Announcing Our Second Round Grants of 2020

Announcing Our Second Round Grants

At their second board meeting of the year, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Trustees approved more than $3.5 million in grants to support New Jersey’s nonprofit sector and communities, including more than $500,000 in new COVID-19 relief and response grants.

“The pandemic has laid bare racial health disparities and inequities and the communities our institutions have been left behind,” said Tanuja Dehne, Dodge Foundation president and CEO. “Yet there are bright spots. The nonprofit sector has proven to be nimble, resilient, and a community working together to keep each other informed and afloat. Technology and innovation allow us to reimagine how arts, poverty, education, and news and information are delivered.”

Dodge Trustees in June approved 85 grants totaling $3,634,500 to support nonprofit organizations in Dodge’s Arts, Education, Environment, Informed communities, and other program areas.

The grants include 42 totaling $1,277,000 in Arts, 26 totaling $897,500 in Education, six totaling in $305,000 in Informed Communities, two totaling $545,000 in Building Better Communities, two totaling $35,000 in Technical Assistance, and one in Environment of $25,000.

Six grants totaling $550,000 were awarded in COVID-19 response, bringing the total amount to support pandemic relief and response to more than $1.5 million.

New COVID-19 response grants include:

• Foundation for Educational Administration: $25,000 for the Trauma-Informed Schools Initiative, a philanthropic partnership with state departments of health and education to support social and emotional health of both students and educators through a model training protocol to help schools bring trauma-informed/healing-centered practices into the classroom and shift school culture. This initiative is in partnership with the Burke, Turrell, and Nicholson foundations.
• NJ Local News Lab Fund (Community Foundation of New Jersey): $50,000 for short-term recovery and strategic support for journalists of color and people of color media organizations.
• Princeton Area Community Foundation: $200,000 to support the development of a New Jersey Arts and Culture Fund for New Jersey artists and arts organizations for short-term recovery and long-term sustainability.
• Rutgers Center for Migration and the Global City: $25,000 to provide tools, training, media production, and platforms for Newark residents and community organizations to share their own stories, conduct their own community-based projects, and to share Newark’s history through digital media projects, including Stories from the Pandemic.
• Sustainable Jersey: $50,000 to support Sustainable Jersey’s Digital Schools Project, a partnership with the New Jersey Department of Education and New Jersey School Boards Association to provide best practices, technical support, and a certification framework for schools to address the digital divide.
• Undocumented and Immigrants Fund (New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund): $200,000 for immediate cash assistance for undocumented people and immigrants in New Jersey through trusted, community organizations.

Funding for the Foundation’s COVID-19 response grants came from reallocating its existing grants budget, administrative cuts, and additional funds above its projected 2020 grants budget.

In March, the Board approved $600,000 in grants to pooled funds to support immediate relief efforts and $400,000 to grantee partners to help stabilize their operations, adapt programming, and respond to the needs of their communities. In making these grants, the Foundation prioritized organizations that are most vulnerable to economic instability, advancing equity, or stewarding a unique cultural asset as well as critical intermediaries and membership, network-support, and advocacy organizations.

“Several of the new grants we made in this round of COVID-19 relief are based on new working relationships with opportunities to learn and amplify our collective resources, and in some cases, brought together parties who may not have otherwise partnered,” Dehne said. “The pandemic is not over and we are continuing to listen, learn, and respond to needs in our focus areas and communities.”

All Second Round Grants 2020

Dodge Trustees approved 85 grants totaling $3,636,500 to support nonprofit organizations in Dodge’s Arts, Education, Environment, Informed Communities, and other program areas.

• 10 Hairy Legs (Highland Park, Middlesex County): $15,000 general operating support to provide a lens to experience the broad spectrum of dance. Program Area: Arts
• Alborada Spanish Dance Theatre (Woodbridge, Middlesex County): $15,000 general operating support to share the diverse, historical threads of Spanish culture statewide through music, dance, and education. Program Area: Arts
• Algonquin Arts (Manasquan, Monmouth County): $5,000 general operating support to provide a platform for local and regional performers to showcase their work and offer audiences the opportunity to engage in the arts. Program Area: Arts
• Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (New York, County): $5,000 project support of Ailey’s work to support Newark students through online dance support until students can return to school. Program Area: Education
• American Theater Group, Inc. (East Brunswick, Essex County): $7,500 general operating support to produce new and classic works, primarily by American playwrights. Program Area: Arts
• Appel Farm Arts and Music Center (Elmer, Salem County): $40,000 general operating support. Program Area: Education
• Arden Theatre Company (Philadelphia, PA): $15,000 project support for Arden for All, a professional development arts-integration program and theatre access program in Camden public schools. Program Area: Education
• Art Pride New Jersey Foundation (Burlington, Burlington County): $100,000 general operating support to advance statewide efforts to preserve and increase support of the arts and culture sector through advocacy, promotion, and industry-wide leadership. Program Area: Arts
• Arts Council of Princeton (Princeton, Mercer County): $10,000 general operating support to build community through the arts and education. Program Area: Arts
• Arts Ed NJ (Warren, Somerset County): $145,000 general operating support to advance arts education for all students throughout the Garden State. Program Area: Education
• Atlantic City Ballet (Atlantic City, Atlantic County): $17,500 general operating support to bring the joy, artistry, and appreciation for dance to the world’s stage. Program Area: Arts
• Barat Foundation (Newark, Essex County): $15,000 general operating support for the expansion of community and arts education programming in Newark and other localities in New Jersey. Program Area: Education
• Camden Repertory Theater Community Development Group (Camden, Camden County): $15,000 general operating support for the creation of new, relevant professional theater and community-based projects in Camden. Program Area: Arts
• Camden Repertory Theater Community Development Group (Camden, Camden County): $20,000 project support for Camden Repertory Theater PACE program for Camden youth. Program Area: Education
• Cape May Stage (Cape May, Cape May County): $20,000 for general operating support to produce compelling impactful theater to engage audiences. Program Area: Arts
• Center for Contemporary Art (Bedminster, Somerset County): $10,000 general operating support to broaden, deepen participation among audiences and inspire students, teachers, artists, and the community through the visual arts. Program Area: Arts
• Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University (Montclair, Essex County): $50,000 general operating support for the Center for Cooperative Media to support, strengthen, and grow the local news and information ecosystem in New Jersey so that it benefits all residents. Program Area: Informed Communities
• Center for Investigative Reporting (Emeryville, CA): $45,000 project support to foster greater capacity for investigative reporting in New Jersey that shines a light on injustice and protects the most vulnerable in our society through localized reporting and community engagement. Program Area: Informed Communities
• Chalkbeat (New York, NY): $50,000 general operating support for coverage of K-12 education in Newark through local, investigative reporting that champions collaboration and engagement, focusing on efforts to improve schools for all children. Program Area: Informed Communities
• Children’s Home Society of New Jersey (Trenton, Mercer County): $32,500 project support of a weekly dance program for 300 Grade 5 students in three Trenton elementary schools and after-school program for Grades 6-10. Program Area: Education
• Conservatory of Music and Performing Arts Society (Trenton, Mercer County): $25,000 project support for COMPAS to serve as the Arts For Any Given Child Trenton backbone organization and for a project coordinator to perform required administrative duties. Program Area: Education
• Creative New Jersey (Morristown, Morris County): $175,000 general operating support through 2020 for statewide programming fostering creativity, cross-sector collaboration, and inclusion; advancing dialogue on urgent issues; and weaving highly diverse networks to build thriving, equitable communities. Program Area: Building Better Communities
• Crossroads Theatre Company (New Brunswick, Middlesex County): $45,000 for general operating support to produce professional theatre that celebrates the culture, history, spirit, and voices of the African diaspora. Program Area: Arts
• Dance New Jersey (Woodbridge Township, Middlesex County): $1,500 project support for Dance on the Lawn in Montclair Program Area: Arts
• Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre (Summit, Union County): $10,000 in general operating support for productions, artistic and educational programs, and outreach. Program Area: Arts
• Educational Arts Team (Jersey City, Hudson County): $20,000 for arts-integrated lessons using theater, puppetry, improvisation, and the Language Arts curriculum to improve outcomes for Jersey City students. Program Area: Education
• Foundation for Educational Administration (Monroe Township, Middlesex County): $25,000 for a trauma-informed schools Initiative engaging the NJ Department of Health and Department of Education to develop a model training protocol to help schools bring trauma-informed/healing-centered practices into the classroom and shift school culture. Program Area: COVID-19 Response
• Free Press (Florence, MA): $75,000 project support for News Voices to engage New Jersey communities in improving local journalism, strengthen the state’s media ecosystem, organize in key communities, and expand public support for the NJ Civic Information Consortium. Program Area: Informed Communities
• Freespace Dance (Upper Montclair, Essex County): $12,000 in general operating support. Program Area: Arts
• George Street Playhouse (New Brunswick, Middlesex County): $30,000 in general operating support. Program Area: Arts
• GlassRoots (Newark, Essex County): $40,000 general operating support for glass arts and entrepreneurial leadership programming. Program Area: Education
• Grantmakers for Education (Portland, OR): $13,000 for membership and one-time support of a year-long learning series to engage education funders around adaptive equity-based responses and action to reimagine education in a post-COVID-19 world. Program Area: Education
• Hunterdon Art Museum (Clinton, Hunterdon County): $40,000 general operating support to bring nationally and locally significant artists to visitors and the community. Program Area: Arts
• Jazz House Kids (Montclair, Essex County): $25,000 general operating support of in-school, out-of-school time, and community programs centered around jazz. Program Area: Education
• Lead New Jersey (Princeton, County): $10,000 for scholarships for two leaders of color to participate in the Class of ’21. Program Area: Technical Assistance
• Leadership Newark (Newark, Essex County): $25,000 program support for public policy enrichment and leadership development fellowships for Newark leaders. Program Area: Technical Assistance
• Little Kids Rock (Verona, Essex County): $50,000 project support to expand and deepen Modern Band programming and professional development in New Jersey during the 2020-21 school year. Program Area: Education
• Luna Stage (West Orange, Essex County): $50,000 general operating support to produce vibrant plays about local and global experiences rooted in the crossroads of cultures in New Jersey’s Valley Arts District. Program Area: Arts
• Lydia Johnson Dance (South Orange, Essex County): $15,000 general operating support to increase awareness of and involvement in contemporary dance. Program Area: Arts
• Mayo Performing Arts Center (Morristown, Morris County): $10,000 general operating support to inspire, entertain, and uplift the power of the performing arts. Program Area: Arts
• McCarter Theatre (Princeton, Mercer County): $55,000 general operating support to share stimulating, diverse, and provocative stories at the intersection of art and scholarship to make the arts accessible to a broad range of audiences. Program Area: Arts
• Metropolitan Opera Guild (New York, County): $10,000 project support for the Repertoire Exploration program in up to three New Jersey schools. Program Area: Education
• Monmouth Museum and Cultural Center (Lincroft, Monmouth County): $10,000 general operating support for New Jersey emerging artists with a focus on underrepresented groups and communities. Program Area: Arts
• Montclair Art Museum (Montclair, Essex County): $30,000 for general operating support. Program Area: Arts
• Morris Arts (Morristown, Morris County): $60,000 general operating support to promote the arts as vital to the social fabric, economic prosperity and catalyst for social change to enrich the lives of the community. Program Area: Arts
• Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company (Fort Lee, Bergen County): $40,000 for general operating support to provide innovative cultural experiences that reflect the inspiring hope and energy of the Asian immigrants’ journey through dance. Program Area: Arts
• New Jersey Ballet Company (Florham Park, Morris County): $40,000 for general operating support for the professional ballet company. Program Area: Arts
• New Jersey Festival Orchestra (Westfield, Union County): $20,000 for general operating support to promote symphonic and operatic music to audiences. Program Area: Arts
• NJ Local News Lab (Community Foundation of New Jersey) (Morristown, Morris County): $50,000 to provide strategic support for the NJ Local News Lab Fund for journalists of color and people of color media organizations. Program Area: COVID-19 Response
• New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (Newark, Essex County): $75,000 general operating support to connect with diverse communities of New Jersey and to inspire, entertain, and educate through live symphonic music. Program Area: Arts
• New Jersey Tap Ensemble (Bloomfield, Essex County): $5,000 project support for a tap education programming. . Program Area: Education
• NJ Spark (Rutgers University Foundation) (New Brunswick, Middlesex County): $35,000 project support for NJ Spark to explore a pilot community media collaboration engaging students, journalists, community organizations, and residents in New Brunswick. Program Area: Informed Communities
• New Jersey Theatre Alliance (Morristown, Morris County): $65,000 general operating support to unite, promote, strengthen, and cultivate New Jersey’s professional theatres by providing programs and services for its members. Program Area: Arts
• New York Foundation for the Arts (Brooklyn, NY): $2,500 project support for a cohort of New Jersey-based participants to attend the second annual Art World professional development conference in NYC. Program Area: Arts
• Newark Boys Chorus School (Newark, Essex County): $10,000 project support for the 2020-21 school year integrated arts education experiences utilizing STEM/STEAM, literacy, history, music collaborations and research into music and literacy connections. Program Area: Education
• Newark Museum (Newark, Essex County): $100,000 general operating support to welcome everyone with inclusive experiences that spark curiosity and foster community. Program Area: Arts
• Newark School of the Arts (Newark, Essex County): $40,000 general operating support for performing and visual arts programs and to provide scholarships for greater Newark’s youth. Program Area: Education
• Noyes Museum (Stockton University) (Galloway, Atlantic County): $40,000 general operating support for two South Jersey venues that promote education, provide resources for emerging artists, and enrich the community. Program Area: Arts
• Passage Theatre Company (Trenton, Mercer County): $65,000 general operating support to create and produce socially relevant new plays and arts programming that reflect the community. Program Area: Arts
• Paul Robeson Galleries of Rutgers University-Newark Campus (Newark, Essex County): $5,000 general operating support to remain free, open to everyone, and emphasize access to education. Program Area: Arts
• Premiere Stages (Union, Union County): $18,500 general operating support to develop and produce high-quality, equity-theatre premieres, professional development, and educational initiatives and the cultivation of emerging playwrights and theater artists. Program Area: Arts
• Princeton Area Community Foundation (Lawrenceville, Mercer County): $200,000 to support the development of a New Jersey Arts and Culture Fund for New Jersey artists and arts organizations for short-term recovery and long-term sustainability. Program Area: COVID-19 Response
• Pushcart Players (Verona, Essex County): $25,000 general operating support to provide professionally produced theater workshops and residencies for K-12 students to foster in-depth understanding, discovery, participation, and lifelong love for and support of the arts. Program Area: Arts
• Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts (Millville, Cumberland County): $20,000 general operating support to advance the Center as the focal point for cultural, educational, and artistic enrichment and a sense of community, and positively impact the economic and cultural vitality of the Millville Glasstown Arts District. Program Area: Arts
• Rutgers Center for Migration and the Global City (Newark, Essex County): $25,000 general operating support to provide tools, training, media production, and platforms for Newark residents and community organizations to share their own stories, conduct their own community-based projects, and to share Newark’s history through digital media projects, including Stories from the Pandemic and the Newark Story Bus. Program Area: COVID-19 Response
• Rutgers Graduate School of Education (Rutgers University Foundation) (New Brunswick, Middlesex County): $10,000 project support to pilot culturally relevant professional development approaches to teach Shakespeare’s plays using Folger Shakespeare Library’s performance focused practices. Program Area: Education
• Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts (New Brunswick, Middlesex County): $30,000 project support for the Center for the Arts’ Arts Education and Community Arts programs. Program Area: Education
• School of the Garden State Ballet (Rutherford, Bergen County): $5,000 scholarship support for 2020-21 for Newark ballet students. Program Area: Education
• Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (Florham Park, Morris County): $100,000 general operating support to present Shakespeare’s canon and other classic productions for the cultural enrichment of the community. Program Area: Arts
• Sharron Miller’s Academy for the Performing Arts (Montclair, Essex County): $22,000 project support to provide dance residencies in Paterson Public Schools. Program Area: Education
• State of the Arts (Stockton University) (Galloway, Atlantic County): $5,000 general operating support of State of the Arts’ coverage of New Jersey arts and culture producers and organizations. Program Area: Arts
• Student Conservation Association (Arlington, County): $25,000 project support for summer environmental conservation and youth development programs in Newark. Program Area: Environment
• Sustainable Jersey (Lawrenceville, Mercer County): $50,000 to support Sustainable Jersey Digital Schools Program, a partnership with the New Jersey Department of Education and New Jersey School Boards Association to provide best practices, technical support, and a certification framework for schools to address the digital divide. Program Area: COVID-19 Response
• Sustainable Jersey (Lawrenceville, Mercer County): $370,000 general operating support to advance sustainability and support local action in New Jersey communities through two certification programs and strategic initiatives. Program Area: Building Better Communities
• The Growing Stage – The Children’s Theatre of New Jersey (Netcong, Morris County): $40,000 general operating support to produce theater for children. Program Area: Arts
• The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking (Union, Union County): $7,500 general operating support to grow New Jersey’s cultural economy. Program Area: Arts
• Trenton Children’s Chorus (Ewing, Mercer County): $15,000 for general operating support for 2020-21 programming and transition of new artistic director. Program Area: Education
• Undocumented and Immigrants Fund at New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund (Community Foundation of New Jersey) (Morristown, Morris County): $200,000 for immediate cash assistance to individuals and families. Program Area: COVID-19 Response
• VH1 Save the Music Foundation (New York, NY): $25,000 project support to provide instrument packages to seven schools in Newark Public Schools and up to two in Paterson Public Schools. Program Area: Education
• Victory Hall (Bayonne, Hudson County): $15,000 general operating support to connect and support artists as they contribute to and create meaningful cultural experiences for the community. Program Area: Arts
• WHYY (Philadelphia, PA): $50,000 project support to address news and information gaps in South Jersey, expand community engagement in Camden and Willingboro, and collaborate with media, journalists, community organizations, and residents to uplift community and youth voices. Program Area: Informed Communities
• William Paterson University (Wayne, Passaic County): $100,000 for arts integration professors-in-residences to work in Paterson Public Schools. Program Area: Education
• Young Audiences New Jersey & Eastern Pennsylvania (Princeton, Middlesex County): $80,000 project support for the development and implementation of a Culturally Relevant New Jersey sequential theater-integrated curriculum for Grades 2 to 5. Program Area: Education
• Young Audiences New Jersey & Eastern Pennsylvania (Princeton, Middlesex County): $100,000 project support for the 2020-21 continuation of the Creativity Incubator, including the Creativity Consultant Project with 10 schools. Program Area: Education
• Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers (New Brunswick, Middlesex County): $10,000 general operating support for exhibitions and interdisciplinary programs to engage audiences of all ages. Program Area: Arts