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USA TODAY NETWORK and the Gannett Foundation Announce 2019 National Grant Recipients for “A Community Thrives”

USA TODAY NETWORK, part of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), and the Gannett Foundation today announced 16 non-profit organizations that will receive 2019 national grants from the company’s A Community Thrives program.

Now in its third year, A Community Thrives awards grants to worthy causes in communities across the U.S. to help drive positive change. The program also enables non-profits to promote their ideas and efforts on our national platform to drive further support through donations.

After receiving more than 1,500 submissions from organizations across 46 states, A Community Thrives is awarding more than $2 million in grants: $1 million in National Project Grants and more than $1 million in Local Operating Grants. The program’s crowdfunding effort through CrowdRise has raised an additional $2,513,658. A total of $4,523,658 will be distributed to these non-profits from the Gannett Foundation and the program’s fundraising efforts combined.

“We are proud of the work this year’s national grant winners have done to improve their communities. At Gannett, our mission is to connect and empower the communities we serve to create positive change. A Community Thrives further fuels that mission and purpose,” said Andy Yost, Chief Marketing Officer, Gannett.

The Gannett Foundation selected the 2019 national grants recipients based on the proposed projects’ viability, sustainability, community need and community building properties.

The recipients chosen for the 16 grants are as follows:

America SCORES, New York, NY -- $50,000
America SCORES’ “Our Words Our Cities (OWOC)” is a nationwide youth poetry slam series that will provide trained mentors and free afterschool enrichment for kids living in poverty. Children and teens in 11 cities will compete in local poetry slams, vying for the opportunity to represent their city. Following local and regional slams, OWOC will culminate in a national youth poetry slam open to the public, a documentary, and a printed anthology of original poetry.

Arab-American Family Support Center, Brooklyn, NY -- $25,000
AAFSC's mission is to empower new immigrants with the tools they need to successfully acclimate to the world around them and become active participants in their communities. This grant will support the expansion of its Project Resilience, which offers multilingual, trauma-informed behavioral counseling for immigrant youth in school-based settings and through home visits.

Cancer Support Community Arizona (CSCAZ), Phoenix, AZ -- $50,000
The grant was will help “Smiles Across the Miles: Survivorship on the Go,” a customized mobile truck that will travel to neighborhoods and workplaces of the most underserved and underinsured populations in Arizona to increase awareness of the broad range of CSCAZ support services while creating social connections through mind-body-wellness and expressive arts experiences throughout Arizona.

Care to Learn, Springfield, MO -- $25,000
This grant was supported by the Springfield News-Leader. The mission of Care to Learn is to provide immediate funding to meet emergency needs in the areas of health, hunger, and hygiene so every student can be successful in school. Springfield Mobile Clothing Closet Project started during the 2017-2018 school year as a pilot program serving the 15 highest poverty schools in the area and will expand to 3 more high-need schools with the Foundation’s support.

Edna Martin Christian Center, Brooklyn, NY -- $50,000
This grant will support a capital investment to house the Edna Martin Christian Center’s Community Solutions and Entrepreneurship Center (CSEC), where innovative business solutions that support neighborhood quality of life can be incubated and nurtured. The site will also serve as the neighborhood-owned communication hub through the Center's expansion of the existing Community Voice News Network.

Girls Write Nashville, Brentwood, TN -- $50,000
The mission of Girls Write Nashville is to use songwriting and mentorship to empower young female voices. Its expansion project in Title 1 eligible schools will amplify the organization’s impact by growing existing services and adding in new initiatives that will reach students with less access to creative extended learning time programs.

HomeFront Resource Center, St. Cloud, MN -- $25,000
This investment will support Minnesota Remembers Vietnam’s Community Resource Center for Service Members, Veterans & their Families. The Center’s project of a multi-media concert to be produced in 5 cities will provide an opportunity for veterans to connect with other veterans and strengthen support for service members, veterans and their families.

Low Income Housing Institute, Seattle/Kitsap, WA -- $100,000
The organization serves approximately 1100 homeless throughout Seattle and in Olympia in 2019, including families and individuals. The grant will support the building of 20 Tiny Houses and transitional services aiding its clients’ placement in permanent housing. The Tiny House villages provide safe and secure locations for homeless people to stay while case managers work to find them permanent housing, employment, and connect them to needed social services.

Move For Hunger, Red Bank, NJ (Asbury Park) -- $50,000
Funds from this grant will be used to advance the Apartment Food Rescue Program which provides pathways for food donation during the move-out process. The program will add up to 800 new partners this year and run more than 350 food donation events.

Nashville Launch Pad, Inc., Nashville, TN -- $100,000
Launch Pad is a 'street free sleep' initiative, fueled by a collective of concerned citizens within the LGBTQ and allied community, which strives to provide safer sleeping shelters for homeless youth in Davidson County. The mission of Launch Pad is to create a network of temporary safer sleeping shelters for homeless youth 18-24 years of age. The grant will support the professionalization of its staff enabling program and organizational growth.

Nevada Center for Civic Engagement, Reno, NV -- $50,000
With a goal of increasing civic engagement for Nevada Youth, the grant to the Nevada Center for Civic Engagement (NVCCE) grant will support the participation of 800 youth from 34 high schools across the state in its We the People: Congressional District Competition.

Read Early and Daily (R.E.A.D.), Arlington, VA -- $50,000
This grant will launch R.E.A.D.'s Book Bus project to offer a mobile book 'store' to the low-income community served and the community at large. Grant funds will purchase a used vehicle, outfit it to transport/display children's books, and provide gas, permits and taxes for the first year of operation. The Book Bus will allow R.E.A.D. families to choose new, free, high-quality, culturally-relevant books, giving participants a sense of 'shopping ‘and building community through reading clubs, pop up events and gatherings in book deserts.

Share Our Strength, Washington, DC/Los Angeles, CA -- $25,000
One out of every five kids in California is growing up in a family struggling with the burden of hunger. This grant will be focused on the execution of its No Kid Hungry Los Angeles regional breakfast strategy, enabling the non-profit to provide technical assistance aimed at supporting schools with Breakfast After the Bell implementation, as well as making direct investments in schools for successful implementation.

St. Johns County Education Foundation, St. Augustine, FL -- $25,000
Investing in Kids (INK!) provides innovative programs and classroom resources to support academic success for all St. Johns County schools. This grant will support the expansion of its Five Learning Years (FLY), in 4 new schools. FLY is a kindergarten initiative that helps close the gap between struggling students and their peers through literacy intervention.

The Resilience Education Training and Innovation Center, Brooklyn, NY -- $100,000
The Resilience, Education, Training and Innovation (RETI) Center's mission is to create environmentally sound and just ways to live and work on the water's edge. Its Blue City Lab will be the first US based community center serving as a magnet and model for innovative approaches to building community resilience and changing the future of urban coastal environments. The grant will support the development of a lab prototype.

Young Writers Project, Burlington, VT -- $25,000
The Community Journalism Project supported by the grant is a statewide, community-building project that will immerse middle and high school students across Vermont in the skills of researching, interviewing, writing, and editing stories about their communities -- and their own lives as teens within those communities -- for publication in authentic media, including Gannett's Burlington Free Press.

For more information, visit A Community Thrives.

About A Community Thrives

A Community Thrives is a grantmaking and crowd-funding program from the USA TODAY NETWORK and is part of the Gannett Foundation. A Community Thrives supports non-profit organizations with projects focused on community building and has helped to contribute more than $6.5 million since 2017.

About USA TODAY NETWORK

USA TODAY NETWORK, part of Gannett Co, Inc. (NYSE: GCI), is the largest local-to-national media organization in the country, powered by our award-winning newsrooms and marketing solutions business. With deep roots in local communities spanning the U.S. with more than 100 brands, plus USA TODAY, we engage about 126 million people every month through a diverse portfolio of multi-platform content offerings and experiences. For more information, visit www.gannett.com.

Contacts:

For Media Inquiries, Contact:
USA TODAY NETWORK
Chrissy Terrell, 703-854-5292
Director, Corporate Communications and Public Relations
Caterrell@usatoday.com

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