The Jessie Ball duPont Fund has provided the Clara White Mission with a $150,000 grant to enhance operations of the nonprofit White Harvest Farm, an urban garden project.
The grant was among 20 awards, valued at $1.8 million, made by trustees during their second quarter meeting this month.
Five grant awards benefited Jacksonville-based organizations.
Clara White Mission established White Harvest Farms as an extension of its work to provide meals and job training to the homeless and needy. The farm provides food for the organization’s feeding program, and jobs and job training for the mission's low-income and veteran clientele.
In addition, it will provide fresh food for residents of the area, which lacks ready access to fresh produce. The farm is located on 11 acres of reclaimed land in Northwest Jacksonville
The grant funds will enable the farm to hire a farm director, who will oversee the farm and serve as a community liaison, and a project manager, who will supervise and maintain the farm site and lead staff and students in work activities related to production.
The two staff members will help the farm assess community needs, engage partners and incrementally build the capacity of the farm and its educational program and activities.
In addition to White Harvest, the fund also locally awarded:
• $150,000 to the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra to assist with expenses and organizational rebranding related to the search for a new music director
• $105,225 to Mental Health America of Northeast Florida to implement a mental health awareness and communications initiative to educate the community on the impact of untreated mental illness
• $80,340 to Daniel Inc. to support costs associated with the startup of Daniel Academy, a private school for children with emotional and learning disabilities
• $22,975 to St. John’s Cathedral to hire a consultant to perform a feasibility study for a capital campaign for facility repairs and improvement.
The fund makes grants to more than 330 eligible organizations identified by the late Jessie Ball duPont in her will.