Over $700,000 awarded to various organizations in Albany County

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) - Thirty organizations, non-profits, school districts, and organizations in Albany County were awarded thousands of dollars from the Albany County Legislature Friday morning at MVP Arena. The county legislature awarded over $725,000 in total on the grants.

Legislators and recipients said they plan to use the money to fight addiction, support women's health, and for anti-bullying initiatives, amongst other topics, as part of needs outlined by the county's Eviction Protections Intervention Collaborative (EPIC), the Community Development Fund (CDF), and the Albany County Improvement Fund (ACIF).

Albany County Legislator Joanne Cunningham said a couple of the programs awarded on Friday are brand new.

"The birth of a couple of the programs today; the women's health one, the tobacco education and substance abuse grant, those are all from those kinds of thought sessions that we started a year ago," Cunningham said.

Deputy Chairwoman Wanda Willingham said the groups awarded were found to be outstanding within the community. A diverse array of groups were selected in order to have an impact on the entire community in the county.

"The work we do must actively reinvest in those residents and in those neighborhoods that have spent way too long being underserved," Willingham said.

Some of the new initiatives are coming out of the North Colonie Central School District, which plans to fund an anti-bullying program and educate students about the harms of using tobacco.

"It's this idea that it will involve all of our students," Kathleen Skeals, the superintendent of schools in North Colonie said. "So, it's not a project that's just going to impact certain students, it's going to impact all of our students, and we have six thousand two-hundred kids; so if we get 6,200 kids on the right path that makes for a better and stronger community."

Marie Wiles, the superintendent of schools for Guilderland Central School District, received about $13,000, which she said will go towards helping students learn about substance abuse and addiction.

"We're going to be using those funds to enhance our programming to help students make good decisions about their own health with regard to smoking, the use of E-cigarettes and substance abuse."