A closer look at $220,000 of Spring Grants at the RFC

Guest blog by RFC Granting Coordinator Cleo Rohn

This spring, the RFC welcomed six new children from four new beneficiary families as we awarded almost $220,000 in spring grants. All in all, we will be supporting 163 children this spring- children from all over the United States who come to us with a wide variety of backgrounds, life experiences, needs and interests.

I spend a lot of my spring reading grant applications. There is a great deal of heaviness in this process, of course; it is sobering and at times terrifying to read about what families are enduring in their fight for a more just world. Alongside that heaviness, I am always so interested in the requests that families make for their children. The reality is that there are many RFC beneficiary children I will never meet face to face, but reading their application requests always gives me an incredible sense of what resilient, creative and amazing kids and young adults our grants support.

Every spring, RFC grants pay for a wide variety of summer camps. This year, we are so happy to be able to cover summer camp costs for children whose parents are currently in prison for protesting ICE or have lost their incomes after speaking out for justice. Some of these camps are traditional summer recreation camps, where children can be themselves and find supportive community in their fellow campers. Other camps are less traditional: a wilderness survival training camp for two brothers in Georgia, a digital drawing camp for an 11 year-old boy at a large fine arts museum, Ninja Warrior camp for a 7 year-old future martial artist, and an intensive sports training camp for a teen preparing to face college scouts next year.

We learn so much about the passions of RFC beneficiaries through the grants we make. This spring, we are helping fund computer engineering and coding equipment for a homeschooled teen activist studying the impact of AI on the environment. We are paying for another year of aerial arts for a burgeoning young acrobat and a new drum set for a dedicated young jazz musician. Here in New England, our grants support membership in a youth symphony orchestra for one 18 year-old twin and an AAU basketball team membership for her brother. On the West Coast, we help two sisters with DJ equipment, instruments and recording software as they learn to produce and perform their own music.

For our crafters and creators, spring grants funded a 3D printer, a sewing machine and an at-home laser engraver. And for our older beneficiaries pursuing higher education, we awarded spring Carry-it-Forward (CIF) grants to help young adults attend summer internships and apply to college, dental school, law school and more.

Just like after every new granting cycle, I cannot wait to see what this spring’s RFC beneficiaries will create, achieve, pursue and dream up. I feel so lucky to get these glimpses into the lives of such resilient young people across the country.