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YARMOUTHPORT – – The Cape Cod Foundation has announced that its total grant and scholarship distributions for 2016 exceeded $2.9 million, bringing its total distributions since inception to nearly $60 million. The $2.9 million figure for 2016 includes over $780,000 in scholarship support to local students from Cape Cod or the Islands in partnership with the Foundation’s supporting organization, the Cape Cod Association. Distributions also include investment in local nonprofits that support all aspects of Cape Cod life: health and human services, education, arts and culture, the environment, community and economic development, housing, and children, youth, and families. “The Cape Cod Foundation is committed to increasing our discretionary dollars so that we can expand the capacity of local nonprofits to enhance their impact through both programmatic and organizational support,” expressed Kristin O’Malley, President and CEO of The Cape Cod Foundation. “We are working hard to encourage strategic partnerships amongst our grantees and to leverage resources being invested by our donors and other funders. There are many exciting initiatives underway in our community, and we are proud that we can help to support them in an increasingly meaningful way.” As part of its annual grantmaking, The Cape Cod Foundation has also announced five Strategic Focus grants totaling $48,500 that were awarded in December. Strategic Focus grants address strategic initiatives and long-range organizational capacity building. “The Cape Cod Foundation Grants Committee has been fortunate to award significant dollars to these five organizations, as well as many others over the past few years,” stated Sharon Nunes, a Director of the Foundation and Chair of the Grants Committee. “Our goal is to support organizations that are effective and efficient at serving their constituents and contributing to the overall quality of life on Cape Cod.” The 2016 Strategic Focus grantees are: Duffy Health Center, $15,000 to support a web-based health technology tool that offers real time data and reports to improve patient outcomes and to drive and measure improvements in population health management. Goals are to 1) enhance patient care management initiatives and 2) ensure that Duffy can meet the long-term technology demands tied to health reform initiatives. Lower Cape Outreach Council, $12,000 to support a full-service jobs center at LCOC headquarters in Orleans. Working with Career Opportunities, LCOC offers clients help with resume prep, interview skills, and online job searches. Beyond these services, clients can receive financial assistance in pursuing educational, training or certificate programs that can further their career or work objectives. LCOC is partnering with Cape Cod Community College and Cape Cod Technical High School to offer clients educational experiences that are immediately significant in terms of addressing employment needs right here on Cape Cod (i.e., medical fields, insurance industry, carpentry.) Community Health Center of Cape Cod, $10,000 to support expansion of substance abuse treatment programming on Upper Cape Cod. Objectives of this project are to expand access to outpatient, medication assisted treatment, and to expand program design to provide partial day treatment, including intensive, integrated wellness, medical and mental health counseling. Currently, Community Health Center of Cape Cod provides more than 5,500 (2,256 medication assisted therapy and 3,244 other) substance abuse related visits annually. The goal of these expanded services will be to provide nearly 9,200 visits/encounters in the first year. Mass Audubon Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary & the Sanctuaries of the Mid and Upper Cape, $6,500 to support Long Pasture’s School Program Coordinator position. In the last ten years, Long Pasture has increased the number served from just over 1,000 to 15,000 annually. This growth is primarily due to rapid increase in programmatic activity, particularly school programming, which has grown from 500 to over 4,000 students over the last 10 years. Long Pasture's five year strategic plan launched in 2013 calls for an increased focus on conservation science programs to children in local schools as a primary and pivotal aspect of future work. Association to Preserve Cape Cod, $5,000 to support the Cape Cod Restoration Coordination Center (RCC) to assist towns and communities with implementation and outreach for restoration projects. This grant will support the next phase of RCC capacity-building through expansion of the RCC staff, purchase of additional equipment and software for project assessment and planning, and provision of additional technical capacity internally and through an expanded network of partners and collaborators. For a full listing of grantees and more information about The Cape Cod Foundation, visit www.capecodfoundation.org. The Cape Cod Foundation is a community foundation whose mission is to build permanent charitable resources for community betterment through informed grantmaking and civic leadership. The Foundation has distributed nearly $60 million in grants and scholarships since its founding in 1989. www.capecodfoundation.org