The Aurora City Council Tuesday night authorized about $1 million in Quality of Life grants for 2024.
Aldermen elected a list of 39 grants suggested by city personnel out of 49 companies that used.
The Quality of Life program is a regional program, moneyed by video gaming taxes from Hollywood Casino-Aurora.
In the Quality of Life program, the kind of activities covered, and the variety of grants in those activities, are: 18 in education and youth; 7 in neighborhood; 5 in standard requirements; 4 for elders; 3 for psychological health; and 2 for museums.
The city got an overall of about 49 demands amounting to $1.75 million, according to Chris Ragona, the city’s Community Development director.
The grants and companies consist of Fox Valley United Way SPARK program, $25,000; Indian Prairie Educational Foundation, $5,000; Loaves and Fishes, $25,000; Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry, $25,000; YWCA early youth emergency situation fund, $15,000; Aurora Area Crime Stoppers, $4,500; Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry, $21,000; and Fox Valley Special Recreation Foundation, $5,000.
Hope for Tomorrow, homeless males’s and veterans healing home program, $19,000; Ladder Up, a tax earnings preparation and monetary assistance services program for low-income locals, $20,000; Lewis Simmons Foundation, $10,000; African American Men of Unity, $20,000; Agape, $11,000; Alive Center, $11,500; Aurora Starz, $3,000; Boys Baseball of Aurora, $2,500; Boys and Girls Club of Elgin, $7,500; and Communities in Schools, $290,000.
Dominican Literacy Center, $10,000; Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois, $19,000; Imperfect Angels, $5,000; Marie Wilkinson Child Development Center, $20,000; Northern Illinois Food Bank, $20,000; Quad County Urban League, $15,000; Simply Destinee SEEDS program, $15,000; The Start Program, $2,500; Three Fires Council, Boy Scouts of America, $10,000; and Waubonsee Community College, Aurora Adult Education students, $10,000.
Wayside Cross– Youth Services Program, $14,000; Wheatland Athletic Association, $10,000; World Relief, $15,500; Judah Robinson Foundation for homeless psychological health intervention, $10,000; NAMI DuPage, $10,000; Aurora Historical Museum, $50,000; and Aurora Regional Fire Museum, $50,000.
DuPage Senior Citizens Council, $25,000; Northern Illinois Food Bank senior grocery program, $25,000; Riverwalk Adult Day Services, $9,000; Xilin, to handle aging life, $19,000; Ritas Ministries, $23,000; and Association for Individual Development victim services program, $100,000.
slord@tribpub.com