MANKATO — Grants totaling $150,000 recently were awarded to 22 nonprofits in the area by the Consolidated Communications Community Fund.

The fund focuses support on local programs that meet critical community needs, such as hunger and homelessness, along with initiatives that provide opportunities for innovative education and learning.

2024 grants are:

• Minnesota State University — $15,000 for scholarships.

• Committee Against Domestic Abuse — $10,000 for direct assistance for victims.

• Connections Ministry — $10,000 for shelter operations.

• ECHO Food Shelf — $10,000 for dairy products for children.

• Feeding Our Communities Partners — $10,000 for BackPack and Power Pack food programs.

• Junior Achievement of Greater Mankato Area — $10,000 for the Entrepreneurial JA Company Program.

• Partners for Housing — $10,000 for the emergency shelter program.

• South Central College — $10,000 for scholarships.

• VINE — $10,000 for the PEARLS mental health initiative.

• Educare Foundation — $7,500 for Ed Waltman mini-grants.

• American Red Cross — $5,000 for disaster recovery services.

• Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota — $5,000 for STEAM programming.

• Goodwill — $5,000 for career exploration program that uses virtual reality.

• Jonathan Zierdt Cancer Fund — $5,000 for the Caring Box Program.

• Lake Crystal Recreation Center — $5,000 for the Fit Kids program and Senior Lunch and Learn program.

• Life-Work Planning Center — $5,000 for the Women in Transition program.

• MRCI — $5,000 for community-based day service programming.

• Lasting Imprint — $4,000 for congenital heart defect kits.

• Footnotes Trauma Foundation — $2,500 for care for veterans and abuse victims.

• Living Earth Center — $2,500 for a youth gardening initiative.

• Bethlehem Inn of Waseca — $2,000 to fund transitional housing for women.

• Twin Valley Council Boy Scouts of America — $1,500 for handbooks for new Scouts.

Consolidated’s Community Fund grants are distributed on an annual basis through a grant application process administered by the Mankato Area Foundation.

The fund has provided more than $6.7 million to nonprofits since founded in 1963.

Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc. is one of the United States’ top 10 fiber providers.