The Knight Foundation Fund of the Manatee Community Foundation recently awarded Realize Bradenton with a $59,000 grant to support PopUps: Inside Access, a series of events intended to help Realize Bradenton engage millennials on a variety of topics important to the younger generation and the community.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast recently received several donations. The Libertore Fund for Children awarded $7,500 for the Reading Bigs program, which serves children at Alta Vista, Tuttle, Phillippi Shores and Gocio elementary schools. Wells Fargo awarded a grant in the amount of $15,000 to support the Gateways to Graduation and Next Steps to 21 programs in Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties. Gateways to Graduation serves students in grades 8-12 who have been identified as at risk of not graduating or of not being promoted to the next grade level. Next Steps to 21 places youth on a career pathway to independence by extending professionally supported one-on-one mentoring services until age 21. The Jerome and Mildred Paddock Foundation awarded $15,000 for the Juvenile Justice Mentoring and Next Step to 21 programs for Sarasota County. Juvenile Justice Mentoring was designed to target youth with prior or current juvenile justice involvement and those at high risk of entering the juvenile justice system. The Suncoast Credit Union Foundation awarded $10,000 for school-based mentoring in Hardee, Hendry, Highlands and Charlotte counties, and in North Port. The Ormond W. Dixon Charitable Foundation awarded $2,000 for one-on-one mentoring programs in Englewood. And the Venice Nokomis Rotary Club donated $2,000 for the Gateways to Graduation program in Venice.

The Child Protection Center recently received two donations. A $50,000 grant from the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation will support a new staff position for the Personal Safety Community Awareness program, and a $10,000 grant from the Jerome and Mildred Paddock Foundation will provide assistance for the organization's Child Protection Team and medical exams.

The Women’s Resource Center, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering and supporting women during all life stages and circumstances, recently awarded 22 scholarships of $1,000 each. This year’s class was made up of women who are pursuing degrees in fields of study from nursing to graphic design.

The Masala Giving Circle, a philanthropic organization of African-American women, recently awarded $2,500 to Five Pearls of Excellence, a mentoring organization led by professional women working with young girls.

The Sarasota Cooperative Learning Project recently donated more than 200 children's books to Goodwill Manasota to fortify the Goodwill Good Readers Program. Goodwill Good Readers are volunteers who read to students at area Title I schools and then present each child with a book to take home.