Local Nonprofits Awarded $45k in Grants From L.I. Community Foundation

Two Riverhead-based nonprofits were recently awarded a total of $45,000 in private grant funding from the Long Island Community Foundation, a Syosset-based organization which awards grants from nearly 200 private funds across Long Island.

received $10,000, and the was awarded $35,000. Island-wide, 25 organizations were supported with a grand total of $537,000.

Pat Snyder, executive director of EEA, said the funding will go to benefit cultural forums such as the organization's Third Thursday meetings at Brecknock Hall in Greenport and First Fridays at its East Main Street location.

The $10,000 award comes on the heels of a recent $200,000 offering from Bank of America to the Riverhead-based arts group, which will go to improve the organization's infrastructure and toward leadership development training, among other things.

Dick Amper, executive director of the Pine Barrens Society, said the $35,000  from the LICF will go toward "an organized effort to reverse the decline in drinking water and surface water quality on Long Island."

Amper said his group is already working with other organizations to create a public education campaign about the topic, which he said will be the "number one environmental challenge on Long Island for the next 10 years."

Competition for the funds was tough.

“We had an overwhelming amount of requests for support from our nonprofit partners during this grant cycle,” said David M. Okorn, executive director at the Foundation. “It’s still a tough economy and the demand for their services continues to increase."