Hands On Hartford, a Hartford-based volunteer action center and social services agency, announced that it has entered into a five-year agreement with Huntington Learning Centers Inc., a national provider of supplemental education services, to provide tutoring services for students at Sanchez and Betances elementary schools in Hartford.
Under this agreement, students who qualify under the federal No Child Left Behind Act will receive free tutoring during the school year. The program is expected to serve hundreds of students and will result in one new full-time position and 15 part-time positions the first year.
“This unique public/private partnership is inline with our ongoing commitment to be forward-thinking and embrace national trends and issues,” said Doug Sudell, chief executive officer of Hands On Hartford. “This will complement the full range of services we are currently providing students and families in two Hartford schools.”
Connecticut Light & Power Co. (CL&P) is now accepting applications for grants to fund environmental initiatives in communities served by the company. CL&P’s Environmental Community Grant Program funds community and grassroots environmental projects often overlooked by large-grant programs. The deadline for applications is Thursday, Oct. 15. Grants up to $1,000 will be awarded in November. Eligible projects protect or preserve the environment, or teach others the value of doing so, such as improving a local wildlife habitat or starting and maintaining a recycling program.
Each year, the food industry donates thousands of pounds of product to help in the fight to end hunger. This year has been no different, and in fact has resulted in a significant increase in donations in response to the rising need. A recent breakfast was further proof of the food industry’s continued commitment to the cause, when participating companies gathered at the Marriott in Rocky Hill for the 7th Annual Food Industry Convoy of Caring, hosted by Foodshare. Following the breakfast, drivers, representing 14 major donors, participated in the actual Convoy, making the 21-mile journey to the Foodshare distribution facility in Bloomfield. The tractor trailers, loaded with an estimated 100,000 pounds of donated food, are representative of an industry which provides 80% of Foodshare’s annual donations.
FM Facility Maintenance has announced a significant support program and investment for the Connecticut Science Center’s Planet Earth Exhibit Gallery. The gallery, located on the 6th floor of the newly-opened Science Center in downtown Hartford, offers visitors an opportunity to explore Earth from the core up into the atmosphere. Seabed cores contain evidence of past changes and hold clues to the future. Visitors to the Planet Earth Exhibit Gallery can learn how to read the information “encoded” in the debris layers of a core and unlock the keys to forces that are literally shaping our world. Another exhibit in the gallery provides a specialized projection of the Earth where a compressed time scale shows shifts in weather, erosion and plate movements that have occurred. Other exhibits include an inspiring 4D theatrical object theater program on how each of us can reduce our carbon footprint and impact on the Earth, a weather station which gives visitors the opportunity to create their own forecast, and a hands-on geology station.
About 900 riders participated in the recent March of Dimes Bikers for Babies rider, organized by the Connecticut Chapter of the March of Dimes. The event raised about $60,000 for the charity. The 45-mile ride through Chester, Old Saybrook, Essex and Westbrook was led by Twisted Sister lead man Dee Snider.
