Spring 2024 Grants Awarded: $300,000 to 19 Nonprofits
19 NONPROFITS SHARE $300,000 IN GRANTS FROM FIRST FED FOUNDATION
Total Awards Surpass $7 Million Since 2015
May 31, 2024
Port Angeles, Washington – First Fed Foundation announced today that it has awarded a total of $300,000 in grant funding to 19 nonprofits bringing housing, help, and hope to community members in Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, and Whatcom Counties, and the city of Bellevue.
“With the volume and quality of the grant applications we received in this spring grant cycle, our board and advisory committee had to make tough decisions about which projects to fund,” said Norman J. Tonina, President of the Foundation’s board.
“We’re pleased with the outcome of our deliberations, and privileged to support initiatives that help avert homelessness and build supportive and permanently affordable housing; deliver life skills and job training for youth and marginalized community members; provide emergency financial assistance, critical hygiene supplies, and household items for families transitioning from homelessness; and so much more,” he continued.
“I am amazed by the work that our nonprofit grantees do, even while faced with overwhelming need and limited resources. They are truly super-heroes,” said Karen McCormick, member of First Fed Foundation’s Board of Directors.
“Our board is inspired by their passion and dedication, and proud to provide funding to assist them in reaching their goals,” she continued.
“With these spring grant awards, the Foundation’s giving has exceeded $7 million to date. We are guided by the vision of our sole donor, First Fed, as we invest in efforts that foster the well-being and prosperity of our friends and neighbors in the communities where the bank operates full-service branches,” said Jan Simon, First Fed Foundation’s Executive Director.
Grants in the Foundation’s spring cycle were awarded for the following purposes and funding priorities.
Housing & Homelessness Grants:
Bellevue LifeSpring: $25,000 to provide one month of rent support to ten low-income families, including approximately 25 children, helping them avoid eviction and remain housed.
Lummi Nation Service Organization: $25,000 to fund green elements, including a water capturing/recycling system, at Eagle Haven Tiny Home Village in Whatcom County, comprised of 24 new units of permanent supportive housing for those struggling to be successfully housed.
Olympic Housing Trust: $25,000 for construction of the Dundee Hill project, five permanently affordable townhomes that provide home ownership opportunities for first-time buyers earning between 50% – 80% AMI from Clallam and Jefferson Counties.
Peninsula Behavioral Health: $25,000 to support construction of 36 permanent, affordable, supportive housing units for chronically homeless individuals and families in Port Angeles.
Community Development Grants:
Council of the Olympic Peninsula of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul: $35,000 to provide emergency financial assistance to impoverished and vulnerable individuals, seniors, and families in Clallam, Jefferson, and Kitsap Counties to avert utility shutoffs and eviction, address critical transportation needs, and minimize homelessness.
Mariposa House: $25,000 to make critical repairs to the offices in Forks where staff deliver counseling services to victims of domestic violence and other crimes.
Economic Development Grants:
Community Boat Project: $25,000 to support Shelter from the Storm, providing paid internships for local 18- to 24-year-olds to learn life skills and carpentry while building tiny houses for those experiencing homelessness in Jefferson County.
OWL360: $25,000 to fund Workforce Development and Education programs, engaging over 235 Jefferson County young people annually, starting with career awareness for all 9th graders and culminating in paid work experiences and post-secondary educational opportunities.
RE Sources: $25,000 to expand the Community Jobs Training Program, providing individualized workforce and jobseeker training, one-on-one mentoring, and coaching to 30 homeless Whatcom County youth, single and low-income parents, veterans, disabled, recently incarcerated, and/or LGBTQ and BIPOC individuals, preparing them to secure full-time, living-wage jobs with benefits.
Community Support Grants:
Bellingham Public Schools Foundation: $7,500 to provide basic household furniture and supplies to more than 100 families with young children as they transition out of homelessness and into more stable long-term housing.
Bremerton Foodline: $10,000 to provide low-income women and children with hygiene products they need and cannot afford to purchase.
Cascade Connections: $5,000 to make an Interviewing Skills Workshop financially accessible for up to 40 Whatcom County jobseekers with disabilities, helping them navigate and overcome social, professional, and economic barriers to employment.
College Success Foundation: $5,000 to provide emergency grants to Clallam and Kitsap County high school students from low-income families and other high-need groups to help alleviate urgent financial hardships.
Ferndale Community Service Cooperative: $5,000 to provide emergency and basic hygiene supplies to low-income and house-less North Whatcom County neighbors.
Financial Beginnings: $5,000 to underwrite a portion of the Financial Foundations program, providing Clallam, Kitsap, and Whatcom County youth and young adults with a free, detailed introduction to key financial concepts and resources.
OurGEMS (Our Girls Empowered through Mentoring and Service): $5,000 for new laptops and headphones for 52 graduating youth from low- to moderate-income and underrepresented families in school districts in Bremerton; North, Central, and South Kitsap; and Bainbridge Island.
The Benji Project: $7,500 to deliver evidence-based mindfulness and self-compassion practices to 500 Jefferson County students during the 2024-2025 school year, helping them improve their overall well-being, cope with stress, anxiety, depression, and other challenges, and stay engaged in their education.
Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center: $10,000 to support the Housing Stability Program, which reduces evictions and averts homelessness by providing free mediation services to tenants and landlords.
Winter Welcoming Center: $5,000 to help provide a warm and hospitable space seven mornings a week, holidays included, during the cold months of the year, for those in Jefferson County in need of shelter.
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About First Fed Foundation:
First Fed Foundation is a private charitable corporation that began making grants in 2015, thanks to a generous gift valued at nearly $12 million from the parent company of First Fed, when the bank was converted to a publicly traded company.
“Committed to supporting nonprofits, tribes, school districts, and government agencies that provide critical, timely assistance, while also building a brighter future, we are proud and privileged to have contributed $7,001,500 since 2015, in the communities where First Fed, our sole donor, operates full-service branches,” noted Jan Simon, the Foundation’s Executive Director.
Intended to create broad impact that benefits low- to moderate-income, disadvantaged, and/or marginalized persons or families in Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, and Whatcom Counties, and the city of Bellevue, the Foundation’s giving to date has been allocated to the following funding priorities:
$1,844,300 to organizations addressing homelessness and the availability of and access to affordable housing.
$2,650,000 to community development projects.
$1,162,200 to organizations providing a wide array of critical, life-enhancing support to our communities.
$1,125,000 to efforts that stimulate and support economic development.
$220,000 to organizations that addressed hardships caused and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
About First Fed, the Foundation’s sole donor:
First Fed is a local community bank in Washington serving customers and communities since 1923, with 16 locations in Clallam, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, and Whatcom Counties. First Fed is a subsidiary of First Northwest Bancorp (FNWB), a holding company for the bank and other investments.
First Fed has a 101-year history of investing in its local communities. With a vision of creating well-being and prosperity for its employees, customers, and communities, First Fed and First Fed Foundation contributed over $1.3 million to nonprofits in 2022. First Fed employees—supported by the bank with up to three paid days of volunteering each year—collectively donated over 25,000 hours of volunteer service to more than 400 organizations throughout the Pacific Northwest over the past five years.
For more information, contact Jan Simon, Executive Director, at jan.simon@firstfedcf.org, 360-417-3112 or visit www.FirstFedFoundation.org.
