For Immediate Release
Contact: Angela Cox, 907-334-0509
acox@rasmuson.org
Anchorage, AK – Rasmuson Foundation Directors approved awards for 14 organizations totaling more than $6.6 million at their November 28 board meeting. The grants will go to agencies across the state and will benefit a number of different programs.
Set Free Alaska, Inc., an alcohol and drug treatment center in Wasilla will receive $500,000. The grant will be used to complete facility renovations on its new campus. Set Free Alaska’s inpatient and outpatient programs fill a critical need in the state. With a huge shortage of treatment facilities and a growing number of Alaskans seeking help for addiction, this new campus demonstrates the programs’ ability to address the state’s future and current needs.
Hope Community Resources, Inc. was awarded $330,000 to support the construction of a housing development for Hope clients in Sterling. For the last five decades, Hope has provided customized services and supports to families and individuals who experience disabilities. The new development is designed to create an “intentional community,” a place where its 12 residents will have shared goals and lifestyles. For many of its residents, this style of living offers unprecedented levels of support while encouraging greater independence.
“Our goal is to support projects that will have a lasting impact on the communities they serve,” said Diane Kaplan, Rasmuson Foundation President & CEO. “In most cases, these nonprofits have worked to raise funds from local and regional sources, building stronger partnerships, and furthering their own sustainability.”
A full list of recipients is listed below.
Statewide
- The Foraker Group, ($1,650,000) sustaining support over three years.
Southcentral
- Set Free Alaska, Inc., ($500,000) facility renovation for new treatment center and campus in Wasilla.
- Covenant Youth of Alaska, ($125,000 and $1 to $1 match up to $50,000) purchase and renovation of supportive housing for rural students.
- Cook Inlet Tribal Council, ($400,000) upgrades to database and technology.
- Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, ($75,000) technology upgrade.
- Anchorage Park Foundation, ($415,000) organizational and program support.
- Great Land Trust, ($150,000) land acquisition and park development in the Mat-Su Borough.
- Denali Family Services, ($125,000 and $1 to $1 match up to $25,000) for technology upgrades to advance its work supporting children who have experienced physical and emotional trauma.
- Hope Community Resources, Inc. , ($330,000) construct a housing development in Sterling for 12 residents and six caregivers.
- Homer Council on the Arts, ($130,500) construction of yurt for performances and events.
Southeast
- City and Borough of Sitka, ($200,000) to renovate Crescent Harbor playground.
- Perseverance Theatre, ($450,000) to implement strategic initiative for long-term sustainability, including production of professional theater in both Anchorage and Juneau.
Yukon-Kuskokwim
- Bethel Family Clinic, ($400,000) new primary health care clinic construction.
Nationwide
- Smithsonian Institution – National Museum of the American Indian, ($1,659,700) technology upgrades to the Elmer and Mary Louise Rasmuson Theater in Washington, DC.
About the Foundation
Jenny Rasmuson with her son, Elmer, created Rasmuson Foundation in May 1955 to honor her late husband E.A. Rasmuson. The Foundation is a catalyst to promote a better life for all Alaskans.
###