Mobile Bay area groups awarded $1.5 million

Mobile Bay area groups awarded $1.5 million for oil spill recovery

MOBILE, Alabama -- A dozen Mobile Bay area organizations ranging from workforce training groups to medical clinics were awarded a total of more than $1.5 million Thursday to aid in the ongoing oil spill recovery.

United Way of Baldwin County received $179,000 to support Healing Families, which offers medical, dental and vision care to uninsured and underinsured children ages 5 to 18; mentoring and tutoring services for youth; and family financial counseling.

Eleven other groups receiving funds were:

•Alabama Free Clinic $70,670 to open a medical clinic in Gulf Shores and provide care to uninsured residents working in the seafood and tourism industries. The clinic is scheduled to open in October. Alabama Free Clinic already operates in Bay Minette and Robertsdale.

•Bay Area Food Bank $72,500 to expand food distribution and a child nutrition program and help people enroll in a nutrition assistance program in Mobile and Baldwin counties.

•Goodwill Easter Seals of the Gulf Coast Inc. -- $189,000 to support a program helping south Mobile County residents get GED certificates and enhance their employment skills. The project is called Recover Through Education and Employment Program.

•South Baldwin Chamber Foundation -- $200,000 for a business support center in Baldwin County to aid businesses hurt by the spill and the recession.

•Southwest Alabama Workforce Development Council -- $190,000 to provide workforce training at a Bayou La Batre business support center and offer bilingual case management workers who can connect families with food, utility assistance, medications and child care.

•Tri-Coastal Community Outreach Inc. -- $85,500 to increase its capacity to deliver self-help services, including food distribution and home repair training.

•HandsOn South Alabama -- $100,000 to expand volunteer recruitment and project management services into Baldwin County.

•Volunteers of America Southeast Inc. -- $105,000 to expand a financial literacy program for high school seniors and their parents in south Mobile County, focusing on the importance of using a budget and the proper use of credit.

•WINNERS Inc. -- $64,000 to provide transitional housing to homeless women and workforce development for economically disadvantaged women and men.

•Women's Business Center Inc. -- $164,000 to offer financial literacy, entrepreneurship training and credit counseling program in Baldwin and Mobile counties at business support centers and libraries.


Read the Story Here By Katherine Sayre, Press-Register