The Board of Directors of the United Way of Bemidji recently awarded a Venture Grant to the area, focusing on community needs such as education, income, and health.

The grant received will total $5,514 and will be split between four organizations through the Venture Grant program:

Village of Hope will receive funds to support their Rent Wise Community Collaboration program. The funds given will go towards helping groups of people with specific needs – for example, people recently out of prison, the mentally ill, or youth.

Evergreen Youth and Family Services will use their share of the grant to expand their incentive program to all youth attending life skills groups.

Beltrami Area Service Collaborative will receive United Way Venture Grant funds for their Resiliency Team (BART), which is made up of 20 community members working to build community resilience and help overcome trauma.

The fourth group to receive funds is the Headwaters Science Center, who will be using the grant to help provide for workshops with the instructional practices for teaching specific science subjects, while helping Bemidji teachers modify their current teaching to ensure that they meet the standards and are focused on being hands-on.

By — Brad Hamilton