The Emerging Philanthropist Program (EPP), a partnership between The Foundation for Enhancing Communities (TFEC) and Harrisburg Young Professionals (HYP) awarded Downtown Daily Bread a $5,000 grant for their Workshops for Living program.
“We are truly proud of the Emerging Philanthropist Program and the young adults in the class of 2017,” said TFEC President and CEO Janice R. Black. “The members of the class of 2017 worked diligently to identify a community need and as a result of this program they have learned through knowledge and experience how instrumental philanthropy can be in making our community a better place.”
Since 1983, Downtown Daily Bread (DDB) has operated under the belief that addressing basic human needs is the first step in lifting its clients out of homelessness. DDB serves the hungry and homeless of Harrisburg, providing a daily lunch and other services, including lockers, bus passes, transportation, photo identification resources, haircuts, laundry tokens, mail delivery, and food vouchers.
Workshops for Living (Daily Lessons in Essential Life Skills) provides meaningful life skills lessons to transitionally homeless and at risk populations. Beginning in July 2017, Tri-County OIC and Downtown Daily Bread began a partnership to offer life skills classes to clients of DDB.
“The goal is to offer classes in content areas that will improve our clients’ ability to use technology to access information and services, to develop employability skills, and to improve basic literacy skills in reading, writing, and math,” said Downtown Daily Bread Director Anne Guenin. “Given the special challenges by the homeless and poor, the lessons will be self-contained so that the student can leave each class with useful and relevant information. Our clients are high need learners, so classes will be taught in small groups of 5-10 students.”
Downtown Daily Bread was selected by the 2017 EPP class after an extensive process which included identifying an area that was of the most need in the local Harrisburg community. This year, the EPP class focused on eliminating root causes of poverty by building human capital to better stabilize the community. Eligible applicants were required to serve Harrisburg city or a 10-mile radius of Harrisburg City providing programs that work to assist individuals 18 and older to increase self-sufficiency.
“The Emerging Philanthropist Program is a great way for our members at HYP to learn and develop the art of philanthropy, as well as financially contribute to a nonprofit in the area,” said HYP Executive Director Derek Whitesel. “This year’s class of 16 young professionals committed to an entire year of learning how to give back and make our community a better place through conducting interviews, site visits, and more in order to find a program that they felt best serves Harrisburg City by focusing on the root causes of poverty. Downtown Daily Bread is very deserving of the grant and this program will further enhance the community by helping Harrisburg’s homeless and poor gain self-sufficiency through improved life skills.”
After a competitive grantmaking process involving the review of seven applications, interviews and site visits to the finalist organizations, the 2017 EPP class selected Downtown Daily Bread as their awardee.
TFEC and HYP have partnered together to provide an opportunity for emerging leaders in the Harrisburg community to become actively engaged with the power of philanthropy. Applications are now available for the 2018 Emerging Philanthropist Program class.
