The New Hanover Community Endowment on Tuesday announced 12 new grants, awarding more than $1.67 million to 12 nonprofit organizations across New Hanover County.

A news release stated that the money supports "critical work in education, family support, food access, housing, infrastructure, and community health."

Six of the awarded grants are focused on advancing youth education and family services.

"Together, they support initiatives spanning early childhood through young adulthood, including music instruction for preschoolers, hands-on science education for fifth-grade students, and mentorship and outdoor learning programs for teens," according to the release. "Other grants in this group provide enhanced training for group home staff, support for families navigating special education, and resources to help young people transition from foster care to independent living."

Two additional grants aim to expand community access to healthy food, the release stated.

"One supports infrastructure upgrades that will increase storage and distribution capacity for food assistance," officials stated in the release. "The other provides operational support for long-term food access solutions in the Northside neighborhood, including efforts to build viable, community-led food delivery strategies. These investments reflect the endowment’s ongoing focus on advancing food security and supporting innovative responses to local basic needs."

The budget approved by New Hanover County Board of Commissioners in June had slashed funding to a potential Northside Food Co-op.

According to the endowment release, all grant awards are contingent upon the endowment’s receipt of a signed grant agreement and plan of accountability from each grantee organization.

“As promised at our May public meeting, we are excited to continue announcing Endowment grants rooted in real needs and shaped by residents and nonprofit leaders across New Hanover County,” said Sophie Dagenais, vice president of programs and grants. “In the weeks and months ahead, we will share more grants, even as we work, in close partnership with community partners, to refine our long-term strategies in support of our refreshed goals and priorities. That planning is essential but so is keeping resources flowing to the important work already happening on the ground.”

The following are the specifics of the latest announced endowment grants:

• Arid Serenity Association Inc. - $50,000: To complete critical facility upgrades, including ADA-compliant decking and railings, parking lot resurfacing, and bathroom repairs.
• Brooklyn Arts Music Academy - $66,000: To continue Music is Life! in two preschools and provide five new scholarships for individual music instruction to school children.
• Cape Fear Community Land Trust - $350,000: To serve as a revolving resource to purchase, renovate and resell subject to a ground lease blighted single family homes to residents making at or below 80% AMI. All of the land purchased with this revolving resource will be banked by the Trust to maintain affordability in perpetuity.
• Cape Fear Council of Governments - $200,000: To sustain the New Hanover County Coordinated Entry Program, the primary entry point to housing and services in New Hanover County homeless response system.
• Cape Fear Group Homes - $180,000: To improve quality of care for clients and promote staff retention through creating an Integrated Education Coordinator position.
• Education Without Walls - $37,500: To augment the capacity for Education Without Walls, a 12-month program for opportunity youth aged 13-18, which integrates mentorship with outdoor and adventure education (12 additional slots).
• Family Support Network of Southeastern NC Inc. - $33,000: To support parent mentor training, parent to parent support, Triple P Positive Parenting Program, and IEP support programs. 
• Five14 Revolution - $85,000: To support organization’s restoration house and outreach center programs for victims of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.
• Growing Resilience - $320,940: To support operations, including efforts to develop viable food access and delivery solutions in and for the Northside community.
• Masonboro.org - $45,000: To support the Island Explorers (ILX), a science-based field trip for all New Hanover County fifth-graders.
• Nourish NC - $240,000: To build a 1,300-square-foot warehouse annex, purchase a forklift, and construct a 16X20 walk-in cooler to increase NourishNC’s efficiency, storage, and purchasing across all programs.
• Youth Villages North Carolina -$66,667: To support LifeSet, Youth Villages of North Carolina’s community-based program serving youth who are “aging out” of foster care and transitioning into independent living.