We’re pleased to let you know that our board of directors has approved $4.1 million in grants for the month of April. These grants support a variety of programs and services across Cuyahoga, Lake and Geauga counties.
Here are a few highlights:
Greater Cleveland Food Bank:
16% of the 247,000 local residents served annually by the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and its member agencies are senior citizens. With a $200,000 grant in April, we’re helping the Food Bank build necessary capacity to provide nutritious home-delivered meals to local seniors.
Cleveland Metroparks:
In 2014, our grant dollars helped the Cleveland Metroparks develop renovation plans for the historic Coast Guard station at Wendy Park (seen in photo above!). This month, we’re supporting the first phase of the renovations with a $200,000 grant to the Metroparks. Phase 1 of the renovation will restore the exterior and grounds of the Coast Guard station in alignment with National Register of Historic Places standards and will enhance public access to the lakefront by providing additional educational and recreational programming at the station.
Cleveland Rape Crisis Center:
Since 1974, the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center (CRCC) has provided comprehensive and confidential sexual assault crisis intervention and prevention services free of charge to men and women in Greater Cleveland. This month we made a $196,725 grant to CRCC to help the organization build and sustain capacity to serve Lake, Geauga and Cuyahoga Counties.
Painesville City Schools:
Painesville City Local School District is one of the most diverse school systems in Lake County, but also one of the most challenged. Nearly 33% of students are Limited English Proficient and 87% are economically disadvantaged.
We’re backing the district’s efforts to meet the basic needs of Painesville City families in order to improve students’ academic success with a $59,000 grant supporting the Elm Street Family Resource Center. The center serves as a central and convenient location for Painesville City families to access multiple services and resources that can help minimize barriers to students’ academic success.
St. Martin De Porres High School:
As part of our April grants, we’re supporting Saint Martin de Porres High School’s efforts to improve the academic success of vulnerable students with a $40,000 grant for its Academic Resource Center (ARC). Noting that many of the incoming 9th graders are several grade levels behind in reading, Saint Martin de Porres hired a full-time Reading Specialist in its ARC. With the ARC specialist in place, the number of ninth graders who withdrew from the school dropped by 50% in a single year. Our grant will help Saint Martin de Porres build on this success by adding an additional Reading Specialist to the staff.
These are just a few of the programs and projects we’re supporting through our grantmaking this month. Follow our blog each week for more monthly grant recaps, news and event info
