VERO BEACH – The Grand Harbor Community Outreach Program (GHCOP) kicked off April with an inaugural Breakfast of Champions to celebrate the distribution of 37 grants amounting to more than $408,000. GHCOP awarded United Against Poverty (UP) a $16,000 grant to use toward funding the nonprofit’s Success Training Employment Program (STEP).

STEP is a 120 hour, three-phase program, which includes classroom training, internships, on-the-job training, placement assistance, and continuous support after placement. UP has been able to help 177 families lift themselves out of poverty, through their STEP Program.

GHCOP has distributed almost $4.5 million to assist nonprofits like UP in meeting the needs of Indian River County residents.

“It’s through the support of groups like the Grand Harbor Community Outreach Program that we are able to help our clients lift themselves ‘UP’ out of poverty. It truly is a community effort and we thank them for their generosity and unwavering support of their neighbors in need,” said Annabel Robertson, UP executive director.

Dale Jacobs, GHCOP president, told the nonprofit representatives gathered for breakfast, “You are doing the hard work. You are in the trenches. You are doing the work in order to help our neighbors in need, and we are able to provide some of the resources that you need to do that, but you’re the ones that really make a difference, and we’re proud to be associated with you.”

Join United Against Poverty for Burgers & Brews 2019 – An American Heritage Celebration from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. on June 29th in Downtown Vero Beach on 14th Avenue.

To learn more about United Against Poverty, visit www.upirc.org.

About United Against Poverty
United Against Poverty, founded in 2003, is a 501(c)3 serving those in poverty by providing crisis care, case management, transformative education, food, and household subsidy, employment training and placement, personal empowerment training and active referrals to other collaborative social service providers. The nonprofit provides a comprehensive approach to fight and reduce long-term, poverty-related hunger so that every family has access to basic needs, nutritional food, crisis care, education and employment training, and where everyone has the opportunity to achieve a future filled with hope and possibilities. UP is the only national organization to provide families with both emergency food supplies, including hygiene products and the opportunity to obtain highly subsidized groceries.

This article was distributed through Treasure Coast Business, a news service for the readers and advertisers of Indian River Magazine.