Connecting Cultures and New England Survivors of Torture and Trauma relies on donations and grants from organizations and private donors to continue programming support for refugee populations. We are currently funded by a number of grants and donors including:

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The Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Office of the Administration for Children and Families. 2009-present. The Survivor of Torture Federal direct service grant helps to support direct psychological, social, and/or legal services  to approximately 150 survivors of torture per year.  NESTT has been a recipient of this important funding since 2009.

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United Way of Northwest Vermont.  2019-2022.  Specifically, these funds support interpretation for psychology services (in the common event that the insurance reimbursement rate does not cover the full cost of services) and for social work case management (which is not reimbursed through public or private insurance).  These funds also support the work that a Connecting Cultures mental health clinician conducts outside of an assessment and intervention sessions. This includes community outreach efforts, coordination of care with other service providers, client and family phone calls, note and report writing, and managing interpreter billing and reimbursement.

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Child and Adolescent Psychology Training and Research (CAPTR) Grant. 2021-2022. CAPTR grant funds two ten-hour per week child-focused practicum placements for the Fall of 2021 – Spring 2022. This placement provides a doctorate-level graduate student(s) in Psychological Science with advanced cultural knowledge and diverse clinical experience. Student(s) participate in weekly multidisciplinary training facilitated by Dr. Fondacaro and have the opportunity to provide clinical services to refugee children, youth, parents, and families from over thirty countries. The student(s) also receive weekly clinical supervision from a VPS licensed doctoral clinician with experience in the child-youth component of the Connecting Cultures program.

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Past: 

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Vermont Afterschool/Building Flourishing Communities. January 2021. These funds supported the continued development and delivery of a healing focused trauma-sensitive yoga group (led remotely via Zoom) specifically developed for elderly survivors of torture. During the height of the pandemic, in partnership with Age Well and the Somali Bantu Community Association, the yoga group addressed physical and cultural isolation in a weekly virtual community gathering to explore movement and emotion,  and it provided connection to multidisciplinary care providers. The group also provided training opportunities in culturally-responsive telehealthcare for trainees across disciplines and expanded to include a wide range of ages and abilities.  

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State of Vermont Department of Children & Families: This Vermont state grant was awarded to the Association of Africans Living in Vermont and Connecting Cultures in 2016. It provides us with resources to serve refugee youth in Vermont.

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State of Vermont Department of Health. 2016. This grant was awarded to the Association of Africans Living in Vermont and Connecting Cultures in 2016. It provides us with resources to serve refugee survivors of sexual assault in Vermont.

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Serena Foundation: Connecting Cultures has been fortunate to receive many yearly donations through the generosity and recommendation of the Serena Foundation Fund, a donor-advised fund. 

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Private donations:

If you are interested in supporting Connecting Cultures, please visit our Donate page.