The Board of Directors of Moses Taylor Foundation has announced its most recent grant awards, awarding a total of $355,000 to five organizations that advance the Foundation’s mission of improving the health of people in Northeastern Pennsylvania. “We continue to work diligently with organizations to address community needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, while also providing support to organizations for non-COVID related needs,” said LaTida Smith, Moses Taylor Foundation president and CEO. “From supporting school nurses by providing much-needed personal protective equipment and sanitization supplies, to providing modern blood scales for our local American Red Cross chapter, these grants support our local community and nonprofit partners while we all continue to navigate the effects of COVID-19.”
A complete history of grant awards is available on the Moses Taylor Foundation website.
City of Scranton
$360,000
To support the hiring of a public health coordinator who will be responsible for coordinating public health efforts and communicating pertinent, timely, and critical information to the public. The public health coordinator will work to coordinate education and programming around community health and safety for Scranton residents.
Marywood University
$79,054
To support the purchase of a SimMom Birthing Simulator that will enhance the University’s ability to train nursing and physician assistant students for successful careers in the healthcare field. The SimMom Birthing Simulator is an advanced, full-body simulator able to facilitate training for gynecological, prenatal, birthing, and postpartum care.
United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania
$212,301
To support the development and implementation of a year-round Community Farmers Market in Carbondale. Located at Fallbrook, a new residential community in Carbondale and home to the Lackawanna County Area Agency on Aging’s Fallbrook Healthy Aging Campus, the proposed market will connect low-income residents of Carbondale with accessible, affordable fresh food options and nutrition education. Eligible participants will receive coupons and vouchers they can redeem for additional fresh produce, increasing the capacity for individuals and families to purchase and eat more fruits and vegetables.
The Institute for Public Policy & Economic Development
$195,000
To support Project STIR, a variety of capacity-building supports for the philanthropic, nonprofit, and community at large. The Institute publishes demographic reports, federal/state bulletins, quarterly research studies, and legislative issues briefing booklets to help inform strategic decision-making. Over the next three years The Institute will develop a web-based Data Dashboard that utilizes Institute reports and studies to produce graphics, descriptions, and maps for data at the city and county level for several counties throughout NEPA.
Lackawanna College
$150,000
To establish a Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) program in Scranton and Hawley, and update its current CCMA laboratory in Towanda. The CCMA program combines medical assistant classes with hands-on experience to train healthcare professionals in both clinical and administrative duties in hospitals, physician’s offices, and other healthcare facilities.
Children’s Service Center of Wyoming Valley
$500,000
To support the integrated healthcare expansion project through the construction of a new 15,000-square-foot, 3-story building. Expansion plans include the introduction of on-site laboratory services; 39 new clinical therapy offices; and the relocation of primary care to the first floor of the addition, with a separate entrance that will allow for operating hours seven days a week.
NeighborWorks Northeastern Pennsylvania
$75,000
To fund technology upgrades, the addition of ADA parking spots, exterior repairs and improvements, and the creation of an education and public meeting space. The new Center will support the administration and deployment of Aging in Place services focused on the health and well-being of regional residents aged 60 and above, and training and counseling services for seniors and families/individuals in need of homeownership and financial guidance. Additionally, the project will provide meeting and small event space for local nonprofit organizations, community groups, neighborhood associations, and others in West Scranton.
Northeast Counseling Services
$70,000
To support the purchase of two new passenger vans. NCS is dedicated to removing barriers around accessing mental-health support by providing safe and reliable transportation to those clients in need.
Scranton Area Community Foundation
$23,469.35
To secure Heather McGhee, author, speaker, and advocate, as a keynote speaker for this year’s NEPA Learning Conference, and provide all attendees with a copy of her recently released book The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper. Ms. McGhee’s address provides a key opportunity to hold a dialogue around racial equity with a broad audience of nonprofits and funders.
Big Brothers
Big Sisters of Northeastern Pennsylvania
$14,600
To support the engagement of a strategic planning consultant. The consultant will be tasked with developing a common understanding among the volunteer and professional leaders of BBBS as to the current state of its organization and the challenges facing it today and into the foreseeable future; developing a long-range plan that defines the strategies to be used by BBBS to fulfill its mission; and establishing measures of success that will be used to evaluate the organization’s progress as it implements its strategies.
The Salvation Army
$5,000
To support the Emergency Feeding Assistance Program. Funding will enable The Salvation Army of Scranton to continue its expanded food box distibution program.
Marywood University
$6,709
To support the summer Healthcare Discovery camp. Middle and high school students will gain firsthand experience in various healthcare fields, including art and music therapy, athletic training, counseling, exercise science, nursing, nutrition and dietetics, physician assistant, psychology, respiratory therapy, social work, and speech-language pathology.
Schuylkill Women in Crisis
$20,000
To support a consultant who will complete an agency assessment and provide guidance for hiring a new president and CEO. The objective of this project is to conduct an organizational assessment that deepens the Board’s understanding of what qualities are essential in a new president/CEO and how to improve program and service implementation overall.
Scranton Area Community Foundation
$100,000
To support the second annual NEPA Gives, a virtual fundraising event scheduled for Friday, June 4. For 24 hours donors can make donations to their favorite local nonprofit organizations through the NEPA Gives online platform. NEPA Gives provides critical operating funds that many organizations were not able to raise throughout the year due to cancellation of their major yearly in-person fundraising events.
Servants to All
$16,981
To expand current homeless shelter services to assist homeless families with children. Funds will be used to furnish a communal living space with a table and chairs; small appliances; eight beds, mattresses, and dressers; toddler beds and cribs; linens; and other household supplies.
Wayne County Community Foundation
$10,000
To contribute to a feasibility study for the development of an Agriculture Innovation Center. The proposed Center will contain warehouse and refrigeration space to meet the growing needs of the county’s five food pantries and serve as the Wayne County Pantry Hub; a shared working area for the aggregation, light processing, and packaging of farm products for retail, wholesale, and institutional sales; a farmers’ market for local producers; and a certified kitchen to serve both existing local food and agricultural businesses and to incubate new products and businesses.
Candy’s Place
$15,000
To support the hiring of an independent consultant to establish a strategic plan for Candy’s Place. The consultant will be tasked with evaluating current programming, determining opportunities for new programming, and identifying possible revenue streams.
Children’s Advocacy Center of Northeastern Pennsylvania
$19,900
To support a consultant who will review, analyze, and provide recommendations on current policies, procedures, systems, and organizational challenges. The goal is to ensure greater consistency across all forms of service delivery, so that the organization will be better equipped to serve vulnerable children and families.
Goodwill Industries of Northeastern PA
$9,600
To support the purchase of a software package that will increase the organization’s capacity to market and fundraise. By implementing a fundraising plan along with this software, Goodwill can intentionally decrease their financial risk by increasing their capacity to engage in fundraising activities and soliciting donations from the community at large.
Wayne County Community Foundation
$6,000
To provide staff members from Wayne Highlands School District the opportunity to participate in a “train the trainer” experience with RULER. RULER is a systemic approach to social and emotional learning developed at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, and aims to infuse the principles of emotional intelligence into K to 12 schools through elevating the way teachers teach, students learn, and families support students.
American Red Cross NEPA Chapter
$20,000
For the purchase of contactless temperature screening kiosks. These screening kiosks at Red Cross blood donation centers and blood drives allow blood donors to keep their facemasks on during the temperature check screening prior to entering the blood drive. This new technology operates with higher accuracy; allows donors to keep masks on; and operates without being staffed, limiting person-to-person interaction and freeing up highly trained staff.
Women’s Resources of Monroe County
$20,000
To continue providing sheltering services throughout the remainder of the year. Since the onset of the pandemic, Women’s Resources has seen an unprecedented increase in requests for services, including requests for shelter. Current health and safety regulations only allow for the shelter to be at 50% capacity; therefore, it’s been necessary to utilize a local hotel to shelter any additional victims who are fleeing violence at home.
United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley
$20,000
To support the placement of AmeriCorps members in Carbon County school districts throughout the remainder of the year. Dubbed “CarbonCorps,” the program provides mentoring and coordination of services for students and families in Carbon County’s Panther Valley, Weatherly, and Palmerton school districts, with plans to expand to Jim Thorpe and Lehighton. In addition to virtual one-on-one and group mentoring, CarbonCorps mentors have taken on COVID-19 response projects around food insecurity, overall general health and safety, eviction response, and connecting families with agencies and resources.
Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Fund of The Luzerne Foundation
$2,750
To support the 14th annual conference for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, held virtually this year. Along with providing networking opportunities, information and advice, and referral services to the GRG community, the conference also increases awareness of this growing demographic. This year, keynote speakers include the Governor of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Secretary of Aging.
Saint Joseph’s Center
$111,450
To purchase and install air purification systems in its facilities. The air purification systems will significantly neutralize airborne viruses and reduce the risk of person-to-person infection by respiratory particles and aerosols.
Scranton Area Community Foundation
$500,000 over 3 years
To facilitate a series of workshops intended to address capacity-building needs of nonprofit organizations in our region. A portion of the funding will also be used to support the annual NEPA Learning Conference and the Executive-in-Residence program.
NEPA Community Health Care
$350,000
To support the expansion of dental services by hiring a dental provider, practice manager, and two dental assistants. Funding will also support a consultant for planning and implementation.
Northeast Regional Cancer Institute
$140,000
To support operation of the Community-Based Cancer Screening Navigation Program. The program facilitates colon, breast, cervical, and lung cancer screening for low-income residents throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania, while also working to connect them with medical homes. Cancer Institute Navigators aid individuals in navigating the healthcare system; gaining access to free or reduced-cost screenings and diagnostic procedures; and overcoming socioeconomic and logistical barriers to healthcare access.
Johnson College
$75,000
To educate potential traditional and non-traditional students about the opportunities for careers in healthcare. Using a motor home shell customized to house various healthcare training modalities, Johnson College will provide potential students with a hands-on experience to see and feel what it would be like to work in a healthcare environment. In addition to the hands-on experience, Johnson College staff will be available to answer questions and help potential students resolve or eliminate common barriers to educational access.
Misericordia University
$99,500
To purchase a virtual dissection table for the Gross Anatomy Suite in the new Frank M. and Dorothea Henry Science Center.
Domestic Violence Service Center, Inc.
$100,000
To support expansion of the current facility to add six additional bedrooms, modern restrooms, a kitchen and living space, and counseling rooms.
Outreach - Center for Community Resources
$10,000
To engage a consultant who will help the organization develop a foundational understanding of what it means to be diverse, equitable, and inclusive, and prepare the board to better identify and recruit diverse candidates for board membership and service.
Center for Vision Loss
$15,000
To support the guided transportation service in Monroe County. The guided transportation service is “door-through-door,” with sighted guides escorting clients from their homes and into their destinations. Guides are trained in techniques for guiding a visually-impaired person properly in indoor and outdoor environments.
Child Hunger Outreach Partners
$20,000
To expand the Backpack Program throughout Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wyoming, and Susquehanna counties. The Backpack Program provides a bag of food with a minimum of two dinners, two breakfasts, two servings of fruit, and five-ten healthy snacks. Sent home every Friday, it is intended to be enough food to provide meals for the weekend. Each student in the family is welcome to participate and there are no income guidelines.
United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania
$20,000
To support a year of LanguageLine interpretation telephone service. Community members seeking assistance from UNC throughout the year speak more than 18 languages, including Swahili, Arabic, and Nepali.
Johnson College
$8,400
To support the purchase of equipment for the Physical Therapy Assistant and Radiological Technician programs. These popular programs require updated equipment and simulators so that students are receiving training that accurately reflects the current clinical environment. Funding will be used to purchase a RealCare Geriatric Simulator, a 3-position Geri Chair Recliner, a hospital bedside cabinet, and a radiology wall stand.
CASA of Luzerne County
$20,000
To support recruiting and training of volunteers from the community to serve as court-appointed special advocates for children in foster care in Luzerne County. An advocate monitors a child’s case to ensure he or she is receiving the necessary services, education, and treatment during the period of placement, and submits a written report and recommendation to the Court as to what permanent placement will serve the child’s best interests.
Telespond Senior Services, Inc.
$19,500
To support immediate repairs and emergency safety equipment, including paving, lighting, and security cameras.
JustPartners, Inc.
$17,064
To provide introductory racial equity trainings to funders across the Foundation’s 11-county region.
Association of Black Foundation Executives
$40,000
To provide introductory racial equity trainings to funders across the Foundation's 11-county region.
United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties
$100,000
COVID-19 emergency response
Northeastern Pennsylvania Educational Television Association (WVIA)
$60,000
To support the Keystone Edition: Health program, a series of episodes airing the fourth Friday of every month. Guided by research from The Institute for Public Policy & Economic Development, host Tonyehn Verkitus, executive director of the Lackawanna and Luzerne County Medical Societies, will address issues that are important to the people in our community, including the ongoing pandemic; the aging population of the region; food deserts and food insecurity; childhood trauma and child abuse; mental health; the social determinants of health; and dental and oral health.
Volunteers in Medicine
$300,000
To increase access to patients for primary dental services through the addition of two paid positions, a dentist and a dental hygienist. The paid dental providers will allow for increased patient volume, helping to reduce and eventually eliminate a waiting list.
Maternal & Family Health Services, Inc.
$250,270
To support the hiring of a high-level grant professional to actively pursue and manage public, private foundation, and corporate grants. Funding will also be utilized to develop and expand an Annual Fund and lay the foundation for major gifts and planned giving, helping the organization to diversify its revenue mix.
Children’s Service Center of Wyoming Valley
$44,400
To provide internet-ready tablets for staff who work with clients and/or families outside the office setting. Providing access to vital technology for its employees working in the field, particularly those in rural communities, will allow staff to summarize session notes; access client health records; complete accurate notes and meet timely reporting requirements; and extend clinician availability to a wider range of clients.
Outreach - Center for Community Resources
$145,685
To assist individuals in successfully reentering the community and becoming productive and contributing members of society, while also working to reduce recidivism. Supports provided by Outreach after release include assistance with referrals for housing, food, job training, vocational skills, employment, connections to recovery and mental-health assistance, links to community services, and GED support to complete programs started while in prison.
Volunteers of America Pennsylvania
$60,808
To support the Give Hope program, a social service navigation program established in 2019 to support homeless and unstably housed individuals in Wilkes-Barre and greater Luzerne County. In cooperation with law enforcement, local government officials, social services organizations, and other community partners, Give Hope improves service connection for homeless or precariously housed individuals, especially those with accompanying mental-health concerns and/or substance-use disorders.
Greater Wyoming Valley Area YMCA
$14,000
To support software-conversion costs related to the merger of the Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA and the Greater Pittston YMCA. The merger between the two Luzerne County YMCAs will create an improved operations model that includes sharing resources and volunteers in aquatics, child care, development, and youth programming.
Diakon Child, Family & Community Ministries
$20,000
To support an expansion of the APPRISE program in Pike County. Diakon’s APPRISE program provides free health insurance counseling to Medicare beneficiaries. The APPRISE program has successfully saved individuals anywhere from $1,050 to $5,000 a year by enrolling them in programs that reduce prescription drug costs, Medicare Part B premiums, and hospital stay deductibles.
University of Scranton
$20,000
To purchase equipment for the Speech and Hearing Sciences Laboratory located in the university’s Leahy Hall. This laboratory will be a state-of-the-art research area that will enhance the educational experiences and professional competence of students in the Communication Sciences & Disorders program. Equipment will provide students with an advanced level of educational training by employing the use of instrumentation to increase understanding of the physiology of speech production, the acoustic characteristics of voice, and the processes by which listeners perceive the sounds of speech.
Lackawanna County Arts and Culture Department
$19,000
To partner on the COVID-19 Creative Community Grant program. The Foundation will help to support three projects that promote health and safety in a creative way.
Boys & Girls Clubs Of Northeastern Pennsylvania
$25,000
To support daytime operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participating children have the opportunity to complete their school work during the first part of the day and participate in educational programs during the second part of the day.
Friends of the Poor
$15,000
To support the organization’s annual community Thanksgiving meal event in Scranton. Founded in 1984, Friends of the Poor is dedicated to easing the burden of living in poverty and enhancing the quality of life for all who live in low- to moderate-income communities.
American Red Cross, NEPA Chapter
$20,000
For the purchase of modern blood scales to replace outdated models. New blood scales offer many benefits including collecting variable blood volume based on a donor’s gender, height, and weight, allowing for more blood to be collected from certain donors; improving engagement between donors and phlebotomists, who now must manually agitate the collection bag to mix blood with anticoagulants; and reducing the number of lost units due to occasional equipment deficiencies and clotting. The American Red Cross Northeastern Pennsylvania Chapter serves residents of Lackawanna, Luzerne, Susquehanna, and Wyoming counties.
Family Promise of Monroe County
$20,000
To provide emergency shelter and meals for at-risk and homeless children and their families. While Family Promise's operating model has always relied on partnering with local congregations to provide overnight shelter and meals, due to COVID-19 the organization has shifted to sheltering children and their families in local hotels and motorhome camp sites. Funding will provide the necessary support to keep families housed through the end of 2020.
Valley Youth House
$20,000
To support a new Rapid Re-Housing (RRH) program for homeless or unstably housed transition-age youth (ages 18-24) in Monroe County. The program provides rental assistance for an average of twelve months for up to ten youth. A Housing Stability Coach will help participants locate housing; develop the soft and hard skills necessary to find and maintain employment; and assist with obtaining connections to community resources.
YMCA of Greater Scranton
$125,000
To support a full-day learning hybrid program along with a before- and after-school program. Due to COVID-19, school districts have been forced to choose between hybrid programming and full-time virtual learning, leaving working parents with limited choice in providing quality, safe care for their children while they continue to work outside of the home. These new programs offered by the YMCA meet the needs of working families and are convenient, affordable, and designed to provide positive and enriching experiences for students.
AllOne Charities
$170,000
For the purchase and distribution of PPE and sanitization supplies to local school nurses throughout the Foundation’s 11-county region. Kits will include KN 95 Masks, face shields, disinfectant wipes, 3 ply masks, gowns, nitrile gloves, and hand sanitizer.
