The Emerging Philanthropist Program (EPP), a partnership between The Foundation for Enhancing Communities (TFEC) and Harrisburg Young Professionals (HYP) awarded Samara a $5,000 grant for their Intensive Parenting Program. Samara is a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening families by providing services that allow parents to move beyond any personal emotional issues and provide a better environment for raising their children.
The Intensive Parenting Program creates an environment of emotional safety and warmth that allows parents to reflect on their own experiences and open themselves to new ideas and unfamiliar concepts. This program encourages parents from high-risk families to experience positive and judgment free interactions with activities that promote trust within the group and self-discovery. This gives parents who were traumatized and abused as children the opportunity to confront how those interactions in their childhood are influencing their parenting style. Parents are able to become open and aware of the needs of their children once their own needs for nurture and warmth become realized.
Samara was chosen by the 2014 EPP class after an extensive process which started by the class first identifying what they felt was the greatest area of need in the Harrisburg area. They decided that the recipient nonprofit organization must provide programs and services that address family development and engagement with an emphasis on those families with children ages 0-10 years. After a competitive grantmaking process involving reviewing nine applications, interviewing three finalists, and visiting those finalists onsite, the 2014 EPP class selected Samara as their awardee.
Applications are now available online at www.tfec.org for the 2015 Emerging Philanthropist Program class; limit of 18 individuals for the 2015 class and must be a member of the Harrisburg Young Professionals.
For more information about EPP, please visit www.tfec.org and selected “Emerging Philanthropist Program” located under the Special Initiatives tab.
Pictured individuals: (back row, left to right) Suzanne Patackis; Jolene Leisure; Alexander Langan; Toan Do; (front row, left to right)Kimberly Bowman; Janice R. Black, President and CEO, TFEC; David Wagner; Pamela Haddad, Executive Director, Samara; Steven Martinez; Ayanna Cash-Clements.
