By Rebecca Ressl
Vera Court Neighborhood Center

The Vera Court Neighborhood Center has received a $50,000 grant from the Madison Community Foundation (MCF) toward their Vera Vision 2020 campaign. The grant will be used for much needed center renovations.

Vera Vision 2020 seeks to provide the tutoring, family case management, healthy meals and educational technology necessary for Vera Court’s children to succeed in school. The center will make these new services possible by doubling its size, renovating the outdated kitchen and computer lab and hiring additional staff.

“We are very grateful to the Madison Community Foundation for their generosity. Their donation toward the Vera Vision 2020 campaign will help provide the space necessary to expand academic and social services necessary to close the achievement gap in our neighborhood,” said Thomas Solyst, the center’s executive director.

This grant was funded by two MCF endowment funds — the Community Impact Fund and the Ecumenical Housing Corporation Fund for Nutrition — which are part of a grant making program that invests nearly $2 million a year in the arts, education, community development, environment, nonprofit capacity, children and seniors. Together with its donors, MCF gives nearly $10 million in grants to support nonprofits in Dane County and around the world every year. In 2017, MCF will celebrate its 75th anniversary. For more information, visit www.madisongives.org.

Vera Court Neighborhood Center is a nonprofit agency on Madison’s Northside. The center serves over 5,000 residents a year through services including early childhood programming, after-school and summer camp for elementary and middle school students, high school programming, nutritious meals and access to translation and social services. For more information visit www.veracourt.org.