Against a backdrop of thousands of tiny individual lettuce plants joining to form a carpet of leafy green at Riverview Gardens’ new hydroponic greenhouse, U.S Venture announced the $1.2 million in grants that stemmed from a group of businesses and charitable organizations working together for the benefit of the community.

The money — raised from the annual U.S. Venture Open golf outing and contributions from community partners – was distributed as grants to 70 nonprofit organizations in the Fox Valley, Green Bay an the Oshkosh area to battle poverty in northeast Wisconsin. The grants will go to nonprofit programs ranging from expanded job training at Riverview Gardens, to Kids Success, helping children living in poverty realize academic and personal success. See the list of grant recipients.

This was all made possible by the Basic Needs Giving Partnership, a collaboration among the U.S Venture Fund for Basic Needs within Fox Valley, Green Bay and Oshkosh Community Foundations, J. J. Keller Foundation and other community partners. The Rhoades Foundation, ThedaCare and Oshkosh Corp. each added $200,000 to the money raised at the U.S. Venture Open. This was the first year for Oshkosh Corp. has taken part.

Included in the grants total is $1,082,330, which was distributed from the Giving Partnership with the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region. Grants support 15 projects and programs addressing the causes of poverty through many collaborative community partnerships.

Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region President and CEO Curt Detjen highlighted POINT, a new initiative that focuses on improving the systems nonprofits use to serve families in need. The effort received a lot of praise from representatives of the funding organizations. The initiative has developed improvement teams, coached by business professionals in continuous improvement, to help improve the issues surrounding poverty.

This event was a celebration of working together and to show how successful it can be when collaborating with one another.