Torrington Youth Service Bureau and regional nonprofits gain vital support from Draper Fund grants
TORRINGTON – Out of an abundance of gratitude, the executive director of Torrington Youth Service Bureau regularly keeps Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation’s vice president of community engagement in her prayers.
“(Julie Scharnberg’s) definitely somebody I include in my prayers,” TYS Executive Director Cathy Ohm said.
Ohm credits Scharnberg and the foundation’s Draper Fund for being able to collect her full salary through June 2025.
As part of the Draper Fund’s recent $281,450 boost to 12 nonprofits serving Northwest Connecticut, TYS was awarded $16,250 to cover Ohm’s salary and benefits.
“I’m so grateful that I can’t even tell you,” she said. “It was a godsend.”
Ohm applied for the funding to cover her paycheck when, due to budget cuts, the state’s Local Interagency Service Teams grant, which previously paid part of her salary, was eliminated.
Ohm said the foundation helps the bureau in other ways too, including through other grants, and Scharnberg calls her to let her know when a grant is coming that she should look at.
She said she has never dealt with an organization that was so helpful, noting that even when it isn’t going to approve a grant application, someone reaches out to explain why.
“It’s really a community affair for them,” she said. “They really are top-notch.”
Maria Coutant Skinner, president and CEO at McCall Center for Behavioral Health, has similar appreciation for the Draper Fund and a lot of relief.
McCall’s is getting $40,000 that will also cover someone’s salary.
Skinner said it is bridge funding that will allow McCalls to pay Lauren Pristo, the Litchfield County Opiate Task Force Network coordinator.
Without Pristo, the task force that, among other things, reduces overdoses, would not continue, Skinner said.
Skinner said the task force’s efforts were funded by a Rural Communities Opioid Response Program grant that did not come through this year. She came up with contingencies to keep the work going until next year, when she plans to reapply. The only exception was Pristo’s pay, so Skinner reached out to Scharnberg, who advised her to apply to the Draper Fund.
“Without the Draper Fund we would literally be in crisis mode,” she said. “I can’t tell you how relieved – certainly grateful – but relieved that none of the work will be paused.”
The Draper Fund, established by Jim and Shirley Draper of Colebrook gives regular distributions to 19 organizations and selects organizations to submit grant applications, Scharnberg said. While the fund covers a geographical area and areas of interest, such as caring for children and women, animal welfare and education, board members understand that the Northwest Corner is regional.
“They don’t restrict themselves strictly to the town. “Understanding that homelessness services, food insecurity, mental health services are supported in a wider region, they look to the issue. They look to the people being served.”
She said the board is conscious of people with emergency requests, such as those from Ohm and Skinner.
Other grants the fund awarded include $50,000 to Torrington Area Families with Autism to support capacity and building and operating costs in 2025; $32,200 to Charlotte Hungerford Hospital to fund the Diaper Connections Program; $30,000 to Winchester Housing Partners to support predevelopment costs for converting the Batcheller School into 37 affordable housing units; $18,000 to the American Mural Project to support roof replacement for the second historic mill building; $45,000 to Connecticut Academy for the Arts to support arts education programs; $30,000 -$10,000 per year for three years- to the Connecticut Democracy Center to support the Torrington Region Connecticut History Day Contest and funding for an outreach educator; $5,000 to New England Air Museum to support the participation of fourth-grade students from Torrington Public Schools in the SOAR for STEM program; $10,000 to Troutbeck Symposium to support the 2025 Troutbeck Symposium; $15,000 to St. John’s Church in New Hartford to support repairs to the church steeple; and $10,000 to Sharon Hospital to support the Diaper Connections Program.
