MELVILLE, N.Y. – National Grid announced the Bay Shore-based non-profit organization, Pronto of Long Island, as the winner of the company’s Project C Youth Spaces Competition on Long Island, after an extensive review process and a community-driven voting period.

Pronto of Long Island has been awarded a $25,000 grant to create an outdoor classroom for Long Island youth. Pronto of Long Island provides support as a community food pantry, a thrift shop and has numerous educational programs for teens and adults. Pronto has been a community cornerstone in Bayshore for the past 54 years. In 2023 alone, Pronto served over 80,000 people in need.

The Youth Spaces grant will be allocated for the creation of a learning garden. This initiative aims to transform an outdoor area into an engaging educational environment where students can gain hands-on experience with gardening and nutrition. The learning garden will serve as a living classroom, offering a unique opportunity for experiential learning and fostering a deeper connection with nature for more than 100 children over the summer. The garden will also provide produce that will be distributed to the community.

“Our Youth Spaces program provides a community-inclusive approach to focus on and support the fantastic work of providing programs and services for kids and teenagers in our neighborhoods and communities,” said Brian Sapp, Director of External Affairs, National Grid. “We are proud to support these organizations that assist Long Islanders in so many ways.”

“The entire Pronto community is so grateful to National Grid for providing the Project C Youth Spaces grant,” said Vivian Hart, CEO & President of Pronto of Long Island Inc. “The creative process was motivating. The voters were excited to join in the healthy competition, as it was an easy way to show their support in helping to raise funds. Voters learned more about Pronto, the competing organizations and National Grid’s ongoing commitment to helping local communities. We were thrilled to find out that Pronto won the $25,000 award! We can’t wait to use the funding to upgrade our community garden and make it a safer more engaging outdoor classroom for our youth to learn about the benefits of gardening, and the importance of healthy nutrition. Thank you to all the voters and especially to National Grid for this very meaningful support!”

National Grid’s Project C mission is to inspire positive change, create positive neighborhood impact, strengthen communities, and make a difference for years to come. The Youth Spaces competition focused on initiatives that contribute to social and racial justice.

As part of National Grid’s ongoing Project C community commitment, the company launched the Youth Spaces Competition for Long Island-based non-profit organizations to submit applications and short videos on their plans to upgrade a physical space designated to providing programs and services for local youth. The local community voted on a winner to receive a $25,000 grant to make the desired improvements and five runners up to each receive $5,000 grants.

Congratulations to our other five competition finalists who each received $5,000 for upgrades that support Long Island youth, Hempstead Hispanic Civic Association, Patchogue-Medford Youth & Community Services, John Byrne Community Center, Keep Your Chance, and LB Latino Civic Association.

National Grid remains steadfast in its commitment to creating and supporting initiatives that improve the lives of the people and communities it serves. The Youth Spaces Competition is just one of the many ways in which the company is achieving this goal through Project C.

About National Grid

National Grid (NYSE: NGG) is an electricity, natural gas, and clean energy delivery company serving more than 20 million people through our networks in New York and Massachusetts. National Grid is focused on building a smarter, stronger, cleaner energy future — transforming our networks with more reliable and resilient energy solutions to meet state climate goals and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.