Heartland Foundation Awards CollaborACTION Grant

Heartland Foundation is awarding a $4,350 CollaborACTION grant to the Grundy County University of Missouri Extension Council.

The granted funds will assist efforts in the organization’s Step Out and Up to Leadership program. This program will teach life skills to incarcerated women preparing to reenter the community. The goal of the program is to help women find a place for their strengths in the community by providing leadership and life skills.

Heartland Foundation Resources Coordinator, Dr. Sandra Pettit Weber, said she is excited to see the project progress and move forward.

“This is a wonderful educational program for incarcerated women that the Grundy County University of Missouri Extension Council is providing,” Pettit Weber said. “It will not only help these women move forward, it will also help the community move forward.”

Every month, approximately 100 women are released from the Chillicothe Correctional Center, many of whom remain in the area. One of the most dominant issues these women face upon release is low self-esteem. The Grundy County University of Missouri Extension Council wanted to help women be successful by providing tools and building the confidence to invest in themselves and their community.

Participants in Step Out and Up to Leadership program will set goals for themselves while learning how to work as a team member, manage conflict and listen to others, all skills necessary to be a contributing community member.

Heartland Foundation’s CollaborACTION grants help support collaborative solutions which are designed to champion new innovations that have the potential to impact education levels, character development and/or workforce skills. The grants are awarded on an annual, competitive basis.

For more information, please contact Heartland Foundation Resources Coordinator, Dr. Sandra Pettit Weber, at Sandra.pettitweber@heartlandfoundation.org or by calling 816-271-7571.

Heartland Foundation is a think ahead organization focused on uplifting the value of lifelong learning and community involvement.

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