Baton Rouge, La. (March 23, 2022) – Capital Area United Way announced its 2022 – 2025 Innovation Grantees that will be a part of the three-year funding cycle beginning July 1, 2022 and lasting through June 30, 2025. The grants total over $1.5 million for 21 programs that cover education, healthy living, and income stability, three of Capital Area United Way’s four focus areas. CAUW’s work prioritizes the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) population. The ALICE population is comprised of working residents that are struggling to make ends meet, have little or no savings, and are one emergency away from falling into poverty.

“We are excited for the upcoming year of funding for partners across all of our focus areas,” said George Bell, President and CEO of Capital Area United Way. “These programs will help ensure that the ALICE population is getting the help they need to keep them from falling into poverty. We are excited to continuing partnering with existing programs, but also introducing new innovative collaborations to further provide important support in the 10-Parish community.”

The following agencies’ programs will be funded as part of the Innovation Grant cycle include:

“The 2022-2025 Innovation Grant funding cycle was one of the most competitive grant cycles the CAUW has seen. The quality of program applications was extremely high this year and volunteer reviewers did an excellent job of evaluating the 77 applications and making a recommendation on how the available funds should be allocated”, said Amanda Stout, Capital Area United Way Board Chair. “We are very proud of the hard work and many hours contributed by the volunteer reviewers, and anxious to see the results of how the 21 programs awarded grants use our community’s dollars to support education, income stability and health of the residents in our 10-Parish service area.”

“After a rigorous review of a host of excellent proposals and which therefore required difficult decisions, Capital Area United Way is funding 21 projects that will strengthen our communities and help the nearly one-half of our area’s people who, despite a majority of them being employed, do not have the assets to have what almost anyone would call a basic standard of living,” said Gaines Foster, Community Impact Cabinet Chair for Capital Area United Way. “One group of projects focus on building skills that will ensure financial stability; another will address health issues, particularly mental health, that so often inhibit financial independence. Yet other funded projects support education that helps prepare a new generation to live fuller lives.”

In addition to these investments, an additional minimum $500,000 will be part of a Basic Needs competitive grant process for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. These dollars will come from the $5 million MacKenzie Scott gift that was received by Capital Area United Way in December 2020. Following the conclusion of the 2019 – 2022 grant cycle, the Basic Needs focus area will be a part of an annual grant cycle to better meet the ever-changing needs of our 10-Parish service area. This change will also provide grantees better flexibility year over year to request dollars for the highest priorities of our community’s most vulnerable clients.

An additional $1 million will be distributed over the course of the 2022-2023 fiscal year for project-based needs throughout the 10-Parish service area. More information will be released later following the Basic Needs process. Additionally, since Hurricane Ida made landfall on August 29, 2021, Capital Area United Way has distributed $1.5 million in disaster relief grants with an additional $300,000 to be distributed for additional long term recovery needs.

For a list of current grantees, please visit www.cauw.org/fundedpartners. To stay up to date on the latest funding opportunities, please visit www.cauw.org/funding-opportunities.

For questions about grant funding and opportunities, please contact Edy Addison, Senior Director of Community Impact, at edya@cauw.org.

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