NEW CANAAN, CT, August 15, 2017—The First County Bank Foundation has provided a $3,500 grant to Silvermine’s Art Partners Outreach Education Program. This program brings curriculum-based studio art classes to under-resourced students in Norwalk and Stamford schools. The funds will help make a number of Art Partners’ in-school and after-school programs a reality during the 2017/2018 academic year.
The First County Bank Foundation focuses on programs that support quality of life and educational enrichment for families and children. The Foundation contributes generously to nonprofit organizations that go the extra mile in their outreach into the community. The Foundation’s giving philosophy reflects the charitable inclinations of First County Bank’s directors, corporators, officers, and employees. “We have an unwavering commitment to ensure that local charitable needs continue to be met,” said Reyno A. Giallongo, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of First County Bank, who also serves as President of First County Bank Foundation, Inc. Since 2001, the First County Bank Foundation has awarded over 1,000 individual grants, worth over $8.2 million.
“Art Partners serves nearly 1,000 students annually in Norwalk and Stamford,” said Sophia Gevas, Director of Outreach Education at Silvermine Arts Center. Silvermine’s Art Partners provides professional Teaching Artists to design and execute exciting arts classes that incorporate subjects such as history, science, or language arts, for under-served students. The distinctiveness of Art Partners centers on the quality of the Teaching Artists and their close collaboration with classroom teachers and program directors to augment student academic achievement. “Art Partners has enriched the lives of Fairfield County children and teens since 1992,” said Gevas. “We’re so grateful to First County Bank Foundation whose generous and continuing patronage of the Art Partners program will bring educational support and joy to the students in our communities in the coming academic year.”