Community Leadership Partners Grants

Community Leadership Partners 2024 Grants

The Community Leadership Partners, a giving circle of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, awarded $200,000 in grants to 18 area nonprofits in 2024. These organizations provide impactful and practical non-clinical programs that support mental health services. Since 2010, the Partners have awarded more than $3.15 million to organizations making a difference in Hampton Roads. The 2024 grant recipients are:

Blakey Weaver Counseling Center, Inc., $3,600 to support professional development training and EMDR certification for clinical staff at the Behavioral Health Outpatient Program to assist the Western Tidewater and Portsmouth communities.

Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, Inc., $10,000 to support an Assessment Specialist to conduct Mental Health Screenings for children referred to CHKD’s Child Advocacy Center from South Hampton Roads.

Communities In Schools of Hampton Roads, $25,000 to support training and certifications for CISofHR's Middle and High School Site Coordinators become Mental Health First Aid Instructors, and for them to offer Mental Health First Aid trainings to school's administrators and teachers.

EVMS Foundation, $10,000 to support The Arts for Optimal Health Program (AOHP): Veterans Project at the Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at ODU  to improve veterans’ wellness, increase access to services, improve quality of life, and to identify individuals with symptoms of mental illness and connect them to early intervention resources.

ForKids, inc., $15,000 to support the ForKids Mental Health Specialist and Family Wellness Coordinator with providing person-first, trauma-informed care to families and children at Sokol Place emergency shelter.

NAMI Coastal Virginia, $12,800 to support expanding the work of the Youth Programs Coordinator, to better address youth mental health needs in local school systems through the Ending the Silence program.

Postpartum Support Virginia, Inc., $2,500 to support expansion of PSVa's peer mentor services in South Hampton Roads.

Quality of Life Inc., $12,000 to support the Your Well-Being Matters program and assist youth and their families affected by mental health disorders in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach with mental health support services, to help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health.

Safe House Project, $25,000 to support an Emergency Survivor Support Program in South Hampton Roads,  creating opportunities and removing barriers for victims of human trafficking to escape their situations and access stabilization services and restorative care.

SIS Sisters in Service Inc, $7,000 to support the Artistic Minds program, providing non-clinical mental health support to middle and high school girls in Hampton Roads through art therapy workshops, peer support groups, community health initiatives, and referral services.

StandUp for Kids - Hampton Roads, $5,000 to support the (You)th Matter program for LQBTQ+ youth with nonclinical programs and services, including peer support and connections to mental health resources.

Survivor Ventures, $9,600 to support access to trauma-informed, trafficking-specific holistic nonclinical mental health counseling services for participants of Survivors to Entrepreneurs program.

The CHAS Foundation, $20,000 to support the Mental Illness Navigator & Support Program, a non-clinical, family-centered, trauma-informed support program for individuals, families, and caretakers seeking treatment and access to mental health services through education about related legal issues, connection to recourses and treatment options, and wrap-around support services.

The Norfolk Street Choir Project, $7,500 to support the Norfolk Street Choir Project's Expressive Arts Program, to increase connection and to assist engagement in expressive arts media for self-exploration of participants experiencing homelessness.

The Sarah Michelle Peterson Foundation, $10,000 to support SMPF's Project 300K, providing suicide prevention trainings for youth and adults in Hampton Roads, public health messaging about suicide warning signs and stigma reduction, suicide prevention programming in the workplace, and suicide intervention trainings.

Tidewater African Cultural Alliance (TACA), $9,000 to support program that seeks to dismantle the mental health stigma within communities of the African Diaspora., including anxiety and depression, within the adult African Diaspora community in Hampton Roads.

Virginia Beach CASA, $6,000to support professional development training for staff to enhance their understanding of secondary trauma impacts and better support CASA volunteers.

Virginia Stage Company, $10,000 to support bringing four free performances of the play "Every Brilliant Thing" high schools, colleges, and other youth organizations throughout the Hampton Roads region, to destigmatize depression, anxiety, and mental illness through audience engagement and theater.