Stone Canyon Community Foundation Announces $250,000 in Youth Funding

Stone Canyon Community Foundation, a donor-advised fund held at the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, has announced that a total of $250,000 was granted to 20 local nonprofit organizations in their 2021-22 Annual Grant Round.

Grantees were selected based on their programs fulfilling the following needs: helping young people get and stay on track or take advantage of educational and other opportunities for their own self-improvement and development. These grants were made possible through the generosity of the members and residents of the Stone Canyon community.

SCCF supports nonprofit organizations whose endeavors positively impact the quality of life and development of youth in need in Oro Valley and the greater Tucson areas. In 14 years of giving, SCCF has granted over $3.25 million to local nonprofits in Southern Arizona.

2021-22 Stone Canyon Community Foundation Grantees:

• Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation
• Aviva Children’s Services
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Arizona
• Casa de los Niños
• El Grupo Youth Cycling
• Higher Ground
• Imago Dei Middle School
• Interfaith Community Services
• Junior Achievement of Arizona – Southern District
• Literacy Connects
• Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest
• Make Way for Books
• Our Family Services
• Painted Sky Elementary School – Thunderbird Resource Center
• Project Access
• San Miguel High School
• Southern Arizona Association for the Visually Impaired
• Southern Arizona Research, Science and Engineering Foundation
• STEP: Student Expedition Program
• Youth On Their Own

Grantee Highlights: 
El Grupo is a youth cycling organization that provides youth with experiences that are fun, skill-building, and bike centered, so that they can acquire the self-confidence and leadership skills to be active and healthy members of the community. 

According to El Grupo, “Stone Canyon’s continuing support of El Grupo Cycling and our Manzo Elementary Bike Club helps create positive coaching and youth development to thrive through challenge-based goals and peer-to-peer mentoring. In the coming months, we will purchase a storage unit for the school to provide quality programming on the weekends which will help create more opportunities such as weekend hikes, campouts, and even more opportunities to ride!” 

Make Way for Books is an early literacy nonprofit that provides proven programs, services and resources to more than 18,000 young children, parents and educators throughout the region each year. Its mission is to give all children the chance to read and succeed. 

“There is an urgent need for literacy programming for our young learners which has only been exacerbated by learning and opportunity loss due to the pandemic,” said Natalia Hoffman, program officer at Make Way for Books.  Stone Canyon Community Foundation’s support has allowed us to innovate and adapt our early literacy programming to break down barriers and ensure our youngest children have the early literacy experiences that build a foundation for future reading and learning. 

The services of Project Access, such as its educational programs as supported by CFSA, are delivered right in residents’ backyards, providing direct tools and opportunities to under-resourced individuals so they can stabilize and empower themselves and their households. This approach to service delivery embeds Project Access into the fabric of the community, allowing the non-profit to build trust with its residents while also eliminating significant service barriers like transportation, childcare, and cost. 

“At Project Access, we believe access to vital on-site health, education, employment services, and economic services for families, children, and seniors supports positive outcomes on multiple levels for community residents,” said Kristin Byrnes, president and CEO of Project Access. “This generous commitment from the Stone Canyon Community Foundation Fund held at the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona will go a long way in helping us to fulfill our education mission throughout Tucson.”