In addition to the expenses related to running the facility--utilities, heating/cooling, electricity, we also incur considerable expenses for food, laundry, program items, arts and crafts projects, and other items. Your funds were used for Retreat A, June 2 - 4, and Retreat B, June 9 - 11.
Our mission is to love, encourage and support special needs families. We are unique as an organization in that we serve the entire family, not just the disabled individual. In our model of 3 special needs families being served by 4 host volunteer families, everyone benefits. The host children are taught invaluable lessons of compassion, inclusion and service. The special needs parents get a much needed break, knowing their kids are safe and in good hands. And the special needs kids are loved to pieces by everyone and have the time of their lives.
Inclusivity is our key word that others might learn from. We love to see all the kids making new friends as the parents have wonderful new bonding experiences. Caring for a disabled child is often a lonely and isolating situation and the adults truly appreciate getting to know the others and sharing in their experiences.
Here is a comment from a special needs mom during the retreat you supported:
"The host family observed our kiddos throughout the weekend and wrote down several adjectives that describe them. At the end they summed it up to three each and wrote a small paragraph about each child. That was the most touching moment of this trip. To see the kids' faces when they heard those words. I was bawling lol but it was beautiful and The Monk’s family had a huge hand in that. The way he spoke to each child face to face and uplifted them was so heartfelt!"
And from another:
"They made not only our special needs son feel special but each one of our kids. I also loved the individual group times we got to share with other moms."
We are living in a deeply polarized America that seems to worsen as time goes on. Which is why we value inclusivity and compassion so much. It is only by opening our hearts to those who are different, listening and accepting them with respect and dignity, that we can resolve and reduce the distances between us, whether political, racial, or economic. We see miracles of healing, grace, and love pretty much every retreat weekend and we love to share these inspiring stories so they can inspire others.
You are doing wonderful work for Kentucky and we appreciate you!
Entry Notes
Hindman Methodist Church
Building Back
Yes
We provided grants of $1,000 to 80 families. Of this amount, $30,000 was for appliances and $50,000 was for building materials. The funds from KSWF were used for appliances. Even though this was a small amount considering the needs of most of the families, it helped to get them back into safe and sanitary housing.
We quickly learned as we began to work with flood survivors that we had to be flexible and that we were learning as we were doing. The needs literally drove our actions. For example, we knew when to scale back the initial distribution of supplies that began immediately after the flood. When the numbers of people coming in for these supplies reduced to a handful each day, we knew it was time to refocus our efforts. The needs had shifted to direct repair and rebuild.
We learned that there is a guidebook for helping during disasters, but we, like others, were not aware of it until we were going through it.
We learned the importance of being open to partnering with other groups, which we did.
We learned that families have a deep sense of belonging to the land. So many of the families wanted to return to their flooded homes rather than move. We are concerned that many returned without proper mold removal. Many of these families remained in the homes because they could not financially afford to buy land and build in another location. Another concern is that many moved back into homes that can be flooded again.
We learned that as families have to relocate to other communities and counties because of lack of adequate housing, there is a great impact on the community, inlcuiding the school system, the businesses, the tax base and more. What is already a poor county thus becoming poorer.
We learned that many families did not have the proper legal documents necessary to get help from FEMA. For example, they lived in the family homeplace that belonged to a grandparent who was deceased, and the property was never deeded to future generation.
Again, the strong sense of belonging, even in different parts of the county, may have an impact on new housing that is being planned. People do not want to leave the community where they lived and other family members still live, even to go to new affordable housing.
We learned that the old saying about mountain people is true: We care for our own. We saw this day 1 of the flood as people took relatives and neighbors into their homes even if they did not have room for them.
We would only say thank you for taking a chance on us when it was clear that we were unsure how we would help the flood survivors.
Since we had a learning curve, and since there are guidelines on how to approach a disaster, perhaps an awareness campaign or sponsorship of training sessions on how to help during disasters, both natural and manmade, would be helpful.
Not being the best at technology, I struggled with the application. For small nonprofits, it may be difficult for them as well.
Otherwise, just keep on with your wonderful work!!
Entry Notes
Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky
July 2022 Flood Relief
Yes
Since the July 2022 Flooding in eastern Kentucky, the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky has deployed over $9,403,095 to the region. This includes $2,793,000 directly to 8,000 individuals and families impacted by flooding across 12 FEMA-declared counties.
Your grant of $28,000 specifically helped 96 families, including 80 children and 189 adults, totaling 269 people.
We have also granted $626,250 to 18 Family Resource Centers, $860,050 to 118 small businesses, $553,795 to 346 small family farms, $1,270,000 to Long Term Recovery Groups, and over $3,500,000 to build and repair homes in Letcher, Knott, Perry, and Breathitt Counties.
We learned that our region is at its best when helping and serving others. This crisis certainly tested our limits on capacity but we were able to accomplish our goals and get funding directly to the people and places that needed it most.
We truly appreciate your support during a time of crisis and making the process easy for us to receive funding and using it where it was needed most. Thank you!
We are eternally grateful to the Kentucky Social Welfare Foundation for your support for the flood victims in the July 2022 Flooding in eastern Kentucky. You all made it so easy to access funding, and if memory serves me correctly, we were contacted because your board approved funding proactively. To be able to alleviate additional time and stress off of our staff at such a critical time for our region. Thank you!
Entry Notes
Wanda Joyce Robinson Foundation
High School Outreach
Yes
I applied for this funding August 2021. At the time, we did not have a core group of high school students engaged with our organization. We met with more than 200 students, but none were directly involved with our organization. One of the reasons for this is we did not have the funding to offer activities that would engage youth. Securing this grant allowed us to take high school youth on trips that otherwise, they would not have experienced.
It is invaluable to cultivate relationships with community partners to diversify resources in order to make programs successful long term.
To recognize that administrative costs are critical infrastructure; the cost of being able to operate. To consider a percentage of unrestricted funding for each grant.
On behalf of our board, we truly appreciate being a recipient of this grant. Coming out of Covid, (at the time we applied), we were able to take youth to see a Broadway play with this funding. That was significant for our group of youth. This was the first activity that launched the program we have today. We now have 53 youth who meet regularly with their mentor, (contract staff).
Entry Notes
Have a Heart Clinic
Expanding Wrap-Around Services for Uninsured/Underinsured
Yes
With funding from the Kentucky Social Welfare Foundation, we were able to increase the hours for our nurse educator from three days a week to five days a week. In addition, we added a part-time social worker position to the Center which allowed us to open the Center four days a week. There were 629 individuals who visited the Have a Heart Preventive Cardiology & Health Equity Center.
Our overall goal is to provide specialty cardiovascular care to individuals regardless of their income or insurance status. Secondarily, we have a goal to address the need for education and resources for our patients to improve their overall health and quality of life.
Have a Heart Clinic is proving a model that can be used in any community to serve the uninsured and underinsured. We utilize community partnerships and creative collaborations to build a network of committed medical professionals, volunteers, and philanthropists who all work toward combating cardiovascular disease among the most vulnerable members of our community.
In our model, we offset some of the cost of free care with revenue from billable services (Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance) but there is still a large gap in needed to provide care at no cost for qualifying patients. All patients at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level receive care at no out-of-pocket cost.
We have built relationships with local foundations and corporates that fund the need for equipment and other extraordinary costs like the $10,000 a year we spend on the Language Line to communicate vital medical information to the 20% of our patients who have limited English proficiency. Foundations, like the Kentucky Social Welfare Foundation, have also been supportive of our endeavors to try new programs and offerings to provide wrap-around services for our clients like hiring a social worker to serve as a case manager to help our patients with
We partner with other community agencies to like the University of Louisville and the Cardinal Success Program in the Department of Counseling and Human Development to provide mental health and treatment in an emergent timeframe.
Have a Heart needs support now more than ever. The increase in uninsured and underinsured patients in exploding. Many people who had coverage with Medicaid during the pandemic have not lost it.
• Have A Heart Clinic’s total office visits for 2022 were over 3,000, up 76% from 2021.
• Our staff provided services to 886 new patients with a total of 1,945 individuals served.
• Have A Heart Clinic’s clinic testing visits for 2022 were over 1,300, up 80% from 2021.
We are truly grateful for the support from the Kentucky Social Welfare Foundation. The work we are doing with support from donors like you are truly savings lives of the people who live in the most under-resourced parts of our community.