March Grant Highlights

We’re pleased to let you know that our board of directors has approved $16.8 million in grants this month, bringing the foundation’s first-quarter grantmaking total to $21.3 million.

Our support in March focuses on building stronger neighborhoods and healthier residents, including:

$5 million to Cleveland Neighborhood Progress (CNP) to support people-based strategies within Cleveland’s Community Development Corporation (CDC) network. These include vacant land reuse, the expansion of community financial centers, and the development of programming using racial equity as a tool to better understand neighborhood dynamics.
$425,000 to Cleveland Housing Network (CHN) to help test an unsubsidized housing development model and launch a new program to provide 200 youth with employment, educational and leadership opportunities annually.
$500,000 to support the Greater University Circle Community Health Initiative, launched in 2014 to address the issues of infant mortality and lead poisoning in the eight neighborhoods that make up the Greater University Circle area. Support includes funding for a pilot program to train Hough residents as community doulas and to guide Hough mothers-to-be through their pregnancy, birth and infant’s first year of life.
$650,000 to Bellefaire JCB to help establish a pediatric psychiatric care facility on its Shaker Heights campus.

Our board also approved $1.49 million in grants for the foundation-led youth development initiative MyCom to expand to17 neighborhoods throughout Cleveland, East Cleveland, South Euclid, Shaker Heights, Warrensville Heights and Parma. The support includes:

$885,000 to Neighborhood Leadership Institute (NLI) to help increase youth acceBellaire Puritas Development Corp.ss to existing services and to expand programming as MyCom’s neighborhoods have more than doubled, from eight to 17.
$410,000 to seven MyCom partner agencies for neighborhood programming: Bellaire Puritas Development Corp., Friendly Inn Settlement House, Ohio Guidestone, Shaker Heights Youth Center, Slavic Village Development Corp., St. Clair-Superior Development Corp. and the Thea Bowman Center.
$200,000 to Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU) to support its role connecting MyCom youth ages 14 to 24 to summer and year-round jobs.

March grantmaking also includes $1.14 million for scholarships and post-secondary support for students in Cuyahoga, Lake and Geauga counties.

Follow our blog each week for more monthly grant recaps, news and event information. And see some highlights of our support in February and January 2016.