Neighborhoods and Housing Grants

Recent neighborhood-related grants made by the Cleveland Foundation include:

• $4.2 million over three years to Neighborhood Progress Inc. (NPI) to support its operations and those of 14 to 16 community development corporations (CDCs) in Cleveland. A CDC is a nonprofit group that helps to strengthen a neighborhood through improved housing, commercial opportunities, job creation, and similar activities. Six area CDCs – those in the Buckeye, Detroit-Shoreway, Fairfax, Glenville, Slavic Village, and Tremont neighborhoods – have benefited over the past three years from NPI’s Strategic Investment Initiative, designed to produce exemplary neighborhoods of choice and local market recovery. The new funds will extend these benefits across the rest of Cleveland’s CDCs, with a strong emphasis on teaching them business and organizational skills like planning, marketing, and coordination of services. In addition, part of the grant will support the Village Capital Corp., a subsidiary of NPI that assists with real estate development projects.
• $2.7 million for continued support of the successful Neighborhood Connections program. The program works with community leaders in 26 Cleveland neighborhoods to make small grants for a wide variety of projects, including arts and community festivals, gardening and landscaping improvements, safety patrols and youth programs. Since its inception five years ago, Neighborhood Connections has contributed to a total investment of $7.8 million in Cleveland’s neighborhoods.
• $1 million to Case Western Reserve University to help fund the development of the proposed University Arts and Retail District. It will be a large shopping, entertainment and residential district designed as a signature destination for CWRU students, faculty and staff, as well as University Circle-area residents, employees and visitors.
• $450,000 over 12 months to the Downtown Cleveland Alliance for ongoing operations and priority initiatives to strengthen downtown Cleveland. Among those initiatives are economic development, marketing, and Clean and Safe, a program designed to make the downtown environment friendlier, cleaner, and safer, in part through the use of 45 downtown ambassadors.
• $350,000 over 12 months to the YWCA of Cleveland for the purchase of its Women’s Center building at 4019 Prospect Ave. in Cleveland’s Midtown neighborhood. The building houses all of the organization’s administrative and program staff, along with its main day care operation. Compared with monthly leasing costs, mortgage payments will be considerably lower – resulting in substantial savings to the YWCA.
• $150,000 for a foreclosure prevention and abandoned property redevelopment initiative started by Neighborhood Progress Inc. in 2005.  The initiative addresses the epidemic of abandoned property that threatens the economic viability and market competitiveness of Cleveland and nearby suburbs.