The Hazel Miller Foundation Board of Directors has approved 10 grants to the following organizations working to engage youth, celebrate the arts, and alleviate poverty.

Cascade Bicycle Club will focus their grant from Hazel Miller on their Let’s Go Edmonds youth program. This program provides teachers across 20 Edmonds elementary school, four middle schools, and one K-8 school with resources to teach their students and encourage them to practice bicycle road rules and safety.

Meadowdale High School plans to purchase new robes for the high school choir. As choir robes have previously been purchased by the students individually, this funding will help create a more accessible and equitable environment within the choir.

The Seattle Repertory Theatre will support youth engagement programs offered to high school and middle school students in Snohomish County. These programs include Black is the Light, Student Matinee and Residency program, Next Narrative Monologue Competition, and other online programs.

Birthday Dreams will use the foundation grant award to support its Birthday-in-a-Box program, which provides an entire birthday celebration in a box for children (1-18 years of age) affected by homelessness. The birthday boxes include all things needed for a themed party, birthday cake/cupcakes, a gift for the child and more. This program allows room for socialization, positive engagements with other children, and teaches how to celebrate and uplift peers.

Christmas House received a Hazel Miller grant for its Christmas Toys for Children program. This program gives low-income families an opportunity to select holiday gifts for their children (infant-18 years of age). The organization provided over 44,503 gifts to 7,025 children over the course of 2019 (2020 distributions were heavilyreduced/affected due to the pandemic).

Foster Hearts will use its grant to maintain its Care Kit Program, which was designed to serve children entering the foster care system within South Snohomish County.The program provides backpacks, duffle bags, or diaper bags filled with comforting items (stuffed animals, toys, etc.) and essentials (toothbrushes, pajamas). The goal is to prevent the use of trash bags and pillowcases while children are already going through the hard transition into new foster homes.

Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center, established in 1976, will continue its mission to help individuals with disabilities establish skills to maintain their independence, improve daily functionality, and overcome physical and emotional health challenges. This grant will help reduce costs for families within the Edmonds School District.

Sound Salmon Solutions’ grant will support its ongoing efforts to preserve the future of salmon through education, habitat restoration, and stewardship programming. The organization was founded in 1990 when the local Chinook salmon population was listed on the federally Endangered Species List. Over the past year alone, Sound Salmon Solutions released 76,000 coho salmon into the Lake Washington watershed.

Cascadia Art Museum received a grant to support the continued celebration of mid-19th to mid-20th century art of the Pacific Northwest, with art pieces representing inclusivity, equitability and expression.

The Teachers of Color Foundation has received a grant to support its continual efforts in creating a more equitable education system within the Edmonds School District. As of 2021, the district’s student population is 52% students of color and the teacher population in 12% teachers of color. The group’s primary mission is to have teachers better reflect the student population. This grant will provide scholarships for applicable paraeducators of color who want to pursue their teaching certificate. The paraeducators who receive these scholarships are then required to teach in the district for three years upon completion of their certificate.

The Hazel Miller Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to residents of Edmonds and South Snohomish County. Its mission is to support programs and projects that serve the public’s benefit, especially in the areas of education and youth, poverty alleviation and hunger, civil and community services, the environment, culture and the arts, and diversity. For more information, visit www.hazelmillerfoundation.org.