The Greenbelt Community Foundation (GCF) has made five grant awards in the first grant request cycle of 2025.
The Homeless Children’s Playtime Project was granted $5,000 for Playtime at Beltway Plaza. Playtime 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 a 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.
The Relic group, an early music ensemble, will receive $5,000 to support a Greenbelt Early Music Residency project to make world-class early music accessible to Greenbelt residents. There will be performances at the Greenbelt Community Church and the New Deal Café, an educational performance visit to Eleanor Roosevelt High School, open rehearsals and more. This 12-piece ensemble performs Baroque music on period instruments and is passionate about bringing early music to small towns worldwide and educating audiences and students about period instruments and performance practice.
The Greenbelt Farmers Market was given $4,500 for Combating Food Insecurity: SNAP Greenbelt Match at the Market. They 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.
Greenbelt Access Television (GATe) was awarded $4,632 for a Summer Youth Workshop with Greenbelt Cinema and Greenbelt Access Television. In tandem with Greenbelt Cinema, they will host a week-long workshop for 12 youths, ages 9 through 12. 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 questions.
The Greenbelt News Review will receive $5,000 for their program of News Review Optimization. They have divided their proposed project into two parts. Part A temporarily underwrites the cost to publish more 16-page newspapers 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 about 5 percent more to produce than 12 pages. The larger paper will enable them to cover more of the issues affecting Greenbelt.
GCF seeks to support a thriving, engaged community that is socially responsible, environmentally conscious and supports education, the arts and science. GCF does this by helping to fund community projects that build upon the ideals of collaboration, cooperation and engagement through the generous participation of individuals and organizations.
GCF reviews proposals twice each year, although they welcome grant applications at any time. The deadline for the fall 2025 cycle is October 15. For more information or to make a donation, visit their website at greenbeltfoundation.org.
Wayne Williams is chair of the GCF communications committee; Kevin W. Parker is GFC president.
