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TORRANCE, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Neotrope is proud to announce the recipients for 2014 of its annual J.L. Simmons Non-Profit PR Grant award, first launched in 2000. With this commitment, Neotrope(R) will provide public relations (PR) and cause-related marketing support to the selected worthy causes over the next year to raise awareness around each organization's programs and accomplishments.

As part of this in-kind grant program, Neotrope(R) is providing PR solutions, news dissemination (through its Send2Press(R) Newswire service), and social media marketing for the selected charities. This cause-related marketing program is intended to help raise awareness of the 501(c)3 non-profit to traditional media, to the public, as well as to potential sponsors and donors, regarding their efforts.

"We're honored to be providing assistance again this year to such a great lineup of worthy causes," said Neotrope CEO, Christopher Laird Simmons; a member of PRSA and ASCAP. "We launched these grants 15 years ago and it's been a wonderful way to give back, or pay it forward, or whatever you want to call it. For us, it's a way to do something good while expecting nothing in return from those orgs we choose to assist."

Simmons added, "We have been fortunate to have been in a position to help so many great causes over the years in some small way. Our staff of accredited PR and marketing folk look forward to helping this new group in 2015 grow their awareness and help more people."

The recipients for this year's Non-Profit PR Grants (alphabetical):

* Art-In-Relation (Calif.) — Art-In-Relation (AIR) is the brainchild of Co-Executive Producers Jonas Sills and Ray Buffer. AIR takes its acronym name as a nod to the Hindu deity, Vayu who was known to give life through breath. Sills and Buffer hope to breathe new life into musical theatre productions, concert music, choral presentations, plays as well as creating opportunities to experience healing arts. Their goal is to house all of these ideas under one roof. The group's first project outside of producing choral concerts by Los Angeles Musical Theatre Youth Chorus, was the musical theatre production, "Frankenstein – a New Musical" in October, 2014. (501(c)3 status pending.) Info: http://artinrelation.com/ .

* California Safe Schools Coalition (Calif.) — California Safe Schools (CSS) successfully spearheaded the most stringent schools pesticide use policy in the nation, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), at the Los Angeles Unified School District. IPM uses low risk methods to eradicate insects, weeds and other pests, eliminating a major source of indoor and outdoor pollution. It was the first in the United States to embrace the "Precautionary Principle" and "Right to Know" about pesticides used on school campuses. The success of the Los Angeles Unified policy led to California Legislation, Healthy Schools Act 2000. Info: http://www.calisafe.org/ .

* Families Empowering Families at Community Connections (D.C.) — Community Connection is the largest not-for-profit mental health agency serving men, women and children in Washington D.C. Since its founding in 1984, Community Connections has provided comprehensive, community-based mental health services for the District of Columbia's most vulnerable citizens. The Child and Adolescent Program's goal is to disrupt the intergenerational transmission of mental illness and trauma. Families Empowering Families (FEF) was developed to provide a family-to-family support aspect to our current model of treatment. Info: http://www.communityconnectionsdc.org/ .

* Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment & Appeals Project (DV LEAP) (D.C.) — It is every mother's nightmare to find the courage to finally leave her abuser, only to have her concerns for her children's safety to be disbelieved in a trial court and she be forced to turn her children over to her abuser. DV LEAP exists to ensure that adult and child survivors of domestic violence obtain a degree of justice when their abuser seeks custody of the children. DV LEAP fights to overturn unjust trial court outcomes by providing victims with expert appellate advocacy, educating and supporting pro bono counsel through in-depth consultations and mentoring, and assisting in the writing of amicus briefs. Info: http://www.dvleap.org/ .

* Golisano Children's Museum of Naples (Fla.) — The Golisano Children's Museum of Naples (C'mon) serves children through programs and exhibits that provide access for all (regardless of race, creed, and economic status, learning abilities or physical abilities). C'mon provides an exciting, inspiring environment where children and families play, learn and dream together. Info: http://www.cmon.org/ .

* Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, Inc. (Fla.) — Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, Inc. rescues, raises, trains and then donates individually trained medical service dogs to veterans and others who suffer from disabilities that are both visible and invisible. We have all heard the news, that 22 veterans a day are taking their own lives while suffering from PTSD and combat injuries. But once paired with a Guardian Angels Medical Service Dog, that number falls to zero. Info: http://www.medicalservicedogs.com/.

* Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN) (D.C.) — The Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN) is the only national organization with the sole focus of preparing college women to become the next generation of public policy decision makers. PLEN attendees meet and learn from female leaders influencing public policy at the highest levels in Congress, the courts, federal agencies, the private sector, policy research and advocacy organizations, and the media in Washington, D.C. This pipeline of women leaders in public policy go on to connect with and serve as mentors to other women on their campuses and in their careers. Women's leadership in public policy is reinforced and grows. Info: http://www.plen.org/ .

* Team AMVETS California Charities Inc. – Welcome Home Program (Calif.) — The Veteran Affairs (VA), in collaboration with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), provides vouchers to veterans who are working with VA case managers to rehabilitate themselves and find regular employment. While the HUD-VASH vouchers provide a safe, clean living space, the units are unfurnished, leaving these veterans to sleep on the floor with no means to cook, sit, or enjoy the basic comforts of a furnished home. It is this gap that Team AMVETS(TM) seeks to close. Info: http://www.teamamvets.com/welcomehome/ .

* The Hearing and Speech Agency of Metropolitan Baltimore, Inc. (Md.) — Founded in 1926, The Hearing and Speech Agency (HASA) provides therapeutic, educational and interpreting services through three main programs: CIRS INTERPRETING serves business, public institutions, individuals and families with interpreting services, ASL classes, and Deaf awareness workshops. GATEWAY SCHOOL is for children (aged 2-12) with communication challenges related to autism, developmental delay, hearing loss, or speech-language needs. HEARING AND SPEECH-LANGUAGE SERVICES include comprehensive on-site audiology, speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, and fluency enhancement services. Info: http://www.hasa.org/ .

About Neotrope:

Since 1983 Neotrope(R) has delivered services to raise organization awareness including brand identity, marketing, public relations (PR), and SEO services. Neotrope is also an entertainment publishing company involved in books, music, software, and online magazines. The company pioneered the concept of search optimization of press release content back in 1997 and has been at the forefront of many communication and technology movements for more than three decades. Neotrope was an Inc. 5000 company in 2009. More information: http://www.Neotrope.com/ .

About the Non-Profit PR Grants:

The Non-Profit PR Grants(TM) program was originally launched in 2000 to help assist U.S. 501(c)3 worthy causes to raise awareness, attract halo sponsors, and better connect with donors and volunteers.

Starting in 2013, the Grant was named after the company co-founder, the late Dr. J.L. Simmons, PhD, who passed away in 2003. The Neotrope PR Grants are now known as the "J.L. Simmons Non-Profit PR Grant."

With this cause-related marketing grant program, Neotrope has been honored to help many worthy causes in past years, including Camp Blue Skies, Catalysts Powering Educational Performance, Children Awaiting Parents, Food Finders, Inc., Fresh Start Surgical Gifts, Girls Write Now, Move for Hunger, The Native Voices Foundation, The Pacific Pinball Museum, The Bob Moog Foundation, Special Equestrians, Starlight Children's Foundation, The National Inclusion Project, World Savvy and dozens more.

Grant recipients are selected by Neotrope/Send2Press staff based on qualified applications filled out and submitted by U.S. based non-profit orgs. Choices for grant "winners" are both subjective, and based on overall activities and actual need, as well as best fit for support from the marketing team.

Additional information regarding the Neotrope J.L. Simmons Non-Profit PR Grant program for U.S. charitable non-profits and grant recipients can be found at: https://www.send2press.com/non-profit/ and also http://prgrants.com/ .

About Send2Press:

Send2Press(R) (a service of Neotrope) offers best-in-class affordable Direct-to-Editors(TM) news distribution to working print and broadcast media, and to social media, with high visibility in search engines using proprietary Neotrope ContextEngine(TM) technology. Send2Press is unique because it was the first online newswire service with staff entirely comprised of accredited public relations professionals, published authors, working journalists, and marketing experts. The service was spun-off of Neotrope's traditional PR services in 1999. Learn more about Send2Press at https://www.Send2Press.com/about/ .

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