LITTLE ROCK, Ark — A handful of Black-led and Black-serving nonprofit organizations across Central Arkansas recently received vital extra funding to help serve their communities.
The grants came from the new "Building Black Communities" fund.
The Arkansas Community Foundation received $1 million from Facebook and awarded 40 different recipients up to $25,000.
For the nonprofit Life Skills for Youth, it means they can touch more kids' lives in southwest Little Rock like they touched Jorden Moody's.
"He really saw something in me that I didn't see in myself," she said.
18-year-old Moody first came to Life Skills for Youth just a couple of years ago.
The lessons she learned, in that short amount of time, molded her from a once shy high schooler to a graduate heading to college on a scholarship.
"It really shaped my leadership skills. Before I just didn't really have any," she said.
Moody is just one of the thousands that Coach Larry Clark has impacted inside his building.
Founded in 2007, Life Skills for Youth focuses on mentoring kids through after-school and summer programs.
The nonprofit provides not only a hot meal but a place to further academic and life skills.
Executive Director Larry Clark said it's all about making sure they take the kids to the next level.
"We love to see them come through the door, take them through kindergarten all the way up to high school," he said.
According to Clark, the need is so great and they can only hit a small percentage in southwest Little Rock.
Through this grant money, they will be able to reach more by purchasing another van and upgrading their virtual platform.
"We needed to look at increasing the bandwidth for Wi-Fi because we had to do both in-person and virtual," he said.
The Arkansas Community Foundation, partnered with the Arkansas Black Philanthropic Collaborative, was one of 20 community foundations across the country, chosen by Facebook.
Chief Program Officer Sarah Kinser described it as an "exceptional gift."
"We were just really excited to have the opportunity to bring out-of-state resources into Arkansas to support local folks," she said.
Those resources are now helping support, what Kinser called, the "lifeblood of many communities."
"We want to see these organizations grow stronger and more sustainable for the future so that in years to come, they're still here doing their work," she said.
Coach Clark said with this extra money, Life Skills for Youth still needs more support. You can donate here.