DAPHNE, Ala.—Impact 100 Baldwin County on Tuesday announced four finalists for its $150,000 grant award. The Eastern Shore Art Center, The Shoulder, Outward Bound or Baldwin Housing Alliance will be named the winner Oct. 30.

The three-year-old organization will donate $150,000 to one local non-profit organization after a vote by the entire Impact 100 membership.

The finalists

Grant finalists have projects outlined if they win the $150,000.

The Shoulder is a private, Christian-based, substance-abuse rehabilitation program for Baldwin County adult males.

“We were on the Causeway for 18 years and (Hurricane Katrina in 2005) washed us away. We’re going to build our new building,” The Shoulder Executive Director Phillip Drane said. “It will cost a little over $2 million. From insurance and donations we have about $1 million, and one of the rooms in the building is a community room, and we plan to use the funds to build that room in our new building.”

The Eastern Shore Art Center is a Fairhope-based organization that encourages community citizens to participate in art programs.

 “We would use the funds to enable handicap accessibility into the academy and the studios of the art center,” said Kate Fisher, Eastern Shore Art Center managing director. “In the programs we have right now, we are working with autistic children and special-needs children and adults. This would enable them to get into our building.”

The Baldwin Housing Alliance aims to provide affordable, safe and quality housing to Baldwin County citizens.

“The overall purpose is to provide a means to which we can repair homes for low-income families in the county,” said John Whitfield, interim executive director of The Baldwin Housing Alliance. “Presently, there are no housing agencies in the county. The Baldwin Housing Alliance came into existence to fill that gap. The grant will help us provide individuals with the help they need. The money really allows us to leverage to do so much more over the long term.”

Outward Bound is a national education organization that tries to help people of all ages inside and outside the classroom. It also was an Impact grant finalist last year.

“The funds will be used to work with students who have been identified as ‘at-risk’ of dropping out of school in Baldwin County,” said Meg Peterson, Outward Bound 5 Rivers Program director. “Our program is proposing to re-engage them in school, increasing their chances of graduating. We’re hoping to work with 150 students so each Impact 100 members will receive a ‘thank you’ letter from each student who participated.

“We hope to serve 75 students and 75 students in the fall. We will offer them a 10-day program with an 8-day camping and canoeing expedition in the Mobile Tensaw Delta, and there is a two-day school transition component.”

About Impact 100

“It’s such a wonderful concept and the response has been incredible,” said Irene Meehan, president and founder of Impact 100 Baldwin County said of the grants.

Meehan formed the group after hearing about it from acquaintances and researching for more information.

“They are all different,” she said about the numerous Impact 100 groups throughout the country. “Some are in big cities and others are in small cities.”

Impact 100 memberships are open to women who can donate $1,000, all of which goes to the grant award. The Baldwin County group currently has 149 members and it aims to continue increasing that number.

“The goal is limitless,” Meehan said. “If we reach 200 (members), we give two grants.”

Applications for this year’s grant were submitted by local nonprofits in the summer. Impact 100 members spent the past several weeks reviewing grant proposals and selecting finalists.

The group donated $80,000 the first year and $92,000 the second year.

To qualify for consideration of the grant, an organization must present a programmatic, capital, start-up or research-oriented project that affects Baldwin County residents.

“That way it allows us to get to know the county better, and I think that is beneficial,” Meehan said.

For more information about Impact 100, visit www.impact100baldwincounty.org.