Empowering Communities: The KFC Foundation Funds $250,000 in Education & Training Projects

KFC Foundation

The KFC Foundation is awarding $250,000 in grants to 25 community-based non-profit organization projects focused on education and training. Kentucky Fried Wishes, one of the KFC Foundation’s community giving programs, invites non-profit organizations to apply for a grant to fund a project on their wish list. This year, the KFC Foundation will fund $1 million in Kentucky Fried Wishes to 100 non-profits nationwide, with 25 grants awarded quarterly based on different project categories.

This cycle’s grant recipients span over 20 different states and support a variety of causes and communities, including:

• Boolean Girl, located in Arlington, VA, works to address the declining number of girls and women in STEM fields by engaging girls, grades 3-8, with meaningful, hands-on instruction and sustained exposure to computer science and engineering in a collaborative and welcoming environment. The Kentucky Fried Wishes grant will allow the organization to purchase 67 laptops to support 7 new schools, reaching over 400 students.
• Gateway Regional Arts Center, located in Mt. Sterling, KY, promotes, enhances, and contributes to the educational, artistic, and cultural lives of those living in Central and Eastern Kentucky. The Kentucky Fried Wishes grant will go towards the organization’s Pottery for Change program, which provides six months of art therapy-based pottery classes for justice-involved foster youth at the Gateway Children’s Services facility in Mt. Sterling, KY.
• The INN Between, located in Salt Lake City, UT, provides medical respite and end-of-life care to those experiencing homelessness. The Kentucky Fried Wishes grant will allow the organization to develop a life skills training program for individuals receiving their care to allow them to transition to independent living and continue on a path toward autonomy.

Kentucky Fried Wishes, Cycle 1, grant recipients:

Boolean Girl (Arlington, VA)

Captain Planet Foundation (Atlanta, GA)

Children’s Museum of Acadiana (Lafayette, LA)

Creekside Christian Montessori (De Pere, WI)

Des Moines Public Library Foundation (Des Moines, IA)

Dove Center (Oakland, MD)

Down Syndrome Innovations (Mission, KS)

Drive To Thrive Mentoring Program(Vicksburg, MS)

Gateway Regional Arts Center (Mt. Sterling, KY)

Giraffe Laugh (Garden City, ID)

Girls on the Run Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV)

Hoke County Reading-Literacy Council (Raeford, NC)

I Would Rather Be Reading (Louisville, KY)

Junior Achievement of Delaware (Wilmington, DW)

Lumity (Chicago, IL)

Norwich City School District (Norwich, NY)

No Wrong Door for Support and Recovery (Franklin, NC)

Roscommon Elementary School (Roscommon, MI)

SPARC (Yorktown Heights, NY)

Team Read (Seattle, WA)

The INN Between (Salt Lake City, UT)

Totally Adaptive (East Longmeadow, MA)

Tutwiler Community Education Center (Tutwiler, MS)

West Clermont School District (Cincinnati, OH)

World Services for the Blind (Little Rock, AR)

Kentucky Fried Wishes is just one way the KFC Foundation supports, empowers, and serves joy to KFC restaurant employees and communities. The KFC Foundation also provides programs focused on education, financial literacy, and hardship assistance for KFC restaurant employees, as well as a food donation program to fight hunger and food waste.

The next Kentucky Fried Wishes grant cycle will run from May 1-31 and focus on improving health and wellbeing. Non-profit organizations seeking funding for a project within that scope can learn more and apply for a grant at kfcfoundation.org/wishes.