Innovia Foundation awards $129K to local groups
Dave Kretzschmar, education director for Kaniksu Land Trust, walks with a group of fifth and sixth-grade students at Pine Street Woods recently. The land trust received a $20,000 grant from the Innovia Foundation for its efforts to connection the community's youth and nature through outdoor programs.
(File photo/RACHEL SUN)
Food bank volunteer Tyren Thompson stocks shelves at the Bonner Community Food Bank.
SANDPOINT — The Innovia Foundation announced more than $1.2 million in grants have been awarded to 133 organizations in North Idaho and Eastern Washington through the recent Community Grant Program and Arts and Culture Recovery Grant Program.
The grants included 14 groups in Bonner County, many of which serve residents in both Bonner and Boundary counties. Grants received locally totaled more than $129,000.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the region, Innovia made intentional changes to its traditional grant practices that included increasing giving for COVID-19 relief, reducing the reporting requirements and other restrictions on existing grants, awarding operating grants and actively engaging with communities hardest hit by COVID-19.
Priorities were given to organizations impacted by COVID-19 and area wildfires and particularly disproportionately impacted communities along with a separate pool of funding to support arts and culture organizations.
“We know that organizations were hit hard in 2020 by the pandemic and the wildfires in our region," Innovia Foundation CEO Shelly O’Quinn said. "By providing more flexible dollars and a streamlined grant reporting process, we wanted to make sure that funding would go to those organizations supporting our most vulnerable.”
Among those receiving grants is the Kaniksu Land Trust, which is prioritizing innovative outdoor youth education programs that serve a range of demographics.
The land trust will receive a $20,000 grant toward the programs, created in response to constantly changing needs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant from Innovia Foundation will help connect classrooms and children with nature and support educational programs that directly address issues created by the pandemic, such as physical and mental health, academic consistency and nutritional support.
Many of the organizations receiving the grants, which range from just under $5,000 to $20,000, serve both Bonner and Boundary counties.
Also receiving grants were:
• Angels Over Sandpoint — $5,000, Back to School program
• Better Together Animal Alliance — $10,520, PAS Helpline
• Blanchard Area Seniors Incorporated — $3,000, arts and culture for both youth and adults
• Bonner Community Food Bank — $10,000, program support
• Food For Our Children — $8,000, weekend food program support
• Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness — $5,000, Scotchman Peak Mountain Goat Trail Ambassador program
• Kaniksu Land Trust — $20,000, Connecting Classrooms and Children with Nature
• Panhandle Alliance for Education — $8,000, READY! for Kindergarten
• Panida Theater — $4,950, general operating support
• Pend Oreille Arts Council — $5,000, general operating support
• Priest River Ministries — $15,000, operating support
• Sandpoint Area Seniors, Inc. — $5,000, general operating support
• Sandpoint Community Resource Center (SCRC) — $20,000, program support
• Selkirk Outdoor Leadership & Education (SOLE), Inc. — $10,000, general operating support
Information: innovia.org
