JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — One local organization is stepping in to help art nonprofits after millions of dollars of state funding was removed from the budget.
The Community Foundation is helping some nonprofit organizations recover a portion of the money lost, including Hope at Hand, a nonprofit that uses art and poetry to provide a creative outlet for at-risk youth in Jacksonville.
“We teach poetry lessons in juvenile detention, pre-trial detention, we have youth in recovery shelters all over town, and it’s really the heart of what we do," Steffani Fletcher, Founder of Hope at Hand, said.
But finding funding for these programs has become a challenge.
In June Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed about $32 million for arts, culture and museum grants and related projects. The cuts are part of $1 billion of line items Desantis vetoed from the state budget.
“We lost a significant amount of funding this year with the cuts. Of course, nobody was expecting it, it was out of the blue, but everybody is scrambling trying to figure out how to provide the same level of service without having to cut things on our end," Fletcher said.
Hope at Hand is the recipient of a $24,000 grant through the Community Foundation.
The one-time funding will make up for the money that was lost.
“So grateful, we have half of the grant that we lost and now we are going to try and make up the other half so we don’t have to cut any programming," Fletcher said.
The Community Foundation has a separate upcoming grant opportunity for Small Arts Organizations. Leaders tell First Coast News applications for grants of $10,000 open on August 1 and close on September 23. The grants are available to small and mid-sized arts organizations in Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St Johns whose mission is primarily focused on arts and culture.