The Santa Fe Community Foundation has awarded 40 grants totaling $410,000 to nonprofits in Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Mora, San Miguel, Taos and Rio Arriba counties. Despite the economy, the total was just $25,000 below last year, according to president Billie Blair.

The foundation received 156 applications for grants totaling $1.9 million. The awards are made in the areas of arts, civic affairs, education, environment, and health and human services.

Arts

Española Valley Fiber Arts: $10,000 to provide education and training in fiber arts for people in Rio Arriba, Santa Fe, Taos, Mora, San Miguel and Los Alamos counties.

Outside In Productions: $9,750 for music, art and dance opportunities to confined populations, including elderly in nursing homes and youth in detention facilities.

Santa Fe Performing Arts: $15,000 for training in performing arts and outreach to youth, particularly children who might not otherwise have access to performing arts in Santa Fe County.

Civic affairs

CASA, 1st Judicial District: $9,750 to match adult mentors to foster children who support them through the courts.

Santa Fe Independent Business Alliance: $10,000 for a project to create more commercial use of locally grown food, including a day-long event to bring together farmers and commercial food buyers/restaurant owners.

Somos un Pueblo Unido: $10,000 for an Immigrant Workers' Rights Project to provide civil rights education through labor rights workshops, media campaigns and written materials; and to improve community/police relations.

Environment

The Community Farm: $13,000 to support the oldest farm in Santa Fe, which raises food for local food banks and serves as an educational facility for locally grown produce.

New Mexico Acequia Association: $10,000 to support the Sembrando Semillas Youth Program, which builds youth skills in land and water stewardship, and provides adult opportunities for farm business planning in Taos and San Miguel counties.

Santa Fe Conservation Trust: $10,000 to expand tax credit programs for small farm parcels, educate state staff and tax credit committee members on the importance of conserving small food-producing parcels; and educate small farmers about conservation options.

WildEarth Guardians: $5,000 for its Doable Renewable Project, which will develop a local renewable energy plan through partnerships with Santa Fe businesses, the national laboratories, local government and the community.

Education

Boys & Girls Club del Norte: $12,000 to diversify and increase funding sources to empower and inspire the youth of lower Rio Arriba and upper Santa Fe counties to reach their full potential.

Citizen Schools: $20,000 to change the life trajectories of students at De Vargas Middle School by offering academic, behavioral and leadership skills, making students more likely to succeed and serve as future community leaders.

Cooking With Kids: $11,500 for work in the public schools to expose children to new, locally grown foods, and teach food preparation and cooking.

Fine Arts for Children and Teens: $8,050 to support after-school arts education for youth in Santa Fe and Rio Arriba counties.

Healthcare Careers Pathway, Capital High School: $20,000 to prepare high school students, through hands-on studies and work with a range of medical professionals, to choose one of several pathways to a professional health care career in Northern New Mexico.

Literacy Volunteers of Santa Fe: $19,500 to provide free, quality tutoring for all who want to learn to read and speak English.

Think New Mexico: $10,000 to support the organization's advocacy of smaller public schools; and for a new initiative designed to effectively address "pay to play" in state government.

Health and human services

Bienvenidos Outreach: $12,000 to provide food and clothing through a weekly family "food box program," a "Milk Program," a "Seniors Day" and a daily lunch program for those in need in Santa Fe, San Miguel and Rio Arriba counties.

Community Against Violence: $10,000 to train and support a cadre of youth leaders to teach violence-prevention strategies and youth-organizing activities, and to initiate conflict-resolution groups in Taos County.

Crisis Center of Northern New Mexico: $10,000 to implement an anti-bullying curriculum in Española elementary and middle schools.

Drug Policy Alliance: $8,800 to provide training and materials to teachers for work in drug prevention education.

El Centro Family Health: $15,000 to expand its program for treatment of opiate addiction in Rio Arriba County.

Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families: $20,000 for emergency shelter, case management and recovery services for victims of domestic violence; and for re-education services for offenders in Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Mora, Rio Arriba and San Miguel counties.

Food for Santa Fe: $15,000 to provide bags of groceries for weekly distribution to those in need in Santa Fe County.

New Mexico Suicide Intervention Project: $10,000 for intensive suicide-prevention training for public school counselors, families and a student/peer skills and support group in Santa Fe elementary, middle and high schools.

Santa Fe Mountain Center: $10,000 for the Adventures in Caring Community anti-bullying program to create a more positive, caring and safe learning environment for students in Agua Fría and Turquoise Trail elementary schools.

Santa Fe Rape Crisis & Trauma Treatment Center: $10,000 to provide free, evidence-based clinical assessment and treatment to individuals who have experienced trauma.

St. Elizabeth Shelter: $20,000 for services for the homeless: emergency shelter, food, case management, counseling and referrals to health care, employment, housing and human services agencies in Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico.

St. Vincent Hospital Foundation: $7,000 for its program to educate and counsel families and children at risk for diabetes from Santa Fe and Rio Arriba Counties; and to provide follow-up group classes and individual consultations.

Youth Shelters and Family Services: $20,000 to provide services to homeless, runaway and in-crisis youth and their families in eight Northern New Mexico counties and eight pueblos.

Lesbian and gay funding partnership grants

IMPACT Personal Safety: $3,000 for classes for LGBT youth in safety skills, violence awareness and avoidance, verbal strategies, boundary-setting, and easy-to-execute physical defense techniques.

New Mexico Community AIDS Partnership: $5,000 to train youth peer educators to speak to students, teachers and parents about sexuality, sexual identity and sexually transmitted diseases.

Santa Fe Mountain Center: $5,000 to educate school communities about homophobia and discrimination and develop strong gay/straight alliances.

Youth Shelters and Family Services: $4,000 to build a Gay-Straight Alliance at the Street Outreach Program, available to current clients and the community.

Native American endowed fund grants

IMPACT Personal Safety: $6,000 to provide personal safety training with Santa Clara Pueblo, which will prepare children and youth with life-saving skills to prevent violence in their lives and to choose healthy relationships and behaviors.

Institute of American Indian Arts: $5,000 to create a health and wellness program for students, faculty, staff and visitors that will teach healthy living practices including nutrition and physical fitness.

Santa Fe Mountain Center: $5,000 to support SFMC's "Youth Allies for Sustainability" program, which provides leadership development and education to teenagers from Santa Fe Indian School and the Santa Fe Public Schools.

Traditional Native American Farmers Association: $3,000 for the Seed Workshops at the 2009 and 2010 Symposia for Food and Seed Sovereignty.

Additional minigrants were made to The Friendship Club for a venue and support for year-round drug and alcohol recovery groups in Santa Fe and Samaritan House, a year-round food pantry, transitional housing support, and winter shelter for homeless and low-income populations in Las Vegas, N.M.