The Tow Foundation in New Canaan, Connecticut, has announced 10 grants totaling $1.5 million awarded through its newly created Innovation Fund.

Based in six states, the 10 Innovation Grant recipients were selected for their promising, creative approaches to addressing one or more of three issue areas affecting children and their families: mental health, early intervention efforts in schools, and public health approaches to reducing gun violence. The two-year grants include technical assistance, and recipients will participate in a cohort learning model.

Recipients include the California School-Based Health Alliance ($100,000), in support of a peer-mentoring program that trains older adolescents in physical and mental health care to supplement in-school health centers; Connecticut Children’s ($132,000), for a secure online portal with free, confidential mental health counseling for LGBTQ+ youth; and Soul Shoppe Programs ($112,000) in Oakland, California, in support of conflict resolution training to fourth and fifth graders that is grounded in the principles of restorative justice.

“In the foundation’s early days, we were constantly experimenting, taking risks and learning as we went,” said Tow Foundation president Emily Tow. “By creating the Innovation Fund, we brought that start-up energy back to the boardroom.”

For more information on the grantees, see the Tow Foundation website.

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