BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas — United Way of the Brazos Valley is helping other local non-profits with its Community Impact Grant. The 2023-2025 application is now open.
“When you donate to United Way, it’s not going off to Houston, or Dallas or Austin or any of that stuff,” said Kat Gammon, interim vice president, community impact, United Way Brazos Valley. “It’s staying right here. A portion of those donations go into this grant so that we are able to support or friends and neighbors.”
The Brazos Valley Rehabilitation Center is a long time recipient of the Community Impact Grant.
“These funds are absolutely critical to our ability to serve everyone and anyone in need of therapy in our community,” said Alina Fifer, chief executive officer, Brazos Valley Rehabilitation Center.
Fifer says the grant means a world of difference to them.
“Since our inception in 1957, we’ve relied on community support,” said Fifer. “Support from individuals from businesses from awesome partners like the United Way help us achieve our mission to never turn anyone away because of their ability to pay.”
When patients need financial assistance, the rehab center can use grant funds to help pay the remaining balance.
“We also serve patients who may be not insured, folks that find themselves between jobs, and they can apply for financial assistance for our therapy programs based on their household size and income,” Fifer said.
Catholic Charities Central Texas helps members in the area with utility assistance.
“It has allowed us at Catholic Charities to help those who are struggling with their utility bills get back on their feet and keep their utility connections, connected,” said John Paci, director, Catholic Charities Central Texas.
“The clients that we serve, the number of depends on how much we had to spend on each household,” said Paci. “Sometimes those bills can go up to $200. Ultimately, we served over 50 clients and households for those two years.”
Through the grant, Catholic Charities also offers financial education to help people get back on their feet.
“They take courses where they learn how to budget, learn about credit, learn about getting out of debt if they’re in debt,” said Paci. “They’re really enthusiastic about taking these courses because it’s a lot of new knowledge that they have not been able to learn before.”
To apply for the grant, a non-profit must be serving health, education, and financial stability within the Brazos Valley.
“Some of these non-profits are very small,” said Gammon. “They have only a few staff members and sometimes it’s hard to be able to do the fundraising they need to do because they are trying to run their program and so this grant helps with their overall operations for their programs.”
OnRamp is a local nonprofit focused on helping others achieve self-sufficiency.
For $10,000 of grant funds, OnRamp can provide a vehicle to a family in need.
“Whenever we give away a car, it costs a lot of money,” said Blake Jennings, president, OnRamp. “We have to go buy that vehicle so United Way’s grant money has helped us be able to provide more vehicles to local families here in the Brazos Valley in need of transportation — and we’re definitely looking forward to applying this next round of grant applications.”
If you are interested in applying for the Community Impact Grant, you can learn more information here.