September Grant Highlights

← Back to Blog September 28, 2016 by At the Foundation, Economic Transformation, Education & Youth Development, Grantmaking, Nonprofit, Strengthening Cleveland
Bard Early College students listening in class

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we are pleased to announce the Cleveland Foundation board of directors has approved $10.4 million in September grants, bringing the foundation’s third-quarter grantmaking total to $17.9 million. Check out some of this month’s grantmaking highlights, centered around the themes of education and economic empowerment.

  • Ensuring the success of our newest schools: Since 2006, we have supported the development of 23 new schools within the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD). Today, we are providing a grant of $986,444 to CMSD to support start-up costs for seven new high schools that have opened since 2014. These schools, which include Bard High School Early College, Cleveland High School for the Digital Arts, John Marshall Campus, Lincoln West Campus and the new Campus International High School, are creating supportive and inclusive cultures for students with quality school leaders and staff, rigorous curriculum and a significant focus on youth development. Additionally, we have approved a grant of $250,000 to support 14 schools in CMSD’s Innovative School Network – these schools continue to outperform on key indicators of student success including graduation rates, the ACT, third grade literacy and student attendance.
  • Supporting the best national education models in Cleveland: We are proud to support year two start-up and expansion costs at Stonebrook Montessori School with a $100,000 grant. Stonebrook Montessori is one of Cleveland’s public Montessori schools. Last year, 90-percent of students were Cleveland residents and most came from the Glenville neighborhood, which is the highest need neighborhood in Cleveland in terms of access to high-quality schools.
  • Getting it right from the start: PRE4CLE has made great strides in its first two years to increase the number of high quality preschool seats available to Cleveland’s children. We are supporting the third year of this preschool plan by providing $250,000 to the Educational Service Center of Cuyahoga County as it works with Starting Point, the Cleveland Early Childhood Compact and other committed partners, providers and families to enroll 50-percent of Cleveland’s preschool-aged children in a high quality preschool by the end of the 2017-2018 school year. As a result of this successful public-private partnership, thousands of our youngest residents will start to receive the support and engagement they need to thrive in school and beyond as part of our city’s ongoing economic and social success.
  • Creating youth employment opportunities: Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Y.O.U.) helps teens and young adults succeed by providing educational and workforce opportunities, skill development and access to career pathways. We are granting $350,000 to Y.O.U. to support the expansion of its Jobs for Ohio’s Graduates (JOG) program, which is dedicated to preventing dropouts among young people who are most at-risk. The program utilizes two evidence-based curricula that teach employability, leadership decision-making and critical thinking skills, and social-emotional learning.
  • Accelerating Cleveland’s manufacturing: Since October 2014, MAGNET and WIRE-Net have been driving a unique collaboration aimed at sparking faster and smarter growth among core-city manufacturers located in Cleveland and its inner-ring suburbs. We are providing $300,000 to MAGNET and $266,804 to WIRE-Net for the third year of Accelerate Cleveland Manufacturing, which aims to create high-paying, accessible jobs for Cleveland residents. In the upcoming year, the organizations will collaborate to enhance Cleveland’s economy by engaging a total of at least 100 companies and creating 35 jobs and $35 million in economic impact. By 2020, the total impact of this program is expected to result in 154 new jobs and $129 million in new revenue since inception.
  • Training future apprentices: Last year, with the foundation’s support, WIRE-Net engaged a group of Cleveland manufacturers to propose an apprenticeship strategy to engage job seekers in training opportunities for careers that pay family sustaining wages. This new grant of $173,172 to WIRE-Net will expand the apprenticeship consortium to add two occupations (Computer Numeric Control Machinist and Industrial Manufacturing Technician) and recruit companies and apprenticeship candidates from Cleveland and its inner ring suburbs. WIRE-Net will recruit candidates for at least 50 apprenticeship slots with at least 35 consortium employers, recruiting 30-percent women or minority candidates and at least 35 percent representing core city of Cleveland residents.

We look forward to tracking the impact of these grants throughout the coming year. Learn more about our grantmaking process here.