The I Am Trenton Community Foundation has awarded $135,000 through the recent “Making Trenton Even Better” grant program to community champions transforming vacant lots, encouraging art and artists, teaching new skills and providing compassionate support with respect and dignity.
“These community groups will make a real impact across our city and we are excited to support their work,” said IAT Co-President Marelyn Rivera. “Our community faces challenges together, and working together we make Trenton even better.”
Grant Committee Chair Regina Podhorin-Zilinski noted that more than 100 applications were received — and many worthwhile projects were not able to be funded. “This was our most generous grant round ever — with more funding and more applicants than ever before,” she said. “Our only regret is that many good ideas did not receive support — this time.”
IAT awarded a total of $75,000, its largest grant round so far, in the 2024 Citywide grant cycle supporting 30 local projects addressing equity, social justice, resilience, and community improvement. Citywide Grants are made possible by organizational and individual donations to I Am Trenton, including NJM Insurance and the Bunbury Foundation.
2024 Citywide Grant recipients include:
Freedom Skate Park — providing free skateboards and lessons on skateboarding basics for 25 Trenton youth.
Banda Punta de Lanza de Trenton — promoting inclusivity and cultural exchange through music, updating and providing uniforms to musicians.
Trenton Cycling Revolution — providing lights and locks to keep cyclists and bicycles safe through activities at the Community Outreach Garage.
Positive Black Images Connect (PBIC) — cultivating and caring for the Serenity and Ancestral Healing Garden, a peaceful space for community members who have lost loved ones to tragic deaths, fostering healing and hope.
Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund Health Outreach Campaign — addressing the widespread health inequities present within Trenton, specifically with respect to poor healthcare access for immigrants
Safkhet Literacy Project — supporting the Trenton Books at Home Program providing free books to Trenton youth up through high school, and teachers to share.
Capital Harmony Works — increasing access to high-quality and intensive arts education for the area’s majority Black and Latino children, youth, and families.
Beauty To The Block — providing youth in need with essential hygiene items to promote their well-being, security, and confidence through the CareBox initiative partnerships with local schools and organizations.
Guatemalan Civic Association of Mercer County — celebrating Trenton’s mothers, caregivers and guardians on Mother’s Day 2025 featuring music, food, gifts, and performances in Unity Square Park.
UrbanPromise Trenton/East Trenton Collaborative – enhancing biking safety in East Trenton by funding six new bike racks and a mural by a local artist at McKnight Elementary School.
Men for H.O.P.E – hosting a 3-day citywide talent exhibition in spring 2025 for Trenton youth showcasing their special skills in music, arts, literary works, spoken word, athletics or any unique talents.
Kappa Alpha Psi Robotics – working one-to-one with Trenton Housing Authority program students teaching hands-on robotics assembly as each participant builds their own robotic car to keep. Mercer Cemetery – linking both Trentonians and visitors to an overlooked part of our City history and restoring the site to use as a new urban park in the summer of 2025.
Jersey Divas – equipping teenagers with the skills to help themselves, family and/or friends if faced with a medical emergency and receiving their first aid/cpr/aed certification.
The KIND Collective — addressing the urgent needs of people experiencing housing insecurity and substance use challenges in Trenton during the harsh winter weather.
Legacy International Foundation for Education Inc. I AM, WHAT I SEE IN ME! — promoting resilience and emotional well-being in younger students dealing with ACEs, while also providing crucial support to their families.
Generation Of a New Era (G.O.N.E.) Foundation — Hosting an annual college giveaway where we provide dorm essentials to students in college or going away for the first time.
Tre Devon Lane Foundation — promoting self-care practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s own well-being and happiness, in particular during periods of stress, such as grief.
Princeton National Rowing Association – providing access to opportunity in the sport of rowing in Trenton public schools.
IAT also awarded $60,000 in Downtown Trenton Grants, a collaboration with Trenton-based nonprofit Isles, Inc. to provide grants in specific Trenton neighborhoods, where the NJ Department of Community Affairs (DCA) provides funding to support resident-driven plans as part of the Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit (NRTC) program.
2024 Downtown Trenton (DTTN) Neighborhood Grants are funded by the state Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit program and support community projects, arts, culture, beautification, and business development in the “Creek to Canal” neighborhood bordered by the Assunpink Creek and D&R Canal.
2024 Downtown Trenton Grant recipients include:
Artworks Trenton — creating a mural connecting Artworks, Trenton’s capital city’s creative hub, to the larger Trenton Artwalk project, linking the train station to downtown.
Passage Theatre — hosting a theatre, poetry, and music festival in Mill Hill Park and The Mill Hill Playhouse.
FlyKickz — presenting The Art Collective, a community collaborative pop-up art exhibition and vendor marketplace.
Men for H.O.P.E. — creating a Book Box and Hygiene Box at St. Michael’s Church on Perry/Warren with a safe spot for reading there. Local youth will build the boxes and a bench and help maintain the area.
Old Barracks Association — providing a Spanish translator to co-narrate the Battles of Trenton reenactments and written information for Spanish-speaking visitors to the Battles of Trenton.
The KIND Collective Project It Takes A Village — helping and equipping agencies, local providers, businesses, health centers, and residents with the skills needed to better understand, respond to, and navigate the challenges of working with individuals who are unhoused and/or struggling with substance use.
Freedom Skate Park — transforming a vacant lot into a vibrant public space that includes public art, benches, and planters designed to be friendly to skateboarding and welcoming to the general public.
Leon Rainbow — transforming public spaces into open-air studios with a 5-week series of live painting projects with a diverse group of talented artists painting live every Friday during the Spring and Summer.
Billion B Way Enterprise L.L.C — offering free hair services to women with hair loss or financial difficulties, helping them feel more confident and connected.
Much Better Studios — equipping youth and young adults with lifelong creative skills in a 10-week course teaching the basics of photography and introducing them to the photography business.
Tha Block Trenton Inc — hosting Voices of Tha Block is an interactive community dinner and discussion initiative for Trentonians to share their experience while learning about community building, community care and radical imagining.
To learn more about the I Am Trenton Community Foundation or to make a donation to support its projects, visit www.iamtrenton.org.
Recipients of Citywide Grants from the I Am Trenton Community Foundation.Photo by Darita Wilson Photography.,
