Grand Aspirations is extremely pleased to announce that we received $60,000 in funding this week!

Here’s how:

Summer of Solutions Hartford competed in the finalist round of the Health Justice CT Challenge to win a $10,000 grant from the Connecticut Health Foundation to advance health equality in Connecticut. The winner was determined by a public online voting round, during which Summer of Solutions Hartford received 3,298 votes, enough to put us into first place! It just goes to show how powerful grassroots support can be. We are so excited to invest $10,000 into our food justice and urban farming work in Hartford by building gardens and providing need-based stipends to young people who dedicate themselves to this work this summer. Thank you so much to everyone who rallied behind us!

Additionally, the Minnesota Hub of Grand Aspirations applied for funding from REAMP to support Midwestern Summer of Solutions programs to train effective community organizers and movement builders, to fund a Midwest regional coordinator for solutionary organizing, and to provide seed stipends to 5-7 graduates of Summer of Solutions programs to work with local community organizations. We just were informed that we received $50,000 in funding to support movement building in the Midwest!

If you are associated with a community organization in the Midwest that is interested in hosting a well trained Summer of Solutions graduate as a community organizer, please check out this document on these Sustainable Community Organizers and contact Ruby Levine to connect!

These funding victories come on the heels of the Oakland program’s award of $10,000 through the Davis Projects for Peace to fund a nonviolence center in the Fruitvale neighborhood. If you want to get in on the funding Summer of Solutions party, consider making a donation at http://grandaspirations.org/donate/

Follow our progress at www.solutionaries.net as we invest $70,000 in youth leadership development and local green economy projects all across the country!