YOUTH OPPORTUNITY

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 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.

Lafayette County Literacy Council supports the Children’s Book Festival by providing a carefully selected, high-quality children’s book to every first grader in Lafayette County to promote a love of reading among young learners. The book is integrated into classroom curriculum through a week of engaging, literacy-focused activities.

Lafayette County Literacy Council supplies a quality, age-appropriate book each month to registered children from birth to five years old 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.

Natchez Trace Council, Scouting America provides accessible, high-quality youth development opportunities for underserved youth at C.B. Webb Townhouses through its Scouting Outreach program. Activities follow the Scouting model and promote long-term success through mentorship and skill building as youth work toward rank advancement.

HEALTHY COMMUNITY

End It For Good’s Invitation to Change program recognizes that families are the first line of support for individuals struggling with substance abuse, but that they need practical tools to be effective. The program aims to reduce family crisis levels, build confidence in navigating a loved one’s addition, and foster a sustainable network of peer support.

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.

Five Horizons Health Services offers prevention counseling, HIV testing, and post-test education through its Prevention, Education, and Outreach program as it eliminates barriers to care and serves the holistic needs of its clients in Lafayette County by empowering more individuals to know their status, access prevention tools, and stay engaged.

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.

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.

Three Rivers Area Agency on Aging (AAA) Home-Delivered Meals program provides senior citizens nutritious meals along with a weekly visit as it helps keep residents 60 and over in their home environment by promoting nutrition, socialization, and financial stability.

Yoknapatawpha Arts Council’s ArtRx Lafayette program partners the agency with local mental health clinicians and community health care providers to offer structured referrals to arts-based programs as a complement to clinical care for residents experiencing anxiety, depression, social isolation, and substance recovery challenges.

FINANCIAL SECURITY

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.

COMMUNITY RESILIENCY

American Red Cross helps address emergency basic needs as well as provide financial assistance, counseling, and referrals to Lafayette County families experiencing home fires and other disasters through its Disaster Cycle Services program, which consists of preparedness, response, and recovery components.

CASA of North Mississippi’s CASA Backpacks of Hope program seeks to address the immediate and often unmet basic needs of children in foster care through a new backpack and a new pair of shoes. These essential items help restore a sense of dignity, comfort, and self-worth during a time of significant transition as they adjust to new environments.

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

Faith Planters’ Mobile Clothes Closet aims to provide children in need with slightly used and new clothing, with a goal of serving families who may struggle to meet the essential needs of their children as the agency aims to increase exposure and promote opportunities that support children’s current and future goals.

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 as the program supports 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.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace’s Building and Delivering Beds program aims to ensure that no child sleeps on the floor in Lafayette County by providing volunteers opportunities to build beds and deliver them to local children who do not currently have one.

Please click here to download a two-page PDF file that provides summary information for our FY 2026-2027 grant recipients listed above. You can click here to view our FY 2025-2026 grant recipients.