Posted on August 3, 2011

Piper Trust Awards $4.6 Million in Second-Quarter Grants

The Phoenix-based Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust has announced $4.6 million in second-quarter grants, more than half of which are intended to provide relief for cash-strapped arts and human service organizations in Maricopa County, Arizona.

Through the Piper Community Relief program, the foundation awarded grants totaling $2.6 million to fifty-six organizations, including $502,000 to arts and culture organizations, $750,000 to emergency food and shelter agencies, and nearly $1 million to afterschool food programs, community-based health and dental clinics, and mobile healthcare vans. The arts grants will support organizations struggling to generate revenue, while grants awarded to community clinics and mobile vans will be used to provide emergency food and shelter and help maintain medical and dental services for homeless youth, pregnant mothers, and uninsured families with children.

Other grants included $500,000 to the Phoenix Theater for new works and outreach programs; $336,017 to the Reach out and Read early literacy project at pediatric medical clinics; and $271,000 to Arizona BUILD, a collaborative project of the Helios Education and Steele foundations that aims to create a comprehensive system to address the early care, nutrition, and health needs of young children.

"The Piper trustees continue to assess urgent needs in the county," said Piper Trust president and CEO Judy Jolley Mohraz. "While a foundation cannot replace public funding, it can help with emergency necessities for recently impoverished families. It can respond to the soaring number of children in afterschool programs where snack time represents a major meal for many children."