Palette Fund Announces 2011 Grantees

Today, The Palette Fund, a philanthropic organization honoring the legacy of the late Rand Harlan Skolnick by emphasizing collaborative grantmaking and programming centered around human rights and education, announced its 2011 slate of grantees.

This year’s grantees comprise a wide variety of organizations in each of The Palette Fund’s three program areas: Nutrition and Wellness; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Youth; and Patient Navigation. These organizations will collectively receive grants totaling approximately $800,000, to be distributed over the course of 2011. A complete list of the 2011 grantees, with descriptions, is below.

Said Terrence Meck, President and Executive Director of The Palette Fund: “From schools and homes to hospitals and homeless shelters, this year’s grantees impact almost every sector of our society. There could be no better testament to Rand’s legacy than the collective work of these organizations, which will be greatly enriched through our funding. Our grantees are moving us closer to a world in which obesity is far less of a risk; where LGBT youth can live their lives safely while being who they are; and where patients facing difficult medical decisions can more easily navigate the complex web of medical programs, options, and facilities.”

The Palette Fund honors the legacy of Rand Harlan Skolnick through collaborative grantmaking and programs that value human rights and education. The Foundation focuses on Nutrition & Wellness, Patient Navigation, and Queer Youth. Rand committed his heart and soul to his philanthropic work throughout his life, and The Palette Fund seeks to continue and grow his pioneering vision.

2011 Grants

Nutrition and Wellness

• Cancer Schmancer – Trash Cancer Campaign

This national campaign includes Tupperware-style parties across the country where people will learn about carcinogenic materials found in cleaning and grooming products, be encouraged to throw them away, and replace them with safe products.

• Edible Schoolyard New York

The Edible Schoolyard at P.S. 216 is the first four-season example of renowned chef and organic food activist Alice Waters’ program and the first in New York City. Its goal is to create a space in which the schoolchildren plant, harvest, prepare food and eat together, tied to a comprehensive interdisciplinary curriculum.

• Friends in Deed

FID’s HIV/AIDS Continuum Support Program provides support to anyone affected by HIV/AIDS through all stages of illness. The organization provides a range of services – support groups, one-on-one crisis counseling, bodywork, treatment planning and nutritional counseling, yoga, meditation, home and hospital visits, workshops and seminars free of charge. Palette will be seeking to support a potential new nutritional offering.

• God’s Love We Deliver

GLWD has outlined an ambitious multi-year program to provide nutritional counseling, education and service delivery to the people they serve. With Palette Fund’s support, this may expand Food as Medicine initiative to reach growing constituencies in underserved neighborhoods, conduct outreach, underwrite the hiring of a registered dietitian, conduct workshops and add new menu items including fresh fruits, whole grants and other healthy options.

• Project Aspire

The Palette Fund sponsors the nutrition portion of Project Aspire, a school-based public health initiative of Touro College at PS 197 in Central Harlem. Through classroom lessons, theme-based assemblies, special events and educational field trips, Project Aspire encourages students to lead healthy lifestyles, eat whole foods and pursue health careers.

• Urban Zen’s Food Solutions

In collaboration with the Urban Zen Foundation, The Palette Fund will offer two ground-breaking groundbreaking, inspirational workshops – “Cancer and Nutrition” and “Fighting Child Obesity” focused on educating the Urban Zen community and beyond about navigating and restoring health through food. Each workshop focuses on a specific health topic that advocates dietary change as part of the healing plan.

• Wellness in The Schools – Cook-For-Kids Program

Wellness in the Schools (WITS) is a non-profit, community-based organization founded in 2005 to improve the environment, food, and fitness in NYC public schools. In partnership with the New York City Department of Education’s Office of School Food, WITS operates the Cook for Kids program in NYC public school kitchens and classrooms. In an effort to combat childhood obesity and to promote healthy eating, WITS places culinary school graduates in schools. These in-resident cooks work alongside cafeteria workers to train, inspire, and support their preparation of salad bars and fresh, healthful homemade meals.

Queer Youth

• Out in Front – Stonewall Community Foundation

Out In Front New York is an initiative of the Stonewall Community Foundation to cultivate the next generation of nonprofit leaders in the LGBTQ community, particularly those interested or active in board service. Over the course of four months, through five day-long sessions, a diverse group of 15 to 25 participants will learn what it means to lead an organization with confidence, practice the skills essential to doing so effectively and responsibly, and build lasting relationships in the process.

• Jeffrey Fashion Cares

Jeffrey Fashion Cares was established in 1992 in Atlanta, GA, by Jeffrey Kalinsky, fashion pioneer and community leader. He launched the first-ever Jeffrey Fashion Cares event to heighten awareness of the plight of people living with HIV/AIDS and members of the LGBTQ community.
In just 8 years since the event first came to New York, it has raised almost $4 million for LGBT and LGBT youth charities here in New York City. This year’s event, to be held aboard the Intrepid on March 28, is the sole event Palette will sponsor in 2011, as 95% of every dollar raised goes directly to the four benefiting charities: Hetrick-Martin Institute, Lambda Legal, the Point Foundation, and Gay Men’s Health Crisis. Palette’s sponsorship money dedicated to each of these organizations will serve as its grant to each for 2011.

• True Colors Fund

In conjunction with Cyndi Lauper’s Foundation, The Palette Fund will work over the next 6 months to assess the needs of homeless youth among the lesbian, gay and transgendered communities, and create a plan for meeting the need nationwide. This project will include potential collaborations with a plethora of LGBT and homeless organizations.

• The National LGBT Cancer Network

A group of leading advocates, academics and medical practitioners involved in LGBT cancer care are discussing holding a major conference on LGBT Cancer in 2011. If held, Palette would be a lead sponsor and and play a lead role in shaping the conference. The Network is also submitting a grant for a nationwide outreach program.

• New York LGBT Center

The LGBT Center’s Youth Enrichment Services (YES) Program serves more than 1,000 young people ages 13-22 every year. The program’s state funding was discontinued last year, meaning that Palette’s funding will enable it to stave off cuts to its services. Through peer education, leadership training internships and YES summer camp, YES mobilizes young people to be agents of change. These programs train young people as community leaders, including self-confidence; facilitating community meetings; building community with their peers; and teaching workshops for other youth around racism, body image, grief and loss, substance abuse, and HIV prevention.

• Point Foundation – The Rand Skolnick Point Scholarship

Point Foundation is the nation’s largest scholarship-granting organization for LGBT students of merit. The Rand Skolnick Point Scholarship provides support and assistance each year, in perpetuity, to an exceptional LGBT student who has demonstrated leadership and potential. Point’s first scholar receiving this honor is Derek Blechinger, who will attend The University of Washington School of Medicine.

• Queer Youth Fund

The Queer Youth Fund, made up of individuals and organizations, makes multi-year grants to grassroots, local, state or national nonprofit organizations located anywhere in the United States working to improve the quality of life among queer youth 24 years or younger. The Queer Youth Fund awards grants to innovative and effective leadership development programs or organizing projects that empower queer youth to improve societal conditions affecting queer youth and that make a long-term difference to their movement.

• Out in America

Out in America is an upcoming PBS documentary on the day-to-day lives of LGBT Americans from the 1950s to the present day, by Emmy Award-winning producer Andrew Goldberg. Airing nationally on PBS on June 8th, Out in America is an uplifting collection of unique, transformative stories and inspiring personal narratives told through the lens of the country’s most prominent LGBT figures and pioneers, as well as many average, yet extraordinary, citizens from the LGBT community. The Palette Fund’s grant will make sure that this film is not only seen on PBS, but also used as an educational resource to schools across the country.

• Family Acceptance Project

Beginning in 2011, The Palette Fund will be supporting Dr. Caitlin Ryan’s cutting-edge research and education, which centers around decreasing major health and related risks for LGBT youth by encouraging their families to accept them. This vital work is the first step in helping to end the downward spiral to homelessness – as well as suicide, substance abuse and HIV – that so many LGBT youth face when not accepted by their families. As The Palette Fund is concentrating a great deal of its efforts on the area of LGBT homelessness in 2011, it was pertinent to include work like Dr. Ryan’s that seeks to prevent such tragic consequences.

Patient Navigation

• Harold P. Freeman Institute

This is the country’s first accredited Patient Navigation training center, and is located at the Ralph Lauren Cancer Center in Harlem. They offer three kinds of programs; online training; a three-day training course on-site (open to anyone); and customized training. The Institute is looking to Palette to partner with them to help scale the effort and create a gold standard in patient navigation.

• New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care

The New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care provides compassionate care to the sick and terminally ill and creates a supportive and nurturing environment for people to consciously face their illness and/or end of life journey.

• Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PANCAN)

PANCAN is a nationwide network of people dedicated to working together to advance research, support patients and create hope for those affected by pancreatic cancer. This three-year grant supports their successful PALS (Patient and Liaison Services) program and enables the launch of The Patient Navigation Outreach Program. The Program aims to ensure that more patients and their caregivers have access to up-to-date information about the disease, are aware of and are connected to needed resources and services, and are equipped and empowered to make informed decisions about their care and treatment. 2011 is the second year of this grant.