Nonprofit Profile: Greater Hartford Legal Aid

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Patricia Wrice, executive director of Operation Fuel, has announced her retirement after 18 years, effective June 30.

Under Wrice's leadership, the Bloomfield nonprofit's annual financial assistance has grown sevenfold from $500,000 to more than $3.6 million in energy assistance.

When she started, Wrice was the organization's sole employee and the fuel bank's assistance was restricted to the winter. It has now expanded to be a full-year operation.

Operation Fuel has evolved into a statewide, year-round energy assistance program with more than 100 fuel banks throughout Connecticut.

Operation Fuel is conducting a search for the next executive director and expects to make an announcement by late June.

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The Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) awarded a total of $11,000 to four students from UConn's School of Business, all majoring in real estate and urban economics.

The scholarships are funded from the chapter sponsored Samuel F. Pierson and Carl F. Traub scholarships, with matching dollars provided by The SIOR Foundation.

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The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the community foundation for 29 communities in Greater Hartford, awarded more than $33.1 million in 2,135 grants to the region's nonprofit agencies and educational institutions in 2015.

Foundation president Linda J. Kelly said both numbers were records.

The foundation invested 30 percent of its grants in education from birth through high school, and new and renewed college scholarships. Grants for family and social services received 20 percent; health, 4 percent; arts and culture, 11 percent; housing and economic development, 19 percent; and summer programs, 4 percent.

According to the latest estimated, unaudited numbers, the foundation ended 2015 with assets of $888.3 million in 1,120 funds. The foundation received gifts totaling $17.5 million with 29 new funds, including a new “Black Giving Circle Fund,” to address issues facing Greater Hartford's black community.

Since its founding in 1925, the foundation has awarded approximately $654 million in grants.

During 2015, more than $1.5 million was awarded to three Greater Hartford school districts, Bloomfield, East Hartford and Windsor, for implementation grants following the districts' strategic planning. Another $3.95 million was granted to support the Career Pathways Initiative, to provide residents with education and workforce training.

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The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving has awarded a $100,000 one-year grant to Leadership Greater Hartford to support Hartford Decide$.

The program will allow Hartford citizens to propose project ideas to improve their neighborhoods. Residents will then vote on their favorite projects to receive $1.3 million in capital improvement funds.

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