Grants
Grants between $500 to $5,000 are awarded twice a year (How to Apply for a Grant) in Winter and Summer. To date, the Foundation has returned to the community over $250,000. More recent projects funded include:
Combating Food Insecurity: SNAP Greenbelt Match at the Market
The Greenbelt Farmers’ Market will use the funds to support a local match to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP). This will assist SNAP recipients in purchasing local produce and other locally made
products at the market. The funds will support the Market Manager, allow for a local $9 match to SNAP,
and help the market purchase a new Information tent canopy.
Summer Youth Workshop with Greenbelt Cinema and Greenbelt Access Television
In tandem with Greenbelt Cinema, Greenbelt Access Television (GATe) will host a
week-long workshop for twelve children, ages nine through twelve. The students will learn how to
create jointed figures, use stop-motion capturing, and master basic editing techniques in order to craft
unique animations. On the final day, these animations will premiere at Greenbelt Cinema for students
and their families. Students will be given the chance to answer any questions. The workshop will take
place August 18 – 22, the week after the Greenbelt Recreation Department’s Creative Kids Camp ends,
in order to supplement the creative energy Creative Kids Camp inspires in its campers.
News Review Optimization
The Greenbelt News Review is engaged in a program of “News Review Optimization”. They have divided
their proposed project into two parts. Part A temporarily underwrites the cost to publish a 16-page
newspaper even when advertising revenues support only 12 pages. Part B simultaneously will help build
the advertising revenue to sustain a size of 16 pages even after the grant is completed. A 16-page issue
costs only about 5% more to produce than 12 pages. The larger paper will enable them to cover wider
issues affecting Greenbelt, filling a gap left by other local newspapers, sadly defunct.
Greenbelt Elementary School PTA - Counseling Materials and Supplies
Greenbelt Elementary School PTA – Counseling Materials and Supplies – A new initiative to provide social skills training using innovative computer based technology with students on the Autism spectrum. They will seek new materials such as games and activities, to provide counseling to students with emotional and behavioral difficulties.
Playtime at the Beltway Plaza Mall
Playtime Project will use the award for “Playtime at the Beltway Plaza Mall”. Playtime Project operates in
every family shelter in the county, in one school, and in one community location. Their program at
Beltway Plaza addresses needs of children experiencing housing insecurity who live in the Franklin Park
Apartments. Franklin Park is a common re-homing location for families coming from homeless shelters.
The grant will address isolation among families moving from shelters to the Greenbelt community. Being
able to see the same staff providing the same programs in their new community helps families come out
of the isolation caused by the pandemic, disability, and poverty. In addition, since the mall is a highly
visible location the Playtime Project staff also has met many wonderful new families, including Spanish-
speaking families. Thus, they are hiring program staff who speak Spanish and a social worker who will
hold office hours each week during Playtime, helping mothers with intellectual disabilities enroll their
preschoolers into pre-K to 4, apply for the childcare voucher, and enroll in work readiness programs.
Playtime programs get children out of the house where they may be spending their time unsupervised
or in front of a screen.
Other grants include:
- The Fountain Club Team LLC used its grant to carry out a proposed partnership program with the
Greenbelt Recreation Department at the Springhill Lake Recreation Center. The name of the program is
the “Youth Strength and Conditioning Initiative” and it will offer strength and conditioning exercises to
Greenbelt youth between 10 and 14 years of age. - The Friends of the Greenbelt Theatre used funds to pilot five new programs under the project title “Expanding Our
Audience: Movies for all at Greenbelt Cinema”, hoping to attract new groups of movie goers and
revitalize the theatre’s attendance to pre-pandemic levels. The five programs are “Baby and Me” screenings, “Weekend Storytime on Screen”, “Sensory-friendly” screenings, “Book vs Movie”, and “Advancing the Frame”. You may want to watch for any that apply to your interests. - The Greenbelt Refugee Aid Committee (GRACE) housed here in Greenbelt six (6) Ukrainian refugees
(“Housing Refuge Families in Greenbelt”). Funds were utilized to pay the cost of rent in apartments
owned and operated by Greenbelt Homes, Inc. This is an ongoing successful program that will continue
to help refugee families already situated in Greenbelt. - In 2017, with support from the Greenbelt Community Foundation, the Greenbelt Arts Center
successfully upgraded the power distribution system for their lighting. Now they need to purchase new
lighting instruments to replace and augment older lighting instruments. Their current instruments are
outdated, frequently breaking, and in some cases unsafe. They want to buy 12 identical lights and install
them under the “GAC Lighting Instruments Acquisition and Safety Upgrade” project - The Greenbelt Consumer Cooperative wishes to design and install a mural on the exterior of the
Greenbelt Co-op building, the “Greenbelt Co-op Mural”. This will bring a unique, memorable and
complementary piece of art to the Greenbelt community. The project will encompass a local or regional
Call for Artists, art/design selection through a juried process and installation of the mural. This project is
reminiscent of a huge mural once on the north wall of the Co-op, installed in the fall of 1977, and
maintained for ten or more years. - The Greenbelt Rotary Club received funding for the “Greenbelt Rotary Club Driver Education
Program”. Persons without a car or licensed driver available to them must pay driving schools for
car/instructor time for the required practice driving hours (60 hours at over $3,000 for those under 25;
14 hours at approximately $700 for those 25 and over). This is a significant cost for families with a low
income. The Rotary Club will use this grant to support a pilot program to fund these costs for Greenbelters at one Greenbelt driving school. The pilot length will be up to six months from the datethe first student begins driving instructions using program funds. - Higher Achievement’s project “Bridging the Opportunity Gap for Middle School Scholars in Greenbelt,MD” is designed to encourage academic enrichment and provide social-emotional support to Greenbelt scholars during their critical middle school years. Through targeted academic support, small group mentoring, and high school readiness preparation, the Higher Achievement staff works with scholars and their families to reach short-term and long-term goals that impact student academic and personal trajectories in a positive way, by increasing achievement during middle school. The participants develop the academic and social-emotional skillsets that lead to success in high school and beyond. The grant supported two program elements, “Afterschool Academy” and “High School Readiness”.
- The SPACE: Free Art for All is promoting its “Artrepreneurship Project” which aims to equip young entrepreneurs with the skills and knowledge to turn creative ideas into successful businesses. The primary focus is to create income-generating opportunities using industry-standard software and equipment for residents of Greenbelt West, particularly young adults. Participants will have access to The SPACE’s equipment to develop their own product lines, with marketing and sales support provided by the program. The project will help participants learn career-ready skills that can be integrated into their lives and schedules, enabling them to build sustainable income streams.