The Lake-Geauga Fund of the Cleveland Foundation wraps up 2021 grantmaking, adds Nicole M. Parker to advisory committee

Release Date: 1.7.2022

CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Foundation board of directors recently approved $135,000 to support Lake and Geauga counties from the Lake-Geauga Fund of the Cleveland Foundation. In combination with $65,000 in previous COVID-related funding, today’s announcement brings the Fund’s total grantmaking to the two counties to $200,000 in 2021.

Established in 1988, the Lake-Geauga Fund of the Cleveland Foundation has distributed nearly $18 million over the past 33 years utilizing the advice of its appointed committee. Since its inception, the Fund has been a critical resource to communities in Lake and Geauga counties, as it has provided funding to jumpstart new ideas, guide organizational strategy, leverage additional dollars, and address high priority program needs.

Beginning in 2015, the board decided to fully integrate organizations in Lake and Geauga in the foundation’s monthly grantmaking process. Since that time, the Lake-Geauga Fund of the Cleveland Foundation has served as an additional resource with a more strategic grantmaking focus.

“Lake and Geauga counties are part of the Cleveland Foundation’s core footprint,” said Kathryn Terrell, Cleveland Foundation program officer for health & human services and Fund advisory committee liaison. “In addition to the crucial, dedicated support of the Lake-Geauga Fund, we are pleased to continue supporting the impact of nonprofit organizations in these two counties through our traditional grantmaking. This regional support is only possible because of the generous support of our donors.”

It was also announced that Andrew Katusin, who joined the foundation in August as program officer for grantmaking initiatives, will be taking over for Terrell as the Fund advisory committee liaison in 2022.

The board recently approved the following grants from the Lake-Geauga Fund of the Cleveland Foundation:

  • Alliance for Working Together Foundation ($50,000): Support for the creation of the Northeast Ohio Transformation Training Center, a world-class, industry 4.0/SMART Manufacturing training center and a hub for education and industry sector collaboration that will help fill a gap in K-12 and adult/incumbent worker training
  • Geauga Growth Partnership, Inc. ($25,000): Support for youth workforce development programming, including the development of a web-based learning portal for Geauga County teachers and students as well as North Eastern Ohio Education Association (NEOEA) Day professional development activities for Geauga County teachers
  • ioby ($10,000): Funding for an assessment centered on stakeholder interviews to see if the organization’s potential expansion into Lake and Geauga counties would be feasible and sustainable
  • Lake Geauga Recovery Centers ($50,000): Support for the $2 million 50th Anniversary Campaign that will result in the availability of an additional 16 beds for those men needing residential recovery services

The Fund also made the following COVID-related grants earlier this year:

  • Deepwood Foundation ($10,000): To allow individuals and families to meet the basic daily needs of food, shelter and safety
  • Fine Arts Association ($10,000) To allow students with behavioral, cognitive and physical disabilities and those feeling higher levels of stress/anxiety to participate in the Creative Arts Therapies (CAT) program
  • Geauga County Veterans Food Pantry ($10,000): To provide an ongoing supply of basic household cleaning and sanitizing supplies and PPP to veterans, and the volunteers that work at the pantry
  • Hershey Montessori ($15,000): To allow the school to outfit and sanitize both campuses to ensure the continued wellbeing of students, staff and parents
  • McKinley Community Outreach Center ($20,000): To continue to provide basic hygiene items, clothing, shoes, food, and much more

Additionally, the foundation announced that Nicole M. Parker has been added to Fund’s advisory committee. The founder of Dare 2 Care International, Parker is a clinical instructor and field faculty advisor at the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, and interprofessional faculty facilitator and instructor for the Office for Interprofessional Education, Research and Collaborative Practice at Case Western Reserve University.

Nonprofits are encouraged to apply for funding from the Lake-Geauga Fund of the Cleveland Foundation via a yearly RFP process. For more information, visit ClevelandFoundation.org/grants/lake-geauga/.

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