Past Successes

The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving had only existed for 11 years when it awarded its first grant in 1936 – $982.52 to the Watkinson Library. At the time, the 70-year-old research library in Hartford was so strapped for funds that the librarian used a flashlight to search the stacks for books.

In 2010, as the Hartford Foundation commemorates 85 Years of Impact, the Foundation awarded $850,000 in grants to libraries in the Greater Hartford region. Each of the 29 libraries recieved grants of up to $30,000 to promote digital literacy.

Like the Hartford Foundation, libraries evolve to meet the changing needs of their communities. Libraries were among the first institutions to digitize materials and perhaps the first to seriously attempt to bridge the digital divide. The digital divide – the gap between those who have access to technology and those who do not – has significant impacts on citizens’ educational and career achievement and economic status. In fact, digital access is seen as essential to participating in the democratic process in America.

Library directors and patrons talk about the importance of technology in libraries.

The Hartford Foundation’s Library Project strengthened the technological capacity of these libraries to meet the growing needs of their users.

Library Connection, Inc.

In addition to funding projects at each of the 29 libraries in the Greater Hartford region, the Hartford Foundation also awarded a grant to Library Connection, Inc. for the purchase of portable devices (62 media players and 86 e-book readers), web and audio technology, and technical assistance to establish at 17 area libraries a portable device-lending program for patrons, particularly lower-income residents who cannot afford to purchase these devices and seniors learning new technologies.

The After-School Initiative (ASI) was launched in 1994 to strengthen and expand after-school programs for youths in Hartford.  In 2002 the Foundation partnered with Hartford Public Schools to better align the after-school programs with instruction offered during the school day.
 
ASI offered participants what all parents want for their adolescent kids - tutoring and academic support, as well as ways to develop life skills, explore new interests, contribute to their communities, and have good, safe fun.

According to an independent evaluation conducted throughout the project, participants in ASI were more likely than their classmates to help people they don’t know, be interested in what happens in the community, volunteer, and be a leader of a group. They were also more likely to have helped resolve a conflict, disagreed with others without becoming angry, solved problems by talking with others, and been willing to meet others halfway when there was a problem. Skills that will serve them well in adolescence and throughout their lives.

In 2008, ASI formed the basis for and was replaced with the Hartford Community Schools Initiative, a public-private partnership to offer educational, cultural, medical and social services for students and families in selected schools. 

The Foundation's Arts Marketing Initiative wound down in 2006 after several years of successfully helping small and mid-sized arts organizations build marketing capacity.

The Initiative was launched in 1998 as a result of roundtable discussions hosted by the Foundation, where arts leaderscited marketing as their greatest need. Over six years, the Foundation invested nearly $2.5 million to provide comprehensive support including professional instruction, on-site assistance, marketing planning, peer learning, and funding to implement marketing plans.

 

"For small, growing nonprofits, there's really no convenient time to do lots of things that need to get done," said Will K. Wilkins, executive director of Real Art Ways.  "The Arts Marketing Initiative forced us to take the time to think about marketing, to learn about specific marketing strategies, then gave us the funding we needed to implement what we had learned."

A recent independent evaluation (PDF, 157KB) of the Initiative reports that the participating agencies benefited from increased revenues as well as an increased marketing capacity.

"This is an exemplary program that could be successfully replicated," according to the evaluator, Craig Dreezen of Dreezen & Associates. "The multiple-year program blending funding, professional assistance, and peer learning works well."

While much of the success of the Initiative can be attributed to its design, the substantial contributions of the organizations' leadership, consultant Dorothy Chen-Courtin and senior program officer Sharon O'Meara were also major factors, according Dreezen.

"I was impressed by the commitment of the agencies participating in the Initiative," said Sharon.  "They each had unique hurdles to overcome, but managed to work together and learn from each other.  It was very much a team effort."

The agencies that successfully completed the initiative are The Artists Collective, Chamber Music Plus, Hill-Stead Museum, Little Theatre of Manchester, and Real Art Ways (pictured).

"By any conceivable measure the initiative was highly successful in building capacity among the agencies that were part of it."  - Recent report from national evaluator View the executive summary » (PDF, 167KB)

Multi-service agencies in Greater Hartford offer support to vulnerable and disadvantaged populations. Shelters, child care, soup kitchens, food pantries, employment training, nutrition education, meals for the elderly, health services and counseling are some of the important services they provide.

The work is critical to supporting those in need, sometimes desperate need. The challenges are never-ending.

In an effort to help key multi-service agencies improve their structures, systems and staffing, the Hartford Foundation launched the Multi-Service Agency Initiative in 2001, dedicating more than $6.4 million to strengthen the core of participating agencies. 

The Initiative focused on six key areas:

• planning and management systems
• financial management
• technology
• human resources
• communications and marketing
• development of board and staff leadership

The following agencies completed the Multi-Service Agency Initiative:

• Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford, Inc.
• The Bridge Family Center, Inc.
• Catholic Charities, Inc.
• Hands on Hartford (formerly Center City Churches, Inc.)
• Hispanic Health Council
• Jewish Family Services
• Manchester Area Conference of Churches, Inc.
• Our Piece of the Pie
• Urban League of Greater Hartford, Inc.
• YWCA of the Hartford Region, Inc.