Parents Forum Receives $7500 “A Community Thrives” Grant From USA TODAY NETWORK and The Gannett Foundation
Parents Forum has been named a grant recipient by A Community Thrives (ACT), a grantmaking and crowd-funding program of the USA TODAY network, part of Gannett Foundation. Parents Forum will receive a Local Operating Grant of $7500 for ‘A Lifeline & An Anchor’, intended to broaden the reach and impact of the parenting education services the program offers.
As a lifeline for parents and others in parenting roles, Parents Forum provides workshops on emotional awareness, especially needed in this time of COVID-19. As an anchor for communities, the program offers a template for local community-based parenting education and support.
With the ACT funding, the ‘Lifeline & Anchor’ project seeks to create up to ten new Parents Forum chapters, like the one in Youngstown, Ohio. Parents Forum co-director Djamel Bekki, a Salem, Massachusetts resident, expressed his thanks to the many donors whose contributions made Parents Forum eligible to receive a grant, and said, ”We are very grateful to Gannett Foundation for helping us help our community thrive. We welcome inquiries from civic leaders, educators, directors of social services and other community members interested in licensing Parents Forum to bring our program to your city or town.”
A Community Thrives supports non-profit organizations with projects focused on community building and has helped to contribute more than $12 million since 2017. This year, A Community Thrives engaged participants in 45 states. Parents Forum was one of over 175 winners nationwide in the Local Operating Grant category and one of six in Massachusetts.
“We are proud of the work Parents Forum has done to enhance community life in Cambridge, Mass. and elsewhere. At Gannett, we take pride in supporting the organizations that make a positive impact in their communities. Through A Community Thrives, we lend financial support to that purpose as well as rally the whole community to champion a good and meaningful cause,” said CEO and Chairman Mike Reed.
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