By TRACEY DRURY
tdrury@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1609

The Resource Center will fund major renovations at its Jamestown work center with funding from the John R. Oishei Foundation.

The foundation has agreed to a $2.1 million program-related investment (PRI), essentially a low-interest loan, to be used to finance upgrades to the organization's facility to better handle a federal contract.

The Resource Center is the largest nonprofit service provider in the Southern Tier, with more than 1,800 employees and operating revenues exceeding $100 million. Allied Industries, its manufacturing and employment division, makes first-aid kits and ammunition pouches for the military. A recent surge in demand by the government requires upgrades to the facility.

This is the second time Oishei has supported The Resource Center. Last year, the foundation awarded a joint grant of $450,000 to the Resource Center and Heritage Centers in Erie County to establish a joint manufacturing operation in downtown Buffalo.

Both grants help keep the work here in Western New York instead of outsourcing production demand to other work centers outside the region.

• Horizon Health Services has opened a new site in East Amherst for youth with drug and alcohol addictions.

The Family Recovery Center opened June 18 on Transit Road, providing treatment for chemically dependent adolescents and young adults.

The program will provide both traditional and non-traditional therapies, including an Expressive Arts Therapy program funded by a $50,000 grant from the Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation.

Other features include a resource center with information and education on addiction and abuse for families and the community.

Horizon provides psychiatric and rehabilitation services throughout the region.

• Goodwill Industries of WNY will purchase a new truck for its donated-goods division with a grant from the Patrick P. Lee Foundation.

The grant of $43,215 will be used to buy a 36-foot straight truck, to be used to rotate donated goods between the organization's seven area stores and its processing facility in Buffalo. It also will handle pickups from commercial donors and community clothing drives.

The division generates more than 50 percent of the agency's annual income, while providing job skills training and work experience.

Last year, nearly 6.8 million pounds of clothing and goods were distributed.

• The Family Justice Center of Erie County Inc. received a $20,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation to fund its ambassadors program.

A viral marketing campaign, the ambassadors program works to make sure every adult and teenager in Erie County hears about the center's services for victims of domestic violence at least twice within a two-year period.

The center also received a $3,500 donation from the Asian Indian Community Foundation of WNY to help develop its wrap-around services.

The grant represents the proceeds of the foundation's annual walk, which supports providers of domestic violence victims' services.

The Family Justice Center, a collaborative effort of 12 partners, provides one-stop services for victims and their children.

• The American Red Cross, Greater Buffalo chapter, received a $25,000 gift to support a program for people living with HIV/AIDS.

The grant from the J. Warren Perry and Charles Donald Perry Memorial Fund supports implementation of an evidence-based chronic disease self-management program for people living with HIV and AIDS in Western New York.

The Red Cross has been providing HIV/AIDS prevention education and direct service programs since 1980. Other programs include education for women, links to health-related services and transportation assistance.

• Catholic Charities of Buffalo received a $20,000 grant to develop adult literacy programs.

The grant from Dollar General Corp. will be used by the agency's department of workforce development and education. It is more than double the amount received last year.

The grant will allow the department to provide education, General Educational Development (GED) test preparation and job-readiness services to Erie County adults ages 22 and older. In the first year under the grant, the program helped 31 people receive GED preparation services.

Catholic Charities has been providing GED preparation and job-readiness skills training since 1975 through one-on-one tutoring and classroom programs. The agency also provides counseling for children and families, anti-domestic violence programming and emergency services, as well as social and mental health services.