The Louisville Water Foundation has approved funding that will help customers who have difficulty paying their Louisville Water and Louisville MSD bill.
The Foundation approved two grants. First, a grant of $300,000 for customer assistance in Jefferson County will go to the Louisville Association of Community Ministries to use thru 2020.
There are 15 member agencies across Louisville Metro that are part of the Community Ministries. These agencies work directly with families requesting assistance in Jefferson County. Through the third quarter, the Foundation monies helped 901 families through Community Ministries. The average amount of assistance was $228.
The Foundation also approved a $20,000 grant to the Multi-Purpose Community Action Agency for customers who live in Bullitt County and need assistance with their water and wastewater bill. Customer assistance is the largest percentage of allocations from the Louisville Water Foundation. The Foundation provides funding for customer assistance to agencies in Oldham County as well, where Louisville Water provides water directly to customers. The Foundation also awards grants that support water-related education.
Funding for the Foundation comes from corporate donations of Louisville Water and MSD, businesses, and organizations as well as employees at Louisville Water and MSD. The public can also donate to the Foundation’s customer assistance program, called Drops of Kindness.
Young Authors Greenhouse
The Foundation also has approved a grant to Young Authors Greenhouse to help aspiring young writers find their voice.
Louisville Water has a robust education program in schools through its service area, teaching about the science of water as well as the importance of the architecture and engineering involved in supplying consistently safe water to the community.
Young Authors Greenhouse hopes this partnership with the Foundation will help them reach even more students.
Young Authors Greenhouse is a nonprofit in Louisville that offers free writing workshops in schools, field trips for elementary classrooms to their writing center in Portland, and a book-writing program for older students.
The Foundation’s grant of $20,000 will support their “Magic of Water” writing workshop by creating a ‘chapbook’ Water Series program.
Middle and high school students will participate in a multi-year partnership resulting in a box set of water-related student publications from their programs. Young Authors Greenhouse will partner with schools already receiving water education programming from the Louisville Water Foundation for this project.
Students involved will also take a field trip to Louisville Water Tower Park, where they will learn Louisville Water’s story at the WaterWorks Museum. Students will explore interactive exhibits that show how we make our high-quality water and learn how and why we are pioneers in water filtration.