NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
August 1, 2008

Contact: Caryl Hallberg, Executive Director
challberg@covenanttocare.org
860-243-1806 x18

Covenant to Care for Children sets sights on the future

With help from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, CCC updates its strategic plan, setting goals to improve the quality of its care for Connecticut’s children.

Covenant to Care for Children recently took another step forward in its efforts to assist Connecticut’s at-risk children. With the help of a $600 grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, CCC has revised its strategic plan for the 2009-2011 fiscal years. This donation follows a number of substantial past grants from the Foundation, including a 2006 grant totaling $25,000.

Covenant to Care for Children, a statewide, non-profit organization works to better the lives of our state’s children through its numerous programs. The Adopt a Social Worker program connects social workers with faith communities that donate the essential items needed to assist the children in the social worker’s caseload. The Critical Goods program donates furniture and children’s clothing to families in need of material support. Working with Asylum Hill Congregational Church, the Crisis Food Support program provides families with children with emergency food donations. Finally, CCC’s Mentoring program’s two projects, My Mentor and Me, and Reach One Youth, provide Connecticut’s neglected youth with adult role models.

Thanks to support from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Covenant to Care for Children was able to set clear objectives toward improving its support for Connecticut’s children. By 2011, CCC hopes to increase the number of “covenants” between social workers and faith communities to 300. CCC aim to achieve this goal in part by building upon the diversity of faiths that participate in the Adopt a Social Worker program. The mentoring programs will be expanded under the new strategic plan. The criteria for youth who can be mentored has broadened, and CCC plans to increase the number of mentoring pairs. The Critical Goods program continues to provide Connecticut’s children with essential furniture, intending to deliver at least $30,000 worth of new beds annually. Covenant to Care for Children has also set specific goals for expanding its emergency food program and its efforts to end child abuse in the state.

Caryl Hallberg, Executive Director of Covenant to Care for Children, is excited about the organization’s newly established goals. “This strategic plan is a living document that was created through the input of our donors, lead volunteers, staff, and community stakeholders. Our capacity to serve has been enhanced tremendously through the technical and planning grants provided by Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.” Ms. Hallberg remarked.

One of the largest community foundations in the country, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving directs the funds in its $798 million endowment toward improving the communities of 29 towns in the Capitol Region. Since 1925, the Hartford Foundation has assisted the development of programs in culture, children, health, education, and more.

Covenant to Care for Children mobilizes and channels caring and faithful people to advocate for, mentor, and provide direct assistance to Connecticut’s children and youth who are abused, neglected or at-risk. For more information or to make a donation, please visit www.covenanttocare.org or call the main office at 860-243-1806.