EDUCATION

Boys & Girls Clubs of North Mississippi’s Power Hour: Making a Difference 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.

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.

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.

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.

The Leap Frog Program is an after-school tutoring and enrichment program that provides a nurturing environment in which at-risk students in first through third grade can develop and enhance necessary skills for academic success, build productive, ongoing relationships with adults, and improve their self-esteem.

HEALTH

Family Crisis Services of Northwest Mississippi’s Victim Services program provides 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.

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.

Oxford Community Market’s Fresh Food for Everyone program provides multi-faceted direct services to reduce food insecurity by improving access to and increasing consumption of fresh, healthy, local food by mitigating barriers as well as improving knowledge of how to grow and prepare fresh produce.

Yocona-Pushmataha Council, Boy Scouts of America provides financial assistance to help pay membership dues as well as other required fees for economically-disadvantaged children and youth living in Lafayette County in order to provide them the ability to participate in scouting.

FINANCIAL STABILITY

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.

BASIC NEEDS

American Red Cross helps meet emergency basic needs as well as provide financial assistance and referrals to Lafayette County families experiencing home fires through its Disaster Cycle Services, including its Home Fire Campaign which seeks to help at-risk families safer by educating them on home fire risks, helping them make escape plans, and ensuring their homes have working smoke alarms.

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of North Mississippi’s CASA Socks & Soles program provides socks and shoes for children in foster care, with a goal of providing each child with a new pair of shoes and socks before the school year begins or at some point throughout the year as many foster children come into custody without clothes or shoes.

Doors of Hope Transition Ministries’ Emergency Assistance program 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.

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 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 needs.

Three Rivers Area Agency on Aging (AAA) provides senior citizens nutritional meals five days a week, helps keep senior citizens in their home environment for as long as possible, and provides socialization as well as financial stability through its local Meals on Wheels program.

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