Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka is one of several Central Florida nonprofit programs that will receive a share of AdventHealth’s $1.9 million in funds targeted specifically for organizations impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as groups that are addressing the region’s biggest health needs.
The center will receive $300,000 over the course of the next three years starting in 2021, according to AdventHealth spokesman Jeff Grainger in an email.
The money will help expand the center’s Adelante Caminantes (Spanish for “Onward, Walkers”), a six-year-old tutoring program for youth who arrived in Central Florida as unaccompanied minors who are impacted by childhood experiences.
The program offers ESL, mentoring, psycho-social support, cultural adaptation, and immigration services, food distribution and physical exercise.
AdventHealth CEO/President Daryl Tol announced in a Tuesday, December 1, Facebook Live that in 2021, the hospital will support 14 nonprofit programs in Volusia, Flagler, Lake, Seminole and Orange counties with the $1.9-million investment.
The investments include grants traditionally awarded annually by AdventHealth’s Community Coordinated Council totaling more than $1 million. Added to that is $837,500 in funding for organizations who identified needs specifically related to, or necessitated by, the COVID-19 pandemic.
HCC is a service-learning community that helps immigrant and working poor communities by providing educational, spiritual and advocacy programs. The center has two Apopka campuses, one on North Park Avenue and the other on South Hawthorne Avenue.
With the grant, HCC will be able to expand Adelante Caminantes first off by hiring a full-time program coordinator who has a background in counseling and social work.
The largest of the $1.9-million grant is about $600,000 to the Community Hope Center of Osceola County for launching the organization’s Good Neighbors program, which will serve the homeless and families living in motels along U.S. 192.
The Apopka Chief and The Planter are weekly community newspapers, independently owned and family operated, that have served the greater Apopka area in Central Florida since 1923 and 1965 respectively. Subscribe today!
