The Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation recently awarded more than $8.7 million in grants to help improve access to education, career opportunities, cultural experiences, and more.
Among the largest investments is a grant to YMCA of Southwest Florida to transform the historic Speer Center in Arcadia into a hub for early learning and other family services. Other Barancik Foundation grants will help working adults advance in high-demand careers, lay the groundwork for expansion of The Legacy Trail into North Sarasota, strengthen organizations that serve families, and improve natural areas for wildlife, water quality, and public use.
“Expanding opportunities can take many different forms,” said Omar Guevara-Soto, Senior Vice President for Collaboration
and Impact at Barancik Foundation. “It can mean creating something new, removing barriers to existing resources, or helping organizations respond and improve as the needs in our community change. These grants reflect that range and will support essential work that our nonprofit partners are doing across the region.”
The YMCA of Southwest Florida, working in partnership with the City of Arcadia, will use a $1.5 million grant to build on its growing presence in DeSoto County by renovating and activating the long-underutilized Speer Center as its first physical location there. The center will house an early learning academy as well as youth development, food support, and many other services in one place, giving families easier access to resources while creating a lasting community asset in Arcadia.
In other grants:
· The Pines of Sarasota Foundation was awarded $750,000 to expand health care career pathways for Pines of Sarasota staff.
· A $700,000 grant to the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce Foundation to support and expand CareerEdge, ThinkBIG, and InternConnect.
· Trust for Public Land will use a $350,000 grant to advance a potential extension of The Legacy Trail to connect North Sarasota residents to the Florida Gulf Coast Trail.
· Mothers Helping Mothers was awarded $550,000 to strengthen a family-support model that now serves more than 3,000 families and 6,500 children a year.
· Parenting Matters will use $750,000 in operating support over three years to meet growing demand for its parenting education and early intervention services.
· Resilient Retreat was also awarded $750,000 in operating support as demand for its free, trauma-informed mental-health services continues to grow.
· A $1.8 million grant to Sarasota County Schools to help expand professional learning for teachers, school leaders, and student-support staff in literacy, mathematics, leadership, and specialized student needs.
· Big Waters Land Trust was awarded $350,000 to support the continued restoration and rewilding of protected land parcels next to the Celery Fields.
· $350,000 in startup and operating support to the Myakka River Partnership, a new organization providing an independent voice for the Myakka River watershed and its long-term health. The Partnership is actively bringing together public agencies, communities, and conservation groups to strengthen stewardship of the river and help position the watershed for a potential federal designation that could bring new funding and a framework for long-term protection.
· A $550,000 grant to Ringling College of Art and Design will help Sarasota Art Museum continue to make modern and contemporary art more approachable and relevant through its nationally significant exhibitions and wide-ranging community-engagement programming.
· The Literacy Council of Sarasota will use a $215,000 grant to expand flexible, online English-language learning for adults in Sarasota and Manatee counties.
The Barancik Foundation also awarded $126,500 in grants to several organizations that founders Chuck and Margie Barancik supported annually during their lives.
Submitted by Greg Luberecki
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Barancik Foundation awards $8.7 million to support regional missions
