Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities Establishes Funds, Awards $650,000 in Grants

The Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, a congregation of 322 vowed women religious, has awarded $650,000 dollars in grants locally from funds administered by The Community Foundation of Herkimer & Oneida Counties. The Sisters established these new funds using proceeds from the sale of property that housed a former ministry.

The Sisters minister in general education and religious education, health care, eldercare, pastoral care, social services, justice education, and other areas of need. The congregation serves in 12 states, the District of Columbia, Kenya and Peru.

Having established Partners in Franciscan Ministries (PFM) in 2011 to ensure that their Franciscan values continue into the future, the Sisters recently set up charitable funds at The Community Foundation to support these values. The recipients of the first round of grants are:

Central New York Community Foundation
A $200,000 grant for the Help Me Grow program, which focuses on supporting parents and children to raise awareness for developmental milestones and early detection, and a $200,000 grant for the Parent Child + Program that seeks to match families with community-based early learning specialists who conduct home visits to identify gaps in early learning.

Northside Women’s Wellness Center
A $250,000 grant to support a full-facility wellness space in Syracuse that provides a welcoming, safe, and empowering place for women to focus on improving their health.

Prospective grant applicants may contact Lindsey Costello, donor relations manager, 315-731-3726, lcostello@foundationhoc.org, for information.