Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation Board Approves $6 Million in Grant Funding

Recent funding from Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation strengthens its focus on some of the community’s most pressing issues, including red tide, mental health and housing.
 
Restoring a Public Sarasota Waterfront A grant of $940,000 to Sarasota Bayfront Planning Organization for wetlands, bayou, and mangrove restoration. Part of the bayfront master plan, this funding will provide a restored waterfront with significantly enhanced accessibility for visitors interested in walking, kayaking and nature education. Part of the gift will create an endowment to ensure ongoing maintenance.   
 
Fighting Red Tide A grant of $751,487 to Mote Marine Laboratory over five years to fund the Directorship of the Red Tide Institute. Mote recruited Dr. Cynthia Heil, a widely respected red tide algal bloom expert, to lead the newly created institute. Dr. Heil will oversee Mote’s five ongoing and diverse red tide research programs and manage its partnerships with government agencies and research organizations at the state and national level. 
 
Feeding Hungry Babies and Children A grant of $674,628 to All Faiths Food Bank for the Pediatric Food Insecurity Screening Project. The three-year pilot to reduce childhood hunger and its negative health effects will run in partnership with Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital Outpatient Center and CenterPlace Health. 
 
Eliminating Legal Hurdles for Foster Kids A grant of $539,340 to Legal Aid of Manasota to fund the Legal Lifeline pilot program to assist youth in foster care as they navigate the legal system. Legal Aid will hire two attorneys to work exclusively with children in foster care to conduct “legal health checks,” represent them in court and to develop transition plans for youth aging out of the system. 
 
 Building Capacity to Provide Trauma-informed Care for Families  A grant of $303,843 to Florida State University Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy to provide trauma-informed care training for up to 30 local infant mental health experts. Participants will become certified in Child Parent Psychotherapy, the best therapeutic treatment to strengthen broken relationships between parents and young children. 
 
Mental Health Intervention for Children  A grant of $300,000 to The Florida Center for Early Childhood over two years to hire mental health clinicians for the Starfish Academy to treat emotional, behavioral and relationship trauma in children six and younger. 
 
Educating Parents in order for Children to Thrive A grant of $300,000 to Forty Carrots Family Center to support the organization’s mission and expand its parent education, mental health and early childhood education programs.  
 
Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect  A grant of $240,000 to Parenting Matters to provide operational support and expanded its parent education programming in Sarasota County. 
 
Keeping At-Risk Youth Safe  A grant of $100,728 to Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota County to expand the Club at Night Program to run year-round at the Roy McBean and Lee Wetherington Clubs.  
 
World-class STEM Education Comes to Sarasota  A grant of $100,000 to the Museum of Science and Industry of Chicago to support their afterschool science education program and fund museum staff to travel to Sarasota to conduct trainthe-trainer sessions with local youth science educators.
 
Solving Chronical Adult Homelessness  A grant of $100,000 to Gulf Coast Community Foundation for the St. Vincent DePaul Suncoast Rapid Rehousing Program, which quickly connects chronically homeless adults to permanent housing, case management and financial assistance. 
 
Strengthening Grassroots Support for Mothers  A grant of $19,159 to Mothers Helping Mothers to increase operational efficiency.
 
Additional Grants An additional $1.5 million in funding was awarded to provide annual support and sponsorships for partner organizations.