CBJ Foundation, Jet's Pizza announce recipients of 2020-21 Grants

The Columbus Blue Jackets Foundation and Jet's Pizza are proud to announce the list of central Ohio organizations that received grants from the foundation during the 2020-21 grant cycle. This year's grants push the Foundation's cumulative support of youth health and wellness initiatives in central Ohio to $11.6 million since its inception in 2000. Grant partners for 2020-21 include:
A Kid Again, Boys and Girls Club of Central Ohio, Children's Hunger Alliance, City of Columbus Recreation and Parks Foundation, Clintonville-Beechwold Community Resources Center, Columbus Early Learning Centers, Columbus Metropolitan Library Foundation, Community Shelter Board, Flashes of Hope, Flying Horse Farms, KidSMILES Pediatric Dental Clinic, Nationwide Children's Hospital and Nellie's Champions for Kids (NC4K).
"Despite unprecedented challenges over the past year, the Columbus Blue Jackets Foundation remains dedicated to the health and wellness of children in central Ohio and making a difference in the areas of pediatric cancer, reading, fitness through play and the growth and development of amateur hockey," said the foundation's Executive Director Katie Matney. "We are extremely grateful for the support of our corporate and community partners, fans, players, coaches and staff that share this commitment with us."

"It is an honor and we are humbled to be a part of the CBJ Foundation as it allows us to give back to the community that has so greatly impacted our lives," said Mike Couchman, Columbus Franchise Owner, Jet's Columbus.
Between February 9 and February 17, the CBJ Foundation will be highlighting four grant partners and showcasing how each has used the grants to make lives better in our community at
www.bluejackets.com/community/2020grants
and via the foundation's CBJGIVESBACK social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter. The featured partners include:
Boys and Girls Club:
Clintonville Beechwold Community Resource Center:
Columbus Recreation and Parks Foundation:
Columbus Early Learning Center:
- The CBJ Foundation invested $16,000 in Columbus Early Learning Center's ParentChild+ program that provides two years of intensive, twice-weekly home visits to underserved families with children between the ages of 18 months - four years. - Through the visits, the Early Learning Specialists educate parents on the importance of parent-child interaction and provide them the tools (books and educational toys), skills, and encouragement to engage their children. This program bridges the achievement gap for low-income children by strengthening the parent-child relationship and, ultimately, increasing the language, literacy, and cognitive skills, as well as social-emotional development critical to school success. - During the months of July and December 2020, the ParentChild+ program served a total of 94 individuals.