Recent Grants Approved
April 2008
General Grants
- Arbor Circle Corporation
- $50,000 to provide in-home, prevention services to families with children ages 18 and younger, who have been identified as at risk for child abuse and/or neglect.
- Grand Rapids Symphony
- $30,000 to improve access to cultural, social and recreational opportunities that attract diverse populations.
- Opera Grand Rapids
- $100,000 to increase organizational capacity by relocating to a new facility.
- Reentry Roundtable of Kent County, MI
- $100,000 to continue the work of aligning employer expectations with the skills of ex-offenders using an employer designed certification.
- Senior Neighbors Inc.
- $50,000 to renovate and construct a new Downtown Senior Neighbors Center.
- Fair Housing Center of West Michigan
- $50,000 to hire a Community Foreclosure Coordinator to increase awareness of services available to homeowners facing foreclosure.
- Family Outreach Center
- $100,000 to continue the funding of the Family & Community Compact program.
- KISD
- $133,651 to provide diversity training for all ninth grade students in Kent County.
- Legal Aid of Western Michigan
- $50,000 to provide legal support to homeowners facing foreclosure through litigation, policy advocacy, community education and collaboration.
- Lighthouse Communities Inc.
- $150,000 to increase organizational capacity by relocating to a new facility.
Youth Grants
- St. Andrews Cathedral - KEYS: Latino Youth Photography Project
- $5,000 to bring a group of Latino youth together for photography training and to document their lives and community.
March 2008
General Grants
- Degage Ministries
- $10,000 to offer neighborhood engagement and security services to the patrons and surrounding businesses of the Heartside neighborhood.
- Women’s Leadership Fund - The White House Project
- $10,000 to provide nonpartisan political leadership training to women from unrepresented communities within the State of Michigan.
Youth Grants
- No grants of this type awarded in this period.
February 2008
General Grants
- Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
- $90,000 to implement revitalization work plans in the Creston Business District and Madison Avenue corridor.
- Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (UICA)
- $200,000 towards the organization’s capital campaign, which will include the construction of a new building on the corner of Fulton and Division Avenues.
- Humanity for Africa, Inc.
- $25,000 for technical assistance and to expand and intensify the current English as a Second Language classes for women.
Youth Grants
- No grants of this type awarded in this period.
December 2007
General Grants
- Education Reform Initiative
- $83,000.00 toward a community collaborative to ensure a quality education for all children in the City of Grand Rapids.
- Gerontology Network - Experience Corps.
- $100,000.00 to mobilize the skills of older adults to help increase the literacy level of K-3rd grade youth in Kent County.
- Nonprofit Technical Assistance Fund
- $50,000.00 to provide technical assistance to local nonprofits in collaboration with other area funders.
- Grand Rapids Community Foundation
- $50,000.00 to expand opportunities for experienced adults to become engaged as vital civic resources in our community.
- Grand Valley State University - Community Research Institute
- $342,000.00 to operate and expand Community Research Institute capacity and, in partnership with the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, develop a community accountability system.
- Home Repair Services of Kent County - Foreclosure Prevention
- $50,000.00 to increase the capacity of Home Repair Services to respond to the current foreclosure crisis by adding an additional foreclosure counselor.
- Lutheran Child & Family Service of Michigan
- $100,000.00 to offer prevention services to families at risk of experiencing child abuse and neglect.
Youth Grants
- No grants of this type awarded in this period.
October 2007
General Grants
- School-To-Career Progressions - Success Centers
- $50,000 to provide intervention services to struggling urban youth through School-To-Career Progressions' Success Centers.
- City of Grand Rapids - Green Grand Rapids
- $89,000 to develop a plan for citywide parks and greenspace that will focus on quality of life and the physical development of community infrastructure as it relates to greening, connectivity, natural systems, the Grand River, recreation and public health.
- Grand Rapids Area Center for Ecumenism (GRACE) - Leadership and Support Revitalization
- $50,000 to change leadership, revitalize support and develop new advocacy and program areas while maintaining current programs.
- Kent County Community Mental Health Authority - Building A Healthier Community Capital Campaign
- $50,000 to consolidate administrative and access center operations into one building to better serve the needs of the community.
- Legal Aid of Western Michigan - Reentry Law Project
- $62,500 to enable returning prisoners and other people with criminal records to become productive members of our community by eliminating legal barriers to employment and housing.
- St. John's Home - Start-Up for St. John's Home Academy for Teens
- $100,000 to launch a new program that will provide intensive residential treatment to West Michigan’s abused and neglected teens and support them in permanent placements in the community.
- Midtown Neighborhood Association
- $10,000 to plan for expanding the farmers market in Grand Rapids.
Youth Grants
- No grants of this type awarded in this period.
August 2007
General Grants
- The SOURCE (Southwest Organizations Unifying Resources for our Community and Employees)
- $ 35,000 to expand their facilities with the aim to reduce poverty and unemployment and increase employee retention.
- Community Media Center
- $ 30,000 to create a web site that will link ex-offenders to valuable resources in our community to help ensure their successful reentry.
- Kent Intermediate School District (KISD)
- $ 486,000 to place a resource connector, nurse, Department of Human Services caseworker and mental health outreach staff at 11 Grand Rapids Public School locations to work year-round to address student and family needs.
Youth Grants
- No grants of this type awarded in this period.
June 2007
General Grants
- Calvin College
- $75,000 to continue the effort of eliminating childhood lead posioning in the Grand Rapids area.
- Grand Rapids Youth Commonwealth
- $50,000 to replace Camp O’Malley scholarship funds that were eliminated by State funding.
- KC Literacy Counci
- $50,000 to expand the capacity of the council in order to serve more clients.
- Salvation Army
- $200,000 to provide recreation, education, fine arts and wellness activities for youth in the urban Grand Rapids area.
- Spectrum Health - Butterworth Campus
- $32,396 to provide therapeutic support groups, care coordination and crisis management focused on enabling African American women to access mental health services.
Youth Grants
- No grants of this type awarded in this period.
May 2007
General Grants
- Gilda's Club Grand Rapids - Children's Grief Project - Pre-launch Phase
- $32,800 to provide seed funding for the pre-launch phase of a three year pilot project that would expand the current children's grief support program to include children who are grieving a death due to any cause .
- Kent County Literacy Council - Family Literacy: Creating a Reader
- $32,800 to provide a holistic approach to literacy for at risk families by partnering with Grand Rapids Reach Head Start to provide one-to-one tutoring for parents and twice monthly family literacy workshops.
- Women's Resource Center - SOLO Program
- $32,800 to assist low-income single mothers to improve their self-sufficiency through employment and education.
Youth Grants
- Child & Family Resource Council - RAVE (Resources Against Violent Encounters)
- $8,000 for a relationship violence prevention education program for at-risk adolescents.
- Specialized Language Development Learning Ctr. - I Can Read program
- $7,500 to target GRPS 1st through 3rd grade free or reduced lunch students who are significantly below grade level in reading, writing, but do not qualify for special education.
- Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities - Summer Arts Camp 2007
- $5,000 to sponsor a Summer Arts Camp for children in the Grandville Avenue neighborhood.
- Humanity for Africa, Inc. - Cross Cultural Afro-Youth Program
- $5,000 to reach out to the African youth immigrant community including school aged children, students up to college level who are at risk of cultural crises, risk of school dropout and delinquent behavior.
- YWCA - Girls Incorporated
- $5,000 to provide the resources needed to cover the associated programming expenses due to program expansion.
- YWCA - Renovation of Kids' Playroom at Domestic Crisis Center
- $3,500 to fund materials so Catholic Central students can renovate Pooh's Playhouse.
- Assoc. for the Blind & Visually Impaired - Urban life skills day camp for youth with visual impairment
- $2,500 to teach independence and life skills to youth with visual impairment through the Summer in the City program.
- Community Circle Theatre - Circle Presents' "A Seat For Every Child" Campaign
- $2,500 to make it possible for students to enjoy live performances by national theatrical companies in school auditoriums across West Michigan.
- Grand Rapids Children's Museum - ChAMP's Camp 2007
- $2,025 to fund ChAMP’s (children, art, music, and play) Camp, a coordinated effort among downtown Grand Rapids cultural organizations: St. Cecilia Music Society and the Grand Rapids Children's Museum.
- Planned Parenthood Centers of West Michigan - Teen Reality Check - a teen pregnancy prevention project
- $1,605 to purchase Baby-Think-It-Over dolls to help young people make healthy decisions and understand the ramification of early parenthood and how that limits their life choices.
- GR Wheelchair Sports Foundation - Jr. Pacers Wheelchair Basketball Program
- $1,500 to purchase one shot clock system for Jr. Pacers Wheelchair Basketball teams.
April 2007
General Grants
- Arbor Circle Corporation
- $60,000 to provide in-home, prevention services to families with children aged 18 and younger, who have been identified as at-risk for child abuse and/or neglect.
- Community Revitalization and Economic Development Center (CREDC)
- $30,000 to hire a part-time Executive Director to address issues/needs within the community.
- Fair Housing Center of Greater GR
- $30,000 to build organizational capacity while focusing on the economic stability priority of its strategic plan.
- KISD
- $132,174 to provide diversity training for all 9th grade students in Kent County.
- Project Access
- $100,000 for a physician-led healthcare program that provides voluntary care to uninsured persons who are not eligible for public or private insurance programs.
Youth Grants
- No grants of this type awarded in this period.
February 2007
General Grants
- Family Outreach Center
- $150,000 to divert traditional foster care placements, by placing children at risk of abuse and neglect with relatives.
- Grand Rapids Community College Foundation
- $75,000 to promote a career in the healthcare field by increasing knowledge of the job opportunities available and exposing high school students to the necessary math and science concepts for the field.
- Michigan Land Use Institute
- $35,000 to make the economic case for building a modern mass transit system serving the people and businesses of greater Grand Rapids.
- Reentry Roundtable of Kent County, MI
- $120,000 to strengthen workforce development access, prison in-reach and employment opportunities for Michigan Prisoner Reentry Initiative and other Kent County reentering persons already being served.
Youth Grants
- No grants of this type awarded in this period.
December 2006
General Grants
- Genesis Non-Profit Housing Corporation
- $125,000 to construct 50 supportive apartments for low-income seniors.
- Grand Rapids Youth Commonwealth
- $150,000 to renovate and remodel Camp O'Malley in order to serve more youth.
- Lighthouse Communities Inc.
- $60,000 to create healthy neighborhoods through equipping organized residents with access to capital.
- Grand Rapids Community Foundation
- $50,000 to the Nonprofit Technical Asistance Fund
- Grand Rapids Community Foundation
- $105,906 to the Education Reform Initiative
Youth Grants
- No grants of this type awarded in this period.
© Grand Rapids Community Foundation - 161 Ottawa Avenue NW 209 C - Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503 - 616.454.1751
