YOUTH OPPORTUNITY

2nd Chance MS’s Oxford School District Future Leaders of Tomorrow program provides scholarships for healthcare-related certificates to lower-income high school seniors who display the attitude and aptitude to continue their education in preparation for their future.

Boys & Girls Clubs of North Mississippi’s Power Hour program provides homework and tutoring assistance to LOU Barksdale Club members in first through third grade in order to improve reading proficiency and on-time grade progression as well as decrease the achievement gap as the agency seeks to ensure every child reads to grade level by the fourth grade.

Faith Planters’ Youth Mentoring program targets youth from Oxford School District and Lafayette County School District with a family approach that focuses on educational and professional experiences that supplement academic instruction by expanding exposure to career opportunities.

Lafayette County Literacy Council provides a quality, age-appropriate book on a monthly basis to registered children between the ages of birth to five years through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which aims to foster a love of reading by enrolling low-income families in the program and educating parents on how and why to read to their young children.

Leap Frog Program provides tutoring in reading and reading comprehension to first-, second-, and third-grade students who have been identified by their classroom teachers and school counselors. Students who receive Tier 2 interventions in school and require additional resources for academic success are eligible for the programming and receive one-on-one tutoring support by a trained volunteer.

LOU Reads Coalition is a group of local organizations and community leaders dedicated to ensuring that all children in the LOU community can read proficiently by the end of the third grade. Coalition members focus their collective energy and expertise on school readiness, attendance, out-of-school time opportunities, and targeted efforts to promote grade-level reading.

HEALTHY COMMUNITY

Family Crisis Services of Northwest Mississippi’s Victim Services program aims to provide comprehensive advocacy services to victims of crime (sexual assault, child abuse, domestic violence, family violence, and homicide) from the initial onset of their assault through the entire healing process as the agency seeks to reduce the trauma of violence by offering immediate and long-term support to survivors.

North Mississippi Exchange Family Center’s Raising Mothers to Rise program seeks to help teen mothers by improving maternal, fetal, and postnatal outcomes through health education and consistent support, decreasing the number of future unplanned pregnancies, increasing graduation rates, and providing teen mothers with a positive vision for a successful future.

Psychology Training and Evaluation Center’s Collaborative Pediatric Autism Testing program addresses the urgent need for diagnostic services for young children with developmental differences by expediting the identification of and intervention for autism and related disorders.

Special Olympics Mississippi Area IV provides year-round training and competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, which offers opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship.

FINANCIAL SECURITY

Doors of Hope Transition Ministries’ Self-sufficiency Transition Empowerment Program (STEP) guides homeless families and at-risk homeless families toward self-reliance as well as stability through a holistic, individualistic approach that includes life-skills training, mentoring, and supportive housing.

Lafayette County Literacy Council’s Adult Basic Literacy Education (ABLE) program aims to raise awareness about the benefits of possessing functional literacy and a high school equivalency (HSE) diploma as well as identify and recruit adults who lack one or both in order to increase Lafayette County’s literacy rate along with the number of residents who have a diploma.

COMMUNITY RESILIENCY

American Red Cross Self-sufficiency Transition Empowerment Program (STEP) guides homeless families and at-risk homeless families toward self-reliance as well as stability through a holistic, individualistic approach that includes life-skills training, mentoring, and supportive housing.

CASA of North Mississippi’s CASA Socks & Soles program seeks to supply a new pair of shoes and socks to children entering foster care to help meet their basic needs as well as promote dignity and self-esteem as they face their new environments.

Doors of Hope Transition Ministries’ Emergency Assistance Program (EAP) helps families with basic needs such as utilities and rent in order to keep them in sustainable housing through a temporary crisis with a goal of helping them work towards long-term self-sufficiency.

Faith Planters’ Mobile Clothes Closet aims to provide school-aged children with slightly used to new clothing at various locations throughout Oxford and Lafayette County, with a goal of positioning youth for future success as the agency seeks to expand exposure to educational and career aspirations.

Interfaith Compassion Ministry’s Homeless Client Assistance program stabilizes local homeless individuals and families, including victims of domestic violence, by providing and referring them for counseling as well as assisting in providing safe and healthy places to stay or live, with reasonable access to basic needs such as food, utilities, medical care, and transportation.

Interfaith Compassion Ministry’s Indigent Client Assistance program helps individuals and families deal with crisis situations by providing for their basic needs like shelter, food, utilities, medication, and transportation as well as offering counseling to help clients become more financially independent and self-sufficient.

North Mississippi Exchange Family Center’s Oxford Diaper Bank provides diapers on the second Tuesday of each month from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., with a goal of alleviating the financial stress associated with supplying basic needs to infants and toddlers as the program seeks to support its target audience of low-income Lafayette County residents.

North Mississippi Kidney Foundation’s Patient Assistance program seeks to improve the health and quality of life of dialysis patients through the provision of basic and emergency needs, including financial assistance for transportation, medication, and other critical items.

Oxford-Lafayette Fuller Center for Housing’s Home Renovation and Repair Project aims to significantly improve living conditions for Lafayette County’s most vulnerable residents as it seeks to renovate and repair homes as well as foster a stronger, more resilient community by mobilizing a network of volunteers and local contractors.

Three Rivers Area Agency on Aging (AAA) Home-Delivered Meals program provides senior citizens nutritious meals, helps keep senior citizens in their home environment for as long as possible, and provides socialization as well as financial stability.

Please click here to download a two-page PDF file that provides summary information for the grant recipients listed above.