Alternative Medicine $80,000
Project Title
Integrative Medicine Residency Program, Complementary and Alternative Services and Outpatient Clinic
Amount
$15,000
Category
Alternative Medicine
Year
2015
Location
Chicago, IL
First year of a three-year grant ($15,000 in 2015; $45,000 in 2016; $40,000 in 2017) to support the expansion of the Integrative Medicine Program and Integrated Comfort Team. The funding will cover continued support of the residency training program for integrative/alternative medicine; research opportunities for further CAM exploration; expansion of CAM offerings in the areas of nutrition, yoga, meditation and acupuncture; the addition of CAM outpatient clinic. The Pediatric Comfort Team was launched by the hospital to address the suffering and pain of children with serious, chronic illness. The “team” uses CAM to optimize the quality of life for children receiving palliative care with a focus on treating underserved children, reflecting a growing recognition that a palliative care team is a critical part of a comprehensive pediatric oncology program.
Project Title
Lab Research at Laboratory for Familial Dysautonomia
Amount
$25,000
Category
Alternative Medicine
Year
2015
Location
Buffalo Grove, IL
FD NOW supports groundbreaking research that drives more efficient treatments and cures for FD patients. The matching grant is for research, performed at Fordham University, for the expansion of accelerated scientific research to find new alternative medicine treatments to remedy the osteoporotic effects of FD through the identification of compounds that will produce a significant reduction in the symptoms of FD and eventually find a cure for the disease.
Project Title
Complementary Medicine Symptom Assessment Management Program (CAM-SAM)
Amount
$25,000
Category
Alternative Medicine
Year
2015
Location
Des Plaines, IL
This trail blazing effort is designed to lessen pain and suffering of medically fragile and technology dependent children ages birth through 21 who have life-threatening and/or terminal illnesses and are currently residing in transitional care facilities. CAM-SAM, the first program of its kind in pediatric transitional care, will be a ground-breaking initiative that might well be the only such program in the United States at this time.
Project Title
Pediatric Services in Integrative Medicine; Integrative Medicine Fellowship
Amount
$15,000
Category
Alternative Medicine
Year
2015
Location
Evanston, IL
First of a two-year grant ($15,000 in 2015; $35,000 in 2016) to provide access to integrative medicine services for children of medically underserved and low income families with difficult to treat conditions including neuromuscular disease, chronic respiratory illness, gastrointestinal dysfunction, behavioral disorders, and cancer. The objective of the program is to provide relief from pain and anxiety for children of families without insurance or adequate financial resources. In addition the grant will fund tuition for one Integrative Medicine fellow who would complete a fellowship at the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine.
Assisting Sick and Abused Children $142,600
Project Title
Scholarship Program for disadvantaged children with Autism
Amount
$10,000
Category
Assisting Sick and Abused Children
Year
2015
Location
Hoffman Estates, IL
The Autism Spectrum & Developmental Disorders Resource Center helps families navigate the complex world of services and treatments for children from economically challenged families. Social deficits remain one of the most difficult challenges for children with Autism disorders, especially for those with average or above average cognitive skills. This grant provides scholarships so that these children can participate in the Social Wellness or Social Success Groups which would otherwise be closed to them. (Medicaid will not pay for these social group sessions.)
Project Title
Pivotal Response Therapy
Amount
$5,000
Category
Assisting Sick and Abused Children
Year
2015
Location
Hoffman Estates, IL
Research has shown that if children and youth with Autism Spectrum, Disorder (ASD) receive behavioral intervention early in life, there can be significant improvement in their levels of functioning and independence. Sadly, though, many children pass important developmental milestones missing the opportunity for timely intervention that can affect their life trajectory. Alexian Brothers is piloting a Pivotal Response Therapy (PRT) program that reaches children under 4 years of age. Grounded in play and targeting very young children, this ground breaking therapy teaches parents how to observe their children’s behaviors and apply intervention techniques.
Project Title
Incidentals and Special Needs Program
Amount
$10,000
Category
Assisting Sick and Abused Children
Year
2015
Location
Geneva, IL
Sick and abused children Child Advocacy Program serves sick and abused children who have been removed from their homes due to unsafe living conditions preparatory to entering into the foster care system. While the children have their basic healthcare, food, and clothing needs taken care of, they do not have the necessary extras most kids take for granted. This special needs program provides the additional funding for specialty healthcare such as eye, ear or dental exams; a winter coat, hat, and gloves; resources for school supplies; or, a suitcase to carry their meager belongings and few personal treasures in when they are placed in a foster home.
Project Title
CHAMP Urban Farm Program
Amount
$8,000
Category
Assisting Sick and Abused Children
Year
2015
Location
Chicago, IL
The Children Achieving Maximum Potential Program (CHAMP teaches “at risk”, poverty stricken children in one of Chicago’s most economically challenged areas (Cabrini Green) how to help themselves by growing food to assist in feeding themselves and others by learning how to work together. The grant provides camp supplies (including healthy meals and snacks) and equipment to help provide for the safe haven of an urban farm in conjunction with after school and summer activities. This camp program allows “at risk” children to explore food production and healthy nutrition while still focusing upon academic achievement through a blend of creative arts, applied science and environmental stewardship. The “farm” has also become a “safe haven” from street gangs that inhabit the area.
Project Title
Solar Project Plan
Amount
$10,000
Category
Assisting Sick and Abused Children
Year
2015
Location
Chicago, IL
Chicago Lights is strategically undertaking initiatives, such as the addition of a solar power system, to decrease operational costs and further increase the self-sufficiency of the Urban Farm through its next five years and beyond. This addition is one aspect of becoming a more environmentally conscious and economically sustainable enterprise. With higher energy costs for the regulation of greenhouse temperatures in the highly variant climate of Chicago, solar power is a crucial next step in meeting the organization’s needs.
Project Title
One Step at a Time Summer Camp for children with cancer
Amount
$15,000
Category
Assisting Sick and Abused Children
Year
2014
Location
Chicago, IL
Unique recreational, educational, and therapeutic program to help meet the physical, emotional, and social needs of children (7-10 years old) diagnosed with cancer. The grant helps to underwrite room & board, transportation, and program/medical supplies expenses associated with the operation of the camp. Inasmuch as some participants have cognitive issues or disabilities, adaptive equipment is also provided for those campers. These programs help the children to bond with each other, and their supervisors, in a non-hospital setting, challenging them to learn new skills, while providing access to sports, camping, and other activities. The skills, lessons, support, and hope these children gain at camp empowers them as they return home to face the challenges of cancer after learning they are more than cancer patients, they are survivors!
Project Title
Flexible Financial Fund Project
Amount
$40,000
Category
Assisting Sick and Abused Children
Year
2015
Location
Chicago, IL
Funding to expand services to sick, abused and neglected children living within the Partner agencies: Dr. Jorge Prieto Family Health Center, Christopher House, Bethel New Life, and Mujeres Latinas En Accion. Financial assistance is offered to families in desperate need of medications, rental assistance, clothing, and other critical items necessary to exist under impoverished conditions.
Project Title
SCILS Program
Amount
$12,000
Category
Assisting Sick and Abused Children
Year
2015
Location
Park Ridge, IL
Grant support for the Have Dreams’ need based Scholarship Fund that enables children with Autism, age 13 and younger, to receive much needed intervention services through the Social, Communication, and Independent Life Skills Program. This program has provided children with Autism the opportunity to build critical skills through classes that address the core deficits of Autism.
Project Title
Inclusion Activities for Disabled Children
Amount
$5,000
Category
Assisting Sick and Abused Children
Year
2015
Location
Vernon Hills, IL
This foundation’s mission is to improve the comfort and quality of life for developmentally challenged and/or sick & disabled children with special needs by providing education, therapy and playground equipment, therapy toys, resources, and scholarships for families in need of financial assistance or community support. Grant will fund physical, social, and networking events for special needs children.
Project Title
Child Nutrition Program
Amount
$15,000
Category
Assisting Sick and Abused Children
Year
2015
Location
Geneva, IL
This is the seventh year extension of a one-year grant program to support Northern Illinois Food Bank’s Child Nutrition Program, which provides nutritious after school, summer, and weekend meals to food insecure children in northern Illinois. Food insecurity in childhood limits children’s ability to grow and learn to their full potential. During the school year, the food bank sponsors after school meals through CACFP, supplementing the federal school lunch program that many low income children depend on to receive at least one nutritious meal each day. The weekend BackPack Program provides child friendly food for children to prepare at home with their families on the weekend. School Based Food Pantries provide families with children in school with consistent access to food in a familiar place. The Food Bank sponsors summer meals through SFSP at summer youth programs and open sites at parks to ensure that children in low food security communities. Northern Illinois Food Bank serves more than 6,000 children each week through the Child Nutrition Program.
Project Title
Parent Educational Classes Program
Amount
$5,000
Category
Assisting Sick and Abused Children
Year
2015
Location
Naperville, IL
Project HELP is a Child Abuse Prevention Center that empowers parents to create a nurturing environment to enhance children to reach their full potential. The PEC teaches parents to use natural and logical consequences to reduce irresponsible and unacceptable behaviors of children in order to lessen the chance of abusive discipline.
Project Title
Family Enrichment Project
Amount
$7,600
Category
Assisting Sick and Abused Children
Year
2015
Location
Palatine, IL
The purpose of this Project is to introduce underprivileged children in the agency’s transitional and emergency housing to cultural opportunities, develop children’s social skills in public settings, and promote healthy interactions between mothers and children as well as to promote values such as curiosity, empathy, self-control, and tolerance. The end result of the project will be to break the cycle of abuse, violence and poverty in future generations.
Environment $122,117
Project Title
Native Habitat Intern Restoration Project
Amount
$16,617
Category
Environment
Year
2015
Location
Barrington, IL
Funding for four, college summer interns who participate in weed control, seed production, planting plugs, education functions, and other miscellaneous conservation issues as part of a native habitat restoration project to return the Flint Creek Savanna, and other critical properties in the Barrington area, to their original (pre-1840) condition of tall grass prairie, oak and hickory savannas, sedge meadows, and wetlands as a habitat for bluebirds, bob-o-links and sand hill cranes.
Project Title
2015 Confluence Conference
Amount
$5,000
Category
Environment
Year
2015
Location
Chicago, IL
Funding for a high-level symposium bringing together leading Great Lakes scientists and policymakers to better understand Great Lakes water quality problems stemming from nutrient loading. Problems are caused in large part by unsustainable fertilization practices in industrial agriculture.
Project Title
Protection of Shoe Factory Nature Preserve
Amount
$10,000
Category
Environment
Year
2015
Location
Chicago, IL
The Forest Preserve Foundation dedicates energy and resources needed to connect people with nature in Cook County. This grant will help the Foundation reach its Next Century Conservation Plan as it applies to the Shoe Factory Nature Preserve in Hoffman Estates. Shoe Factory is one of Illinois’ oldest and most biologically significant nature preserves receiving 15,000 to 20,000 visitors each year. The small site provides habitat for rare plants and insects including little bluestem, northern dropseed, porcupine grass and over 100 other prairie species. Vulnerable to encroachment, the site is in need of care including maintenance and fencing.
Project Title
Giving Tuesday
Amount
$2,000
Category
Environment
Year
2015
Location
Woodstock, IL
The Land Conservancy works with individuals and communities to preserve and restore natural scenic and agricultural land resources for the benefit of current and future generations. Discretionary grant given as part of a matching program on “Giving Tuesday.”
discretionary
Project Title
In Defense of Monarch Butterflies
Amount
$1,000
Category
Environment
Year
2015
Location
New York, NY
Funding to support NRDC’s legal suit to block approval of Dow’s newest toxic herbicide, Enlist Duo, which threatens to destroy milkweed – the only food that monarch butterfly larvae can eat. Monarch populations have already plunged due to other chemicals more than 80% in the nation’s farm belt. Grant will support NRDC’S campaign to the EPA to protect butterflies from this chemical assault and to counter the pro-pesticide propaganda by the agrichemical industry.
discretionary
Project Title
Nachusa Grasslands Preserve
Amount
$30,000
Category
Environment
Year
2015
Location
Chicago, IL
Second year of a two-year grant at $30,000 per year to assist in funding the reintroduction of Bison not seen in 175 years to the Nachusa Grasslands Preserve to reclaim Illinois’ once historic prairie landscape at the Kankakee Sands Preserve which spans the Illinois/Indiana border and totals 25,000 acres of protected prairie and savanna. In addition, conservation management of this historic land will reconnect the Emiquon floodplain to the Illinois River to create a healthier freshwater system.
Project Title
Headwater Streams in the Chicago Wilderness
Amount
$10,000
Category
Environment
Year
2015
Location
Chicago, IL
First of two-year grant ($10,000 in 2015; $16,300 in 2016)Headwater streams are a dominant feature in our landscape. But, headwater streams and their often unique and rare habitats are left unprotected and subject to loss or degradation. Over the past 6 years, the Oberweiler Foundation has funded through Openlands a number of headwater stream inventories. This put Openlands in a unique position to influence the habitat protection and restoration focus of a large number of local conservation agencies throughout the Chicago Wilderness region. With this grant, Openlands will prepare a major report that will give the guidance and motivation to conservation agencies so that headwater streams becomes a new priority habitat of concern and preservation.
Project Title
Habitat Restoration at Grassy lake Forest Preserve
Amount
$2,500
Category
Environment
Year
2015
Location
Libertyville, IL
The Preservation Foundation’s goal in restoring 116-acre Grassy Lake is to establish a sustainable, diverse native plant community to improve the ecological function of critical habitats, including wetlands, floodplain forest, savanna, and prairie. Primary restoration strategies include eradicating the remaining invasive species, which are choking out the wetlands and floodplain forest areas of the preserve, and planting native seeds, shrubs and trees to restore the site’s hydrology and biodiversity.
discretionary
Project Title
Elk Flats Neighbors Conservation Easement Project - Phase One
Amount
$25,000
Category
Environment
Year
2013
Location
Missoula, MT
Part of VG’s Swan Valley Grizzly Bear Habitat Conservation Initiative. Three contiguous conservation easements will permanently protect 160 acres of prime grizzly bear habitat on private property from development. The Elk Flats Project is ideally located in a wild and remote area in the Swan Mountain Range that is bordered by protected land in a critical habitat linkage zone.
geographic exception
Project Title
Dixon Waterfowl Refuge
Amount
$20,000
Category
Environment
Year
2015
Location
Chicago, IL
A three-year grant ($10,000 in 2014, $20,000 each in 2015 & 2016) to support the acquisition and restoration of the Dixon Waterfowl Refuge at Hennepin & Hopper Lakes in North-Central Illinois, one of only 36 wetlands of international importance in the country. TWI will restore 288 acres to an extremely rare grouping of native habitats, including globally imperiled oak savanna and sand prairie, benefiting many birds and wildlife. The parcel of land is regionally, nationally, and internationally recognized for its excellent biodiversity and critical importance to migrating waterfowl and breeding wetland birds.
Veterans $45,000
Project Title
Veteran Affordable Housing Project
Amount
$10,000
Category
Veterans
Year
2015
Location
Chicago, IL
A Safe Haven is a non-profit social enterprise that helps people aspire, transform and sustain their lives as they transition from homelessness to self-sufficiency with pride and purpose. The grant will support the organization’s new Veteran Village which broke ground in Melrose Park in 2015. The project, which is expected to be completed by August, 2016, will provide housing for returning veterans and create 35 uniquely designed supportive housing units for veterans and their families.
Project Title
Veteran Beginning Farmer Project
Amount
$20,000
Category
Veterans
Year
2015
Location
Caledonia, IL
Since 1998, Angelic Organics Learning Center has helped build sustainable local food and farm systems through experiential education and training programs in partnership with rural and urban people. This grant will fund the first expansion of Angelic Organics’ service model specifically to U.S. veterans. The goal of the Veteran Beginning Farmer project is to leverage the resources of the most innovative farmer-led farmer training programs in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin for the benefit of veterans. Veterans will have the opportunity to learn about farming, to create a business plan to launch their farm businesses, and to gain access to capital and financial training.
Project Title
Emergency Financial Assistance
Amount
$15,000
Category
Veterans
Year
2015
Location
Palatine, IL
Salute, Inc. passionately pursues meeting the financial, physical and emotional needs of military service members, veterans and their families. Military members served are currently experiencing the effects of the economic challenges our country is facing along with reentry to civilian life, unemployment in many instances caused by PTSD, physical injuries, and emotional issues, all due to their military service. As well, many experience delayed benefits from the enormous VA backlog. Financial assistance includes delinquent rent, tax bills, food counseling, medical bills, phone and utility, car payment, out-patient transportation, insurance, etc. All payments are made to vendors (not directly to veterans) and cases managed by experienced volunteer counselors.