| The NOVA Awards |
Each fall The Community Foundation
presents NOVA Awards at the Community
Stars Event. Given in the categories of Arts, Civic,
Environment, Education and Health and Human Services,
these awards are designed to recognize and honor some
of the outstanding nonprofit organizations in our county.
Each of the NOVA award winners is presented with a beautiful
plaque designed by local artist John Haertling, accompanied
by a $1,000 cash award.
The
2004 winners are:
| • |
ARTS:
YMCA of Boulder Valley – “Break Through
Arts”
Over the past six years, Break Through Arts has
served approximately 1,300 Boulder high school
students with its after-school creative arts programs.
These programs encourage students to develop and
share their creative writing, music, or visual
art in a supportive peer environment. Break Through
Arts emphasizes self-discovery and the freedom
to express creativity “from the inside out.”
With input and direction from the program’s
Youth Advisory Board, which represents five Boulder
schools, Break Through Arts offers a fun and healthy
alternative for after-school activities.
|
| • |
CIVIC:
Volunteer Connection – “Volunteer-a-thon”
In April 2004, the Volunteer Connection partnered
with the Community Buzz of Boulder to air the
first ever “Volunteer-a-thon.” The
goal was to increase awareness and visibility
of local nonprofits, to promote volunteering as
being fun and easy, and to raise 35,000 hours
of pledged volunteer time. One week later, the
pledge amounts shattered their goal, totaling
a whopping 51,687 hours and proving that Boulder
is indeed a caring community where people are
committed to making a difference.
|
| • |
EDUCATION: YWCA
of Boulder Valley – “Teen Parent Graduation
Project”
Since 1999, the YWCA has partnered with the Boulder
Valley School District to create innovative solutions
for helping teen mothers to graduate and obtain
economic self-sufficiency. The program offers group
mentoring, where teen mothers meet with adult women
for weekly discussions. The discussions allow the
teens to talk about education options, balancing
work and family commitments, and how to cope with
the challenges of the business world. The program
also offers a Career Exploration Day, where the
teens tour CU Boulder and learn about non-traditional
jobs. Exposing the teens to successful, educated
working mothers in the community helps foster the
importance of staying in high school and working
towards attainable career goals.
|
| • |
ENVIRONMENT: Center
for Resource Conservation – “Holiday
Construction Waste Recycling”
The Center for Resource Conservation is dedicated
to leading Front Range residents towards sustainable
living. In 2003, the Center partnered with the City
of Boulder to work with a new North Boulder development
called the Holiday Neighborhood, which will provide
housing for 250 families. The CRC saw this as an
opportunity to help developers lower their building
needs by 10 percent and keep half of the construction
waste out of area landfills. As of March 2004, the
27-acre construction site diverted 434,000 pounds
of waste to recycling centers.
|
| • |
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES:
Mental Health Center of Boulder County – “Pharmacy
Franchise”
The Mental Health Center began as a clinic in 1963
and has grown to serve over 10,000 individuals a
year. Recognizing two great needs in its service
population – the need for affordable prescriptions
and the need for meaningful employment – the
Mental Health Center opened the Pharmacy Franchise
in 2001. This in-house pharmacy provides prescription
medications and education, and employs persons with
mental illness as pharmacy technicians. This pharmacy,
which is the first of its kind within a mental health
center, has shown a lot of promise: the pharmacy
recognized a profit of $75,000 in its first year
of service. It is now partnering with other counties
to open similar franchises.
|
|
|
|
