Local organizations to receive portion of parking meter proceeds and will be featured throughout Easton Town Center
Celebrating Easton’s 24th year of giving, the Easton Community Foundation will partner with six community organizations for its 2023 Change for Charity program. The Easton Community Foundation selects six area nonprofits to receive a portion of the parking meter and ticket revenue to support their community efforts and be highlighted throughout the property so that Easton’s 30 million annual visitors are aware of each organization’s mission, community impact, and also how to access their services. With dozens of applications submitted for consideration, the following six non-profits have been selected and will be featured throughout Easton over a two-month period:
Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland (January / February)
Community for New Direction (March / April)
Kaleidoscope Youth Center (May / June)
Freedom a la Cart (July / August)
St. Vincent Family Services (September / October)
Star House (November / December)
Since its debut, the Easton Community Foundation has provided $9.4 million in financial support to more than 200 organizations that strengthen the central Ohio community through services and programming in the areas of education, health and social services. Eighty seven youth, family-focused, health and educational organizations have been supported through the Foundation’s Change for Charity program. This program has provided $2.1 million to non-profits in Central Ohio. Primary community-focused initiatives of the Foundation include Cornerstone Charitable Event fundraisers for some of central Ohio’s most respected charities, which have raised exponentially more funds for organizations such as The James Cancer Hospital, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Ohio State’s Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital, Dress for Success Columbus, Alvis, The Center for Family Safety and Healing, CelebrateOne and more. The Easton Community Foundation Scholarships for area high schools has provided 151, 2-year, renewable scholarships to students. Other initiative supported or hosted by Easton include youth mentorship and community programming, fundraisers, and events.
In 2022, utilizing spaces around property like the Community Room or Booth, Town Square, parking lots, and retail or restaurant space, many local non-profits like A Kid Again, Furniture Bank, The Salvation Army, Healthy New Albany, Dress for Success, Pink Ribbon Girls, The James, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, CCAD, COSI, Versiti and Fashion Week Columbus hosted events, activations, and fundraisers at Easton.
“As central Ohio businesses and nonprofits continue to recover from the pandemic, it’s important that the Easton Community Foundation support those in our community making a difference and helping those in need in our neighborhoods,” said Kerri Ward, Senior Director, Brand Communications & Community Relations. “Our focus this coming year continues to be supporting organizations specifically impacting our local community members, specifically young people in our area. We hope to amplify the message of these groups and bring awareness to their mission through Easton’s voice. Guests should know that each time they park at Easton Town Center, they are helping support these nonprofits.”
Each partner receives a substantial donation through Easton’s parking meter proceeds along with in-kind marketing and publicity opportunities that reach more than 30 million visitors annually.
Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland
(January / February): Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland is proud to serve our more than 14,500 girls in 30 counties by building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. Girl Scouts is the preeminent leadership development organization for girls, with a research-proven program that helps girls cultivate the important skills they need to take the lead in their own lives and in the world. Girl Scouts offers every girl a chance to practice a lifetime of leadership, adventure, and success. Girl Scouts helps girls dream big for their futures!
Community for New Direction
(March/April): Community for New Direction (CND) reaches the most at-need populations in our community and responds to community needs, serving inner-city, economically distressed neighborhoods. CND provides outpatient mental health and substance use disorder treatment services to adults, prevention services to youth grades k-12 to reduce substance use and abuse, and violence intervention to youth and young adults. Through innovative programs and positive relationships, CND empowers individuals to achieve their potential. CND serves more than 2,000 individuals a year, is a BBB accredited charity, has a 3-year CARF accreditation for treatment services and a Gold seal of transparency with Candid. Learn more at cndcolumbus.org.
Kaleidoscope Youth Center (KYC)
(May/June): Kaleidoscope Youth Center (KYC) is Ohio’s largest and longest-serving organization in Ohio solely dedicated to supporting LGBTQIA+ youth ages 12 – 24, and has done so for 28 years. Services include a Drop-in Center, community education and training, advocacy and civic engagement, health and wellness programs, and housing opportunities. KYC works in partnerships with young people to provide safer and affirming space to hundreds of new youth each year, and supports youth who are struggling with identity issues, family discord, mental health problems, housing or food insecurities, and/or other challenges of adolescence.
Freedom a la Cart
(July/August): Freedom a la Cart empowers survivors of sex trafficking and exploitation to lead new lives of freedom and self-sufficiency. Through their social enterprise and three levels of impact service: 1) CATCH Court Support + Outreach services; 2) Workforce Development + Independence Training; and 3) their Butterfly Continuum of Care program, Freedom a la Cart walks with a survivor throughout all stages of recovery- from vulnerability and poverty into stability and self-sufficiency. Survivors are earning their first paycheck, opening a savings/checking account, getting their driver’s license, purchasing a car, moving into independent housing, regaining custody of their children, graduating from college and buying homes. Women are reimagining their futures, stepping into lives of sobriety and self-sufficiency, and reaching a hand to lift up their sisters, mothers, and friends. Generational impact!
St. Vincent Family Services
(September/October): St. Vincent Family Services helps families build bright futures by providing trauma-informed pediatric behavioral health care in a learning community to change the lives of children and families. SVFS delivers quality behavioral health treatment to more than 3,500 youth and families annually, offering a comprehensive, full-service range of services, including: prevention, early intervention, counseling, day treatment, residential and foster care programming.
Star House
(November/December): Star House does whatever it takes to lift youth out of homelessness and into a community of hope. Star House operates Central Ohio’s only drop-in center for youth, ages 14-24, who are experiencing homelessness, providing 24/7 safe respite, basic needs and access to crucial, stabilizing resources. Star House’s drop-in center serves over 1,000 young people per year, and in 15 percent of cases, their small children. In addition, along with the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority and Finance Fund, Star House jointly owns and operates Carol Stewart Village, an affordable housing neighborhood for youth coming out of homelessness, ages 18-24, with 62 studio apartments and on-site social services.
View Change for Charity Partners through 2023.
Applications for Change for Charity:
Applications for the Change for Charity program are accepted through August 1st of the year preceding disbursement. Groups interested in applying for 2024 consideration should visit
https://eastontowncenter.com/easton-community-foundation and submit the online application. Applications will be available in early 2023.
