For the seventh year in a row, the New York Life Foundation in partnership with the National Alliance for Grieving Children (NAGC) is proud to offer the Grief Reach grant program, an initiative that helps deliver support services to disadvantaged grieving youth and families across the country. This year, forty-two Grief Reach grants totaling $1.25 million will be awarded to organizations serving bereaved youth through a Request for Proposals (RFP). The second application cycle is now open and will run through August 7th, 2017.

Below we spoke with two past Grief Reach award winners – The Resiliency Center of Newtown and Kara – to learn more about their organization’s mission and how the grant has impacted their work.

A Q&A with Stephanie Cinque, MSW, Founder and Executive Director of The Resiliency Center of Newtown

Please tell us about your organization’s mission and services/offerings.
The Resiliency Center of Newtown (RCN) offers trauma-informed, therapeutic services focused on long-term individual and community healing for children and adults impacted by the tragedy at Sandy Hook School on December 14, 2012. We provide services at no-cost to the community to ensure everyone has the option for treatment at RCN if they wish. Currently, most insurance policies do not cover the therapies we offer such at Play/Art/Music Therapy, Brainspotting and MNRI.

What has the Grief Reach grant enabled your organization to do?
By getting the grant we were able to maintain our services after our Department of Justice grant ended for the bereaved children of the Newtown-Sandy Hook community and meet the increased demand of those looking for services.

How has the Grief Reach grant impacted the children and families you serve?
The grant has helped us maintain our therapies that allow our clients to receive appropriate services and help them move from trauma processing to grief processing. The children we serve have been able to move forward showing reduced symptoms in anxiety and depression having an overall better sense of themselves and more positive outlook on life.

Is there a particular story or anecdote about the Grief Reach grant’s impact on a child or family that you’d like to share?

“ First off, thank you for seeing her so quickly. She said she was happy I brought her to spend time with you. She slept so much better last night. She seemed so much more peaceful than she has been lately. I know she has some work to do, but your support and gentle reminders of the tools she already has, will help her navigate all of this.” – From a mother of a child seen at RCN