Community Needs
Kitsap is an amazing place to live, but it is, like any other place, not without its struggles and needs. In the greater Kitsap area, DSHS reports that as of June 2017 over 60,000 people receive services for cash, food, and medical aid.
Kitsap community members have a wide variety of opportunity to support and transform our community. Your community foundation helps in this task by giving grants to nonprofits to help them meet needs, not just for human services, but also to promote the arts, preserve the environment, and much more. We do this in multiple ways - from providing training through basic training with KCNE and opportunities for fundraising through the Kitsap Great Give, to intensive training via our Kitsap Strong poverty alleviation program and also via our competitive grant program. We work tirelessly to determine which nonprofits applying for our grants will best be able to use the community dollars that we have the honor of stewarding.
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You can contribute to the Community Endowment that we use to make these grants here.
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You can find nonprofits working to meet community needs here.
Some of the Many Opportunities to Support and Transform Our Community
Affordable Housing
One of the biggest barriers to economic security, opportunity, and stability our community members face is affordable housing. According to the 2018 Point In Time Homeless Count, in any given day there are estimated to be more than 450 people living on the streets, in vehicles, and in the woods of Kitsap County, in shelters, and in transitional housing. Kids Count data shows that in Kitsap, 6.5% of children under the age of 18 living in extreme poverty. One of our biggest opportunities to our community lies in solving the affordable housing issue.
Community members can open funds with the Foundation to help solve this problem or work with one of the nonprofits in our county on this issue.
Economic Development
Many of the challenges faced by fellow Kitsap community members are all interwoven and poverty has a strong link to lack of affordable housing. Data show that in Kitsap County, as of 2013 the five-year average of individuals living in poverty was more than 10%.
You can work with nonprofits in Kitsap to take advantage of the opportunity to create robust economic development in our county, or you can work with the Foundation to set up a fund to help meet this challenge.
Domestic Violence
It is difficult to take advantage of an opportunity to improve if you cannot see it. Domestic violence is a hidden, but large challenge facing our community today, and it has devastating effects. Not only is the safety of our fellow community members at stake, but domestic violence impacts our economy, mental health, education system, and its effects last for generations. According to multiple studies examining the causes of homelessness, among mothers with children experiencing homelessness, more than 80% had previously experienced domestic violence.
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You can transform our community by working directly with nonprofits who heal domestic violence, or you can open a fund dedicated to this cause at the Foundation.