The PPL Foundation recently awarded $500,000 in funding to support 12 nonprofit organizations working to improve the lives and well-being of individuals throughout central and eastern Pennsylvania.

The foundation’s latest investments support programs such as an Innovation and Creation Lab where young adults can develop their STEM skills; a job readiness program for LGBTQ youth; a wetland restoration project; the expansion of a cultural and literacy enrichment initiative for inner-city youth; and a Nurse’s Pantry program that provides basic needs for at-risk students to improve their academic experience and to reduce absenteeism.

PPL Foundation Major Grant recipients are:

• Berwick YMCA received a grant of $50,000 to create an Innovation and Creation Lab where young adults can develop their STEM skills.

• Bradbury-Sullivan LGBTQ Community Center received a grant of $35,000 for the creation of a café that will serve as a job readiness program for LGBTQ youth, as well as a sober social space for the community.

•Central PA Conservancy received a grant of $25,000 to support an improvement project restoring the LeTort Spring Garden Preserve, a 38-acre wetland area in Carlisle.

• Community CARES received a grant of $50,000 to support a new family emergency shelter in Shippensburg.

• Communities in Schools in Pennsylvania received a grant of $30,000 to support the Cultural Navigation project at Fulton Elementary School in Lancaster, which provides refugee and immigrant students and their families with culturally and linguistically appropriate services and connects them to critically needed social, financial and mental/physical health resources.

• Downtown Shenandoah Inc. received a grant of $25,000 to support the development of the Center for Education, Business and Arts, where entrepreneurs and community members can acquire affordable education, business space and the resources needed to start and grow their business.

•Junior Achievement of Northeastern Pennsylvania received a grant of $60,000 to support the Coding the Coal Region program, which provides after-school STEM computer science and coding classes with an entrepreneurial focus for students in grades 9-12 from a 13-county region.

• Pearl S. Buck International received a grant of $25,000 to support a regional training conference for nonprofit and community leaders to discuss the tenets of diversity, equity, and inclusion, focused on best practices in general and specifically law enforcement, human resources and health care.

• Resurrected Community Development Corporation received a grant of $100,000 to support the expansion of the James Lawson Freedom School, a six-week summer cultural and literacy enrichment initiative for youth in K-12th grades.

• Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology received a grant of $35,000 to expand the capacity of programs related to electronics engineering and technology.

•The Improved Milton Experience received a grant of $40,000 to expand its successful STEAM Makerspace and Business Innovation Center to the neighboring communities of Shamokin and Sunbury.

• United Way of Wyoming Valley received a grant of $25,000 to support the Nurse’s Pantry program, which partners with 22 school districts to meet the basic needs of at-risk students to improve their academic experience and to reduce absenteeism.

To be considered for a grant, all organizations must apply online. Please visit www.pplcares.com to learn more.

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