Impact Grants Awarded in 2024
Arts, Music, and Culture
Arts Alliance of Yamhill County (AAYC), Art Harvest Studio Tour
Art Harvest Mentorship Program
The Art Studio Tour of Yamhill County, now in its 30th year, offers a very special Studio Mentorship Program to recommended high school students who are interested in an art career. The students are matched with mentor instructors from the Tour, who offer lessons and guide young learners through individual projects in sessions totaling approximately 24 hours. The students also come to understand what is involved in becoming a professional artist, including information about marketing, exhibitions, and sales. This grant will help to fund the cost of art supplies for an anticipated number of 10 students.
Arts Alliance of Yamhill County
Paper Gardens Creative Writing Contest
Founded in 1993, Paper Gardens is an annual creative writing contest that results in a book publication. It has a wide outreach: in 2024, for example, the volunteers received about 500 entries of original poetry or prose submitted by children, teen, and adult writers, from which 77 were chosen for publication. Paper Gardens’ upcoming 2025 anthology, the printing of which this grant will help to fund, will be available in libraries and sold in bookstores.
Art Conspiracy, Sheridan
Summer Arts Program Materials, Supplies, and Publicity
For 23 years, the Art Conspiracy has provided an in-depth, 8-day summer arts program for young people of the West Valley and beyond. Courses taught by working artists and educators include Dance (musical theater), Drama, Embroidery and Basic Sewing, Sculpture, Sketchbook Drawing, Smartphone Photography, and more. For many, if not most, young participants, this is a first exposure to hands-on art that has been known to deeply affect their lives. This grant will fund the materials and supplies purchased for the classes. It will also be used for publicity needed to bring attendance to pre-Covid levels.
Asian Heritage Association
Lunar New Year Celebration
This grant helped to fund popular, highly enjoyable performances (lion dancers and Koto musicians from Portland and martial arts practitioners from Clackamas) at the Association’s third annual Lunar New Year Celebration. This very well-attended event was intended to enrich, educate, and entertain the greater community as well as to build tolerance and inclusion by promoting Asian-American culture and sharing Asian traditions (see ahayc.org).
Chehalem Cultural Center, Newberg
Scholarships for Arts Access
This grant supports the Center’s ongoing, strong commitment to approving all scholarship requests for its art classes. By eliminating financial obstacles, the Center fosters inclusivity, making available opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds to broaden their experiences with the arts. Notably, 80% of scholarship dollars are awarded to those under 18.
Fendall School
Publicity for Annual Mother’s Day Tea/Brunch and Fashion Show
This annual program/fundraiser is held in Willamina’s historic 1903 Fendall School and Community Center. Originally a one-room schoolhouse, Fendall has been a place for rural neighbors to gather, learn, and support each other since 1950. The event will honor women, mothers, and grandmothers (the fashion show features authentic period dress and costume!), introduce Fendall’s heritage to the wider community, and raise funds to preserve the building itself. Because advertising the event is the most prohibitive cost, this grant provided the necessary amount.
Friendsview Retirement Community, Newberg
Studio Arts Group: Let’s Project!
The Studio Arts Group at Friendsview offers two organized art classes to its residents each month. This modest grant allowed for the purchase of a digital projector so that instructions and techniques can be displayed to all participants.
Gallery Players of Oregon
Playwright’s Progress
This innovative initiative will allow aspiring local playwrights who have completed, or nearly completed, a draft for a play or musical to receive professional guidance toward a final version and possible performance. Gallery has identified as many as nine YC writers who have been working on new plays and now need additional assistance. This application will support the final steps for one of those plays and provide professional mentoring and/or printing opportunities for others by invitation.
McMinnville Keynote Series
New York Voices, One Last Time
This relatively new nonprofit Concert Series is creating excitement as the sponsors aim to bring world class live music—from classical to jazz to pop—to McMinnville at affordable prices. A highlight will be the performance in McMinnville of the internationally renowned, Grammy-award-winning jazz vocal ensemble New York Voices as one of their last stops before retirement. Discounted tickets will be provided for seniors and students.
McMinnville Women’s Choir
Rebuild the Reserves
This choir, open to women of all ages, skill levels, and experience—and currently comprising a membership of 40+—offers two very popular concerts each year and provides a highly valued way for local women to sing and practice together regularly. This grant enables the Choir to fund three months of rental space as it works to replenish funds depleted during the pandemic.
Performing Arts of Dayton
Portable Sound System
Currently, few opportunities exist for students in Dayton to participate in the performing arts. This grant funded a portable sound system so this new, active group can sponsor events such as concerts, school productions, children’s theater in the park, and eventually adult theater. The organizers plan to work in close cooperation with Dayton schools.
West Valley Community Campus
Wet Season Music Series
This series offers free concerts the third Saturday of the month beginning in October and ending with the final concert in March. The concerts are open to everyone. The grant funds will help offset the band fees and supplies for the concerts.
Art Harvest Mentorship Program
The Art Studio Tour of Yamhill County, now in its 30th year, offers a very special Studio Mentorship Program to recommended high school students who are interested in an art career. The students are matched with mentor instructors from the Tour, who offer lessons and guide young learners through individual projects in sessions totaling approximately 24 hours. The students also come to understand what is involved in becoming a professional artist, including information about marketing, exhibitions, and sales. This grant will help to fund the cost of art supplies for an anticipated number of 10 students.
Arts Alliance of Yamhill County
Paper Gardens Creative Writing Contest
Founded in 1993, Paper Gardens is an annual creative writing contest that results in a book publication. It has a wide outreach: in 2024, for example, the volunteers received about 500 entries of original poetry or prose submitted by children, teen, and adult writers, from which 77 were chosen for publication. Paper Gardens’ upcoming 2025 anthology, the printing of which this grant will help to fund, will be available in libraries and sold in bookstores.
Art Conspiracy, Sheridan
Summer Arts Program Materials, Supplies, and Publicity
For 23 years, the Art Conspiracy has provided an in-depth, 8-day summer arts program for young people of the West Valley and beyond. Courses taught by working artists and educators include Dance (musical theater), Drama, Embroidery and Basic Sewing, Sculpture, Sketchbook Drawing, Smartphone Photography, and more. For many, if not most, young participants, this is a first exposure to hands-on art that has been known to deeply affect their lives. This grant will fund the materials and supplies purchased for the classes. It will also be used for publicity needed to bring attendance to pre-Covid levels.
Asian Heritage Association
Lunar New Year Celebration
This grant helped to fund popular, highly enjoyable performances (lion dancers and Koto musicians from Portland and martial arts practitioners from Clackamas) at the Association’s third annual Lunar New Year Celebration. This very well-attended event was intended to enrich, educate, and entertain the greater community as well as to build tolerance and inclusion by promoting Asian-American culture and sharing Asian traditions (see ahayc.org).
Chehalem Cultural Center, Newberg
Scholarships for Arts Access
This grant supports the Center’s ongoing, strong commitment to approving all scholarship requests for its art classes. By eliminating financial obstacles, the Center fosters inclusivity, making available opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds to broaden their experiences with the arts. Notably, 80% of scholarship dollars are awarded to those under 18.
Fendall School
Publicity for Annual Mother’s Day Tea/Brunch and Fashion Show
This annual program/fundraiser is held in Willamina’s historic 1903 Fendall School and Community Center. Originally a one-room schoolhouse, Fendall has been a place for rural neighbors to gather, learn, and support each other since 1950. The event will honor women, mothers, and grandmothers (the fashion show features authentic period dress and costume!), introduce Fendall’s heritage to the wider community, and raise funds to preserve the building itself. Because advertising the event is the most prohibitive cost, this grant provided the necessary amount.
Friendsview Retirement Community, Newberg
Studio Arts Group: Let’s Project!
The Studio Arts Group at Friendsview offers two organized art classes to its residents each month. This modest grant allowed for the purchase of a digital projector so that instructions and techniques can be displayed to all participants.
Gallery Players of Oregon
Playwright’s Progress
This innovative initiative will allow aspiring local playwrights who have completed, or nearly completed, a draft for a play or musical to receive professional guidance toward a final version and possible performance. Gallery has identified as many as nine YC writers who have been working on new plays and now need additional assistance. This application will support the final steps for one of those plays and provide professional mentoring and/or printing opportunities for others by invitation.
McMinnville Keynote Series
New York Voices, One Last Time
This relatively new nonprofit Concert Series is creating excitement as the sponsors aim to bring world class live music—from classical to jazz to pop—to McMinnville at affordable prices. A highlight will be the performance in McMinnville of the internationally renowned, Grammy-award-winning jazz vocal ensemble New York Voices as one of their last stops before retirement. Discounted tickets will be provided for seniors and students.
McMinnville Women’s Choir
Rebuild the Reserves
This choir, open to women of all ages, skill levels, and experience—and currently comprising a membership of 40+—offers two very popular concerts each year and provides a highly valued way for local women to sing and practice together regularly. This grant enables the Choir to fund three months of rental space as it works to replenish funds depleted during the pandemic.
Performing Arts of Dayton
Portable Sound System
Currently, few opportunities exist for students in Dayton to participate in the performing arts. This grant funded a portable sound system so this new, active group can sponsor events such as concerts, school productions, children’s theater in the park, and eventually adult theater. The organizers plan to work in close cooperation with Dayton schools.
West Valley Community Campus
Wet Season Music Series
This series offers free concerts the third Saturday of the month beginning in October and ending with the final concert in March. The concerts are open to everyone. The grant funds will help offset the band fees and supplies for the concerts.
Children, Education, and Schools
Amity Public Library
Cultural Attraction Passes
Many in the Amity Community cannot afford admission to local cultural attractions. This grant allows the Library to provide patrons with passes to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, the Gilbert House Children’s Museum in Salem, and the Oregon Gardens in Silverton, as well as to various Oregon State parks. Lower-income families who otherwise have little or no opportunity to partake in such experiences derive significant benefits in terms of bonding, learning, and creating memories.
Chehalem Youth and Family Services
Technology Upgrades
This nonprofit has been working since 1970 to encourage and empower youth to reach their highest potential and also to strengthen families. The grant allowed the Center to replace very outdated technology with three new laptop computers and a multi-function printer, thereby greatly enhancing staff productivity and efficiency and allowing for better service to the greater community.
Chemeketa Community College, Yamhill Valley Campus, McMinnville
Childcare for Chemeketa ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Students
A fundamental key to success for many Yamhill Valley Chemeketa ESOL students with children, especially those who are single parents, is finding affordable child care during class time. Chemeketa had already received a $10,000 Innovation Grant for a proposed new childcare program, and this second grant provided the essential additional funding to run three sessions of childcare for 8-10 children each in the fall, winter, and spring terms.
Willamina Public Library
Native American Collection and Games
With this grant, the Library will take the very meaningful step of creating a Native American collection of books and materials based on recommendations from the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. This new resource will not only serve important educational purposes, but it will foster appreciation, knowledge, and inclusion of the tribal community.
Cultural Attraction Passes
Many in the Amity Community cannot afford admission to local cultural attractions. This grant allows the Library to provide patrons with passes to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, the Gilbert House Children’s Museum in Salem, and the Oregon Gardens in Silverton, as well as to various Oregon State parks. Lower-income families who otherwise have little or no opportunity to partake in such experiences derive significant benefits in terms of bonding, learning, and creating memories.
Chehalem Youth and Family Services
Technology Upgrades
This nonprofit has been working since 1970 to encourage and empower youth to reach their highest potential and also to strengthen families. The grant allowed the Center to replace very outdated technology with three new laptop computers and a multi-function printer, thereby greatly enhancing staff productivity and efficiency and allowing for better service to the greater community.
Chemeketa Community College, Yamhill Valley Campus, McMinnville
Childcare for Chemeketa ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Students
A fundamental key to success for many Yamhill Valley Chemeketa ESOL students with children, especially those who are single parents, is finding affordable child care during class time. Chemeketa had already received a $10,000 Innovation Grant for a proposed new childcare program, and this second grant provided the essential additional funding to run three sessions of childcare for 8-10 children each in the fall, winter, and spring terms.
Willamina Public Library
Native American Collection and Games
With this grant, the Library will take the very meaningful step of creating a Native American collection of books and materials based on recommendations from the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. This new resource will not only serve important educational purposes, but it will foster appreciation, knowledge, and inclusion of the tribal community.
Senior Welfare
Chehalem Senior Center, Newberg
Dishes and Tableware
The Senior Center, which serves up to 60 lunches daily to local seniors and their guests, was able to purchase badly needed new dishes and additional utensils. An important consideration was that the dishes be relatively light-weight to ease the work of the 3-4 senior volunteers who staff the dining room, serving the meals and washing the dishes.
Northwest Senior and Disability Services (NWSDS)
Meals on Wheels: Christmas Gift Bags
To brighten the holidays, specialty gift bags were assembled and delivered to 260 Meals on Wheels recipients in McMinnville, Newberg, and Sheridan. For these clients, many of whom are shuts-ins or have no family close by, this is a much-appreciated form of acknowledgment and celebration. The bags contained a selection of healthy snacks and drinks, hand lotion and hygiene items, and other small treats. In addition, gifts of key chains and lapel pins were awarded to 100 outstanding volunteers in the three locations.
Northwest Senior and Disability Services (NWSDS)
Meals on Wheels: Summer Treats
This second grant funded the distribution of gift bags with various treats as well as small dahlia bouquets with vases to 120 Meals on Wheels clients in McMinnville, Newberg, and Sheridan. As with the holiday bags, an unexpected gift in addition to the regular meal delivery fosters a sense of inclusion and brings joy to the recipients.
Northwest Senior and Disability Services & Housing Authority of Yamhill County
Tai Chi Classes for Arthritis and Fall Prevention
This grant funds Tai Chi classes held at two different sites in McMinnville for the first time. Tai Chi is known to help relieve symptoms and improve the quality of life for people with arthritis. Also, given that falls are the #1 cause of injury for older adults, and that there are currently limited programs of this nature in Yamhill County, these classes are an important step toward preventing falls and injury that could lead to institutionalization.
Yamhill County Health and Human Services:
Older Adult Behavioral Health Specialists
Positive Intergenerational Pen Pal (PIPP) Program
This innovative, ambitious program connects approximately 250 second-grade students in Yamhill County with 250 older adults as pen pals. The grant funds 500 colorful writing kits that contain 10+ blank cards and envelopes, pens and pencils, stickers, and mailboxes for the classrooms. As the participants establish connections over the period of the school year, the benefits are many and profound in terms of intergenerational learning as well as alleviating loneliness and social isolation among the elderly.
Dishes and Tableware
The Senior Center, which serves up to 60 lunches daily to local seniors and their guests, was able to purchase badly needed new dishes and additional utensils. An important consideration was that the dishes be relatively light-weight to ease the work of the 3-4 senior volunteers who staff the dining room, serving the meals and washing the dishes.
Northwest Senior and Disability Services (NWSDS)
Meals on Wheels: Christmas Gift Bags
To brighten the holidays, specialty gift bags were assembled and delivered to 260 Meals on Wheels recipients in McMinnville, Newberg, and Sheridan. For these clients, many of whom are shuts-ins or have no family close by, this is a much-appreciated form of acknowledgment and celebration. The bags contained a selection of healthy snacks and drinks, hand lotion and hygiene items, and other small treats. In addition, gifts of key chains and lapel pins were awarded to 100 outstanding volunteers in the three locations.
Northwest Senior and Disability Services (NWSDS)
Meals on Wheels: Summer Treats
This second grant funded the distribution of gift bags with various treats as well as small dahlia bouquets with vases to 120 Meals on Wheels clients in McMinnville, Newberg, and Sheridan. As with the holiday bags, an unexpected gift in addition to the regular meal delivery fosters a sense of inclusion and brings joy to the recipients.
Northwest Senior and Disability Services & Housing Authority of Yamhill County
Tai Chi Classes for Arthritis and Fall Prevention
This grant funds Tai Chi classes held at two different sites in McMinnville for the first time. Tai Chi is known to help relieve symptoms and improve the quality of life for people with arthritis. Also, given that falls are the #1 cause of injury for older adults, and that there are currently limited programs of this nature in Yamhill County, these classes are an important step toward preventing falls and injury that could lead to institutionalization.
Yamhill County Health and Human Services:
Older Adult Behavioral Health Specialists
Positive Intergenerational Pen Pal (PIPP) Program
This innovative, ambitious program connects approximately 250 second-grade students in Yamhill County with 250 older adults as pen pals. The grant funds 500 colorful writing kits that contain 10+ blank cards and envelopes, pens and pencils, stickers, and mailboxes for the classrooms. As the participants establish connections over the period of the school year, the benefits are many and profound in terms of intergenerational learning as well as alleviating loneliness and social isolation among the elderly.
Women's Health
Henderson House
Domestic/Sexual Violence Survivor ER Kits
When survivors of assault are taken to a hospital’s Emergency Room, advocates from Henderson House receive calls to accompany and support them. Since survivors’ clothes and other personal items are often taken by law enforcement as evidence, this grant allows for kits of clothes and other essentials to be provided to the survivors during this time of trauma and need.
Life Counseling and Therapy
Sand Tray Therapy
This small nonprofit counseling agency in McMinnville is inundated with referrals for children with mental health needs related to often traumatic life experiences such as grief and loss, divorce, and abuse. The grant will fund the purchase of materials and also provide training to three counselors for this unique, nonverbal method of therapy widely recognized as effective for children and their families. (See healthline.com/health/mental-health/sand-tray-therapy.)
Soroptimist International of McMinnville
SoroBoutique: Clothing Vouchers for Job-Ready Women
This highly successful initiative provides qualified women with vouchers to the McMinnville New to You consignment store to purchase appropriate attire for interviews and employment. Because requests have surged post-Covid, additional funding was needed. This grant funds four $100 vouchers per month for a year, thus allowing for 48 women to obtain clothing.
Domestic/Sexual Violence Survivor ER Kits
When survivors of assault are taken to a hospital’s Emergency Room, advocates from Henderson House receive calls to accompany and support them. Since survivors’ clothes and other personal items are often taken by law enforcement as evidence, this grant allows for kits of clothes and other essentials to be provided to the survivors during this time of trauma and need.
Life Counseling and Therapy
Sand Tray Therapy
This small nonprofit counseling agency in McMinnville is inundated with referrals for children with mental health needs related to often traumatic life experiences such as grief and loss, divorce, and abuse. The grant will fund the purchase of materials and also provide training to three counselors for this unique, nonverbal method of therapy widely recognized as effective for children and their families. (See healthline.com/health/mental-health/sand-tray-therapy.)
Soroptimist International of McMinnville
SoroBoutique: Clothing Vouchers for Job-Ready Women
This highly successful initiative provides qualified women with vouchers to the McMinnville New to You consignment store to purchase appropriate attire for interviews and employment. Because requests have surged post-Covid, additional funding was needed. This grant funds four $100 vouchers per month for a year, thus allowing for 48 women to obtain clothing.