The Bayou Community Foundation (BCF) today announced grants totaling $190,650 to 26 local non-profit organizations as part of the Foundation’s 2016 competitive grants program.

This is BCF’s highest number of grants awarded in one year and the highest dollar amount of grants awarded in the organization’s four-year history.

The grants will fund innovative programs that fill critical needs in our community such as mental health counseling and treatment, food and medicine for the poor and elderly, academic enrichment and advocacy for at-risk youth, pre-school education, services for adults with disabilities, workforce development programs at our technical and community colleges, and coastal restoration in Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes, and in Grand Isle.

“Our community is blessed with many nonprofit organizations doing amazing work to help neighbors in need, strengthen education and job training in our area, and preserve our valuable coast. Today, BCF is honored to award grants to 26 such organizations for important and innovative programs that are changing people’s lives for the better, and making our entire Bayou Region an even better place to call home,” said BCF Chairman Stephen Peltier.

“These grants are made possible by our generous donors who have chosen to support our entire Lafourche and Terrebonne region with their gift to the Bayou Community Foundation. We thank you for your commitment to BCF and our community,” Peltier added.

The following 26 organizations were selected for 2016 grant awards totaling $190,650:

• Autism Society Bayou  – $2,500 for the local Autism Information Expo
• Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program – $10,000 for canoes in the volunteer coastal planting program
• CASA of Lafourche – $10,000 to train new child advocate volunteers
• Crossroads Pregnancy Resource Center – $10,000 for advocacy, staff training, and youth sexual integrity programs.
• Dulac Community Center – $7,500 for Community Housing Rehabilitation Programs.
• FTTC Foundation – $8,000 for Work It! Louisiana program utilizing Mobile Oilfield Learning Units
• Friends of Lafourche Drug Court Foundation – $5,000 for drug testing kits
• Girls on the Run Bayou Region – $3,700 for running shoes and healthy snacks for participating students in need
• Hope Extreme – $12,000 to buy a used van for student transportation
• Lafourche Education Foundation – $10,000 to implement the Dolly Parton Imagination Library in Lafourche Parish
• Lafourche Parish Special Education District #1 – $6,250 for electronic tables and accessories for use by adults with disabilities
• MacDonnell United Methodist Children’s Services – $9,000 for staff training and support for youth Behavior Management Program
• New Life Counseling Center – $12,000 for the Access to Care mental health counseling program in South Lafourche
• Nicholls Foundation (Dept. of Biological Sciences) – $5,000 for Fourchon Beach restoration plantings and propagation of native coastal plants
• Restore or Retreat – $5,000 to conduct Coastal Master Plan community meetings in Terrebonne and Lafourche
• Lloyd Wallace Community Center – $4,000 for playground equipment for students in the Beyond the Bell afterschool program
• South Central LA Human Services Authority – $15,000 to continue Mobile Outreach Program for outpatient mental health treatment
• Second Harvest Food Bank – $7,500 for food distribution and mobile pantry programs in Terrebonne and Lafourche
• South Central LA Technical College – $9,700 for equipment and supplies for the new Commercial Vehicle Operation Complex on the Lafourche campus
• Vincent de Paul Tri-Parish Pharmacy – $10,000 to provide free medication to the poor and elderly
• Francis Vegetable Garden – $2,500 to fund an agriculture internship program for the garden
• Lucy Child Development Center – $7,500 for technology, food service, and supplies required to upgrade child care center for new state rating system
• START Corporation – $5,000 to train additional therapist for Functional Family Therapy Program for at-risk youth and their families
• Terrebonne Foundation for Academic Excellence – $10,000 for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library
• Terrebonne Churches United’s Good Samaritan Food Bank – $2,500 to purchase food for Houma food bank
• VIA Link – $1,000 to launch a teen crisis text line in Terrebonne and Lafourche

BCF was established in 2012 by a group of business leaders and philanthropists from Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes who, after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the 2010 Gulf oil spill, recognized the need for a community foundation to strengthen our area and to attract national and international assistance in the event of a future emergency or natural disaster.

Gifts from the Gheens Foundation, local family foundations, and other generous local donors support BCF’s grant-making program, focused on addressing the region’s most critical needs. Since 2013, BCF has awarded $562,250 in grants to local nonprofits.  The organization also conducts workshops for nonprofit organizations, coordinates GiveNOLA Day for the Bayou Region, and plans on updating its 2013 Community Needs Assessment this fall to determine the most current unmet needs of our region.