​The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, a charitable organization dedicated to enriching the quality of life in the 40 Middle Tennessee counties it serves, announces $2,379,000 in grants to 365 nonprofit organizations as part of the 2019 annual grantmaking process.
 
Progress has received a $5,000 grant to provide training to 31 staff who will be supporting people with intellectual disabilities and seniors.
 
“The work of our nonprofit partners has never been more important as we watch needs emerge and evolve in this community,” said Ellen Lehman, president of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. “The Community Foundation is honored to connect generosity with need through these annual grants and other avenues throughout the year, but we couldn’t have an impact without the array of quality nonprofits offering solutions to our community’s needs and vital services to our neighbors.”
 
The Community Foundation awards discretionary grants annually from its unrestricted and field-of-interest funds through an open application process to Middle Tennessee nonprofits organizations addressing community needs and benefiting the well-being of citizens through valuable programs and innovative services.
 
More information on the grant process is online at www.cfmt.org.
 
About Progress
Founded in 1971, Progress promotes health, happiness and safety for people with disabilities and senior adults needing care. Progress provides a variety of programming to help people with intellectual disabilities and seniors live independently. Programs include Residential support, Employment training, Senior Services, Community-Based Day programming and Smart Art + Craft Supplies, a social enterprise that sells upcycled arts and crafts materials while providing employment and training to people with disabilities. Through these programs we serve approximately 250 people throughout Middle Tennessee.
 
About The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee
The Community Foundation exists to promote and facilitate giving in the 40 counties of
Middle Tennessee and beyond. It does this by accepting gifts of any size from anyone at
any time and by empowering individuals, families, companies, nonprofits and
communities to respond to needs and opportunities that matter. The Community
Foundation works with people who have great hearts, whether or not they have great
wealth, to craft solutions that reflect their intentions and goals. For more information, call
615-321-4939 or visit www.cfmt.org. 

Nashville, TN – The Kharis Foundation recently awarded Progress Inc. a $200,000 grant in support of the agency’s capital campaign. The capital campaign seeks to raise $1million dollars to fund a new building on Progress’s campus at 319 Ezell Pike. More than $860,000 has been raised thus far; Progress aims to break ground on construction of the new building this summer.

The Kharis Foundation’s generous donation to Progress, Inc., a non-profit serving people with disabilities and seniors for more than 45 years, has made a large impact on the realization of adding a new building to the current campus.  “The Kharis Foundation has largely closed the gap for us in terms of making the new building a reality, and we are incredibly grateful for their support,” said Progress Executive Director Donna Goodaker. The planned building will include offices and meeting rooms for employment program initiatives which will enable the organization’s employment and senior divisions to expand and respond to increased need for service.
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The capital campaign was launched in the fall of 2014 in order to address the growing need for more space at the agency’s current location. Progress provides a variety of services to people with disabilities and seniors, including community and respite services, residential support, employment training, social enterprise Smart Supplies and others. The administrative offices at Progress are currently house twice the number of people that the building was originally designed to hold.  The new building will provide a space for growing employment services to people with all types of disabilities.

The Kharis Foundation was established in 2008, but has a long history of service in Middle Tennessee and in the Presbyterian Church, USA. Funds for the Kharis Foundation were established from the sale of Park Manor Retirement Center, which began as a “vision by members of a Sunday School class at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Nashville first to help retired ministers and then to minister to the needs of the area’s elderly citizens. Support for the idea grew and, in 1962, Park Manor Retirement Center was opened as Nashville’s first retirement living community.” Progress is incredibly grateful for the support of the foundation. ​
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The Kharis Foundation is an independent, non-traditional foundation which supports churches and nonprofit organizations in Middle Tennessee and is committed to finding innovative ways to affect positive change.

​Progress was one of two agencies in Tennessee to receive funding from Sprouts Farmer’s Market Neighborhood Grants. The grants are funded through Sprouts’ “Round Up for Our Community” program, which takes place annually in stores across the United States. The Neighborhood Grants Program encompasses three focus areas: Health Nutrition and Education, Food Security and Hunger Relief, and Disabilities and Health Concerns. This funding will support Day and Employment Programs at Progress. This includes Project Search, Ticket to Work and Community Based Day programs. Progress is extremely grateful for this funding and looks forward to partnering with Sprouts Farmer's Market. More information about Sprouts Farmer’s Market and grant recipients can be found at www.Sprouts.com. Sprouts locations in Middle Tennessee include Franklin and Murfreesboro.