Monroe County OKs $167K in social services grants named after Sophia Travis

At its meeting on Monday, the Monroe county council approved $167,000 in social services grant awards to 42 different projects.

The top award this year, of $9,730, went to a collaborative effort to fund CPR training for several nonprofits.

Participating in the collaborative application were Middle Way House, Amethyst House, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Bloomington Creative Glass Center, Bloomington Montessori School, Cancer Support Community, Lotus Education & Arts Foundation, Monroe County History Center, Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, People and Animal Learning Services, Tandem Community Birth Center, Windfall Dancers, and Wonderlab.

Rounding out the top 10 grant awards for this year were: Susie’s Place ($8,420); Indiana Recovery Alliance ($7,250); Big Brothers Big Sisters ($6,650); Beacon, Inc. ($6,330); New Hope for Families ($5,750); Boys and Girls Club ($5,380); Hoosier Hills ($5,270); and New Leaf New Life ($5,250).

In 2013, the grant program was renamed in honor of Sophia Travis, who served on the county council from 2004 to 2008. She worked as a councilor to “assure the applications for the limited funds available for support would be considered in a fair, even-handed and transparent process.”

The grants are decided by a committee of three county councilors and two members of the community. For this cycle, Cheryl Munson chaired the committee, as she has for several years. Munson was joined by councilors Peter Iversen and Jennifer Crossley.

Also serving on the committee were Hattie Johnson and Jenny Stevens. It was Stevens who read out the grant awards from the public mic at Monday’s county council meeting.

Crossley reported from the council’s side, giving an update on Munson, who has been absent due to illness for a few meetings now. Crossley said, “I talked to [Munson] today, and she sends greetings. She wishes she could be here.”

New this year, Crossley noted, was that the consideration of collaborative applications from more than one nonprofit for a single project. It’s something that the committee wants to repeat in the future, she said.

As it has in the past, the council divided the question of the grant awards to vote separately on awards to Planned Parenthood ($3,750 for Bloomington Health Center Operations) and All-Options Pregnancy Resource Center ($5,000 for the Hoosier Diaper Programs).

That’s a nod to councilor Marty Hawk who does not want to vote in support of organizations that are connected to the provision of abortion services, even if the specific grant award does not support a project that directly involves abortion services.

The vote on the awards to Planned Parenthood and All-Options was 5–1 with dissent from Hawk. The vote on the remaining awards was 6–0.

Based on The B Square’s tally from county council records, the $167,000 awarded this year pushes the total awarded since 2008 to just over $2 million—$2,000,351.