Press Releases

ACES Awarded $50,000 Grant from The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven

August 20th, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(North Haven, CT – August 20, 2021): Area Cooperative Educational Services was recently awarded a responsive grant of $50,000 from The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. The funding will be used to purchase inclusive equipment that will support the emotional, mental, physical, and social needs of ACES special needs student population.

“As we continue to live through the pandemic and learn how to adapt to a ‘new normal,’ we are hoping to promote the importance of not just physical health and safety, but also the importance of a healthy mind,” stated Dr. Thomas Danehy, ACES Executive Director. “This inclusive equipment will promote social and communication skills, as well as provide gross motor skill activities and exercise for our students.”

The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven awarded $3.8 million in one-year and multi-year grants to 72 local nonprofit organizations through their competitive responsive grants for the 2021 year. The competitive responsive grant program provides general operating support to nonprofits working in 20 towns of Greater New Haven. This year, the total dollar amount of funding was double the typical amount awarded each year. The increase in grant funding was made possible by Stepping Forward, The Foundation’s three-year $26 million commitment to address COVID-19 impacts and advance racial equity.

“Living in and adjusting to the pandemic has been especially difficult for many ACES students who have behavioral, physical, and medical challenges. The inclusive equipment will help us bring some normalcy back to our students’ lives,” shared Tim Howes, ACES Deputy Director. ACES is grateful for the funding awarded by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and is looking forward to providing this inclusive equipment for our students.

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About ACES: 
Area Cooperative Educational Services (ACES) is the regional educational service center for New Haven and parts of Middlesex Counties. Established in 1969, ACES strives each day to fulfill its vision of creating an equitable and socially just world, one life at a time. ACES serves its members districts and others through an ever-growing array of programs, services and schools that meet the needs of a changing educational landscape. As a school district, ACES operates three magnet and eight special education schools. ACES services range from transportation, professional development and school improvement services, technology, translation, international, security, and occupational and physical therapy. ACES operates the Open and Magnet School Parent Choice programs for New Haven County. Its programs include a federally funded Early Head Start Program and ACES ACCESS, a vocational and life skills program for developmentally and physically disabled adults ages 21 and older. For more information, go to www.aces.org.

About The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven:

The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven in Connecticut is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the U.S. and was established in 1928 as the permanent charitable endowment for New Haven and its surrounding communities of: Ansonia, Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Derby, East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Madison, Milford, North Branford, North Haven, Orange, Oxford, Seymour, Shelton, Wallingford, West Haven, and Woodbridge. In 2020, The Foundation began implementing a 5-year strategic plan and enacted new mission and vision statements toward expanding opportunity and equity in Greater New Haven. In 2021, it launched Stepping Forward, a $26 million commitment to addressing the impact of COVID-19 and advancing racial equity. The Foundation’s mission is to inspire, support, inform, listen to and collaborate with the people and organizations of Greater New Haven to build an ever more connected, inclusive, equitable and philanthropic community.

For more than three generations, generous local donors have built The Community Foundation’s endowment by establishing permanent funds or making gifts to existing funds that distribute grants to a broad variety of issues and organizations. These donors, past and present, make their gifts to ensure that programs and causes that matter most to them will be supported today and forever. As of December 31, 2020, The Foundation’s assets were valued at more than $720 million. For more information about The Foundation visit www.cfgnh.org or follow @cfgnh on facebook and twitter.