The Princeton Area Community Foundation (PACF), the community foundation serving central New Jersey, has awarded $460,000 in competitive grants to local nonprofit organizations that build social capital and provide opportunities to low-income individuals and families.

The grants, supporting organizations that create shared will and networks to tackle community problems, target greater Mercer County through the “Greater Mercer Grants,” the Community Foundation’s signature program.

“These grants are made possible through generous community members — individuals, corporations and foundations — who come together to support the well being of our region and its most vulnerable citizens,” explained Nancy Kieling, Community Foundation president.

One grant category supports low-income individuals and families, focusing on programs and organizations working to make a sustainable difference in the lives of community members in need. “We support specific programs in food, shelter, education, youth development and other services, as well as unrestricted support for well-run, robust organizations that focus on the needs of Mercer County residents,” said Kieling.

The second category helps build the region’s social capital through increasing the strength and cohesiveness of communities, in line with the Community Foundation’s objective to bridge the divide across geographic and cultural boundaries.

“We believe that building communities with strong, diverse relationships will help us begin to solve the big problems we share,” Kieling said. “As neighborhoods are strengthened, we gain the power to tackle the big issues of unmet needs and imbalances of opportunity. As people and groups develop real, sustainable relationships across towns and cultural/economic barriers, we can share our strengths and resources and collaborate on our region’s shared opportunity.”

The grants are as follows: CASA of Mercer County ($25,000); HiTOPS ($25,000); The Intersect Fund ($25,000); NAMI Mercer ($20,000); New Jersey Agricultural Society’s Farmers Against Hunger program($20,000); Progressive Center for Independent Living ($25,000); Rescue Mission of Trenton(20,000); UIH Family Partners ($25,000); Urban Promise Trenton ($25,000); Artworks Trenton ($35,000); CityWorks ($40,000); Isles, Inc. ($50,000); Trenton Area Stakeholders, Mill Hill Child & Family Development Center as fiscal sponsor ($25,000); People & Stories/Gente y Cuentos ($25,000);VolunteerConnect ($25,000); Homefront ($15,000); Interfaith Caregivers of Greater Mercer County ($25,000); YMCA Trenton ($10,000).

The Community Foundation collaborates with the Harbourton Foundation, NRG Energy, and charitable funds established at the Foundation by individuals and families to support this signature program, including: Tristan Beplat Fund, Blair Family Fund, Charles L. and Ann Lee Brown Fund, James E. & Diane W. Burke Fund, Judith and William Burks Fund, Jane M. Campbell Fund, Esther Y. Eure Fund, Archer & Thomas Harvey Fund, Robert Wood Johnson Jr. Fund, Kuser Arts Fund, LVC Fund, Princeton Youth Fund, Leroy E. “Brick” Purvis Charitable Fund, Barbara B. Smoyer Memorial Fund, Marjorie R. Smoyer Fund, Stanley C. Smoyer Fund, Speir Fund, Frank E. Taplin Jr. Fund, Weymar Fund, Whitehead Fund, Willy N. Fund; and advised funds including: Jim and Jean Davidson Fund, Norman and Nancy Klath Fund, McAlpin Fund, Russo Philanthropic Fund, Thomas Fund, Reichelderfer-Blair Fund, and the Myra and Van Zandt Williams Jr. Fund.

For more information, visit: www.pacf.org/give.

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