The Guilford Foundation is pleased to announce grant awards to four organizations serving Guilford. The grants ranged from $750 to $5,000 and support youth, affordable housing and the arts.

The largest grant went to Lifelinx, Inc., an addictions recovery support organization that helps people who are in or seeking recovery from substance use disorders. Lifelinx recently established a sober residential program and is building four units of affordable permanent housing for families so that program participants can reconnect with the community in a healthy and resilient fashion. The $5,000 grant from Guilford Foundation funds architectural and engineering services, and supports existing funding awarded from the Connecticut Housing Investment Fund. Housing diversity remains a key focus of the Guilford Foundation as we work to education and address the lack of available housing stock in our town.

Two grant awards support local youth. The Foundation gave $750 to Camp Hazen for financial assistance to Guilford campers who need help paying for overnight camp. The second grant went to Guilford Developmental Assets for Youth (DAY) and their efforts to turn Guilford purple for Project Purple. This empowering initiative unites youth to speak out and take a stand against substance abuse, and enables students who are sober to see that they are not alone. Guilford Foundation provided $900 to purchase purple T-shirts for the project.

Finally, the Guilford Foundation provided $1,500 to Shoreline Arts Alliance to support expanded accessibility services for the 2015 presentation of Shakespeare on the Shoreline. Funds will be used to provide hearing and visual assistance during the five nightly performances of Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors” running August 5-9 on the Guilford Green.

The Board was pleased to support these worthy programs that support Guilford and those who live, work and play here.  The Guilford Foundation’s next application deadline for funding is on June 1st, 2015.