Community Foundation Awards $12.4M in Grants to Area Nonprofits

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DETROIT — At the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, nearly $12.4 million in grants were approved to nonprofit organizations.  The projects supported cover a wide range of program areas ranging from economic development, education, health, human services, arts, culture, and recreation.

“The Community Foundation’s grants and programs are about creating enduring solutions that promise lasting change in the seven counties of southeast Michigan,” said Mariam Noland, president of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. “As a regional community foundation, we are in a unique position to support many organizations and achieve impact on a significant scale, both through our quarterly grantmaking as well as through long-term initiatives and partnerships with other foundations.”

Among the organizations receiving grants from the Community Foundation are the following:

  • Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association Inc., Detroit, $25,000 to support a collaborative program with the Detroit Institute of Arts to engage Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers with art. 
  • American Red Cross, Southeast Michigan, $100,000 to support job training, case management, and financial assistance for veterans. 
  • Ann Arbor Teen Center Inc., $18,000 to support an academic and workforce development program for teens called SCORE (School Career Opportunities aRe Endless). 
  • Detroit Parent Network, Detroit, $10,000 to support LGBT parents and children in underserved communities in Detroit. 
  • Eight Mile Boulevard Association, 23 southeast Michigan municipalities, $50,000 from the Comerica Bank Community Economic Development Fund to support façade improvement, public safety, and aesthetic improvements along historic Eight Mile Boulevard with the goal of attracting new investment.
  • Fair Food Network, Ann Arbor, $10,000 over 2 years to support a comprehensive southeast Michigan strategy to improve access to healthy food in underserved communities. 
  • Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn, $100,000 to support the creation of a Nano/Microsystems curriculum and training program. 
  • Holocaust Memorial Center, Farmington Hills, $25,000 to support programming associated with the exhibition “Looking out Anne Frank’s Window,” which focuses on the chestnut tree that Anne Frank wrote about in her Holocaust memoir. 
  • Living Arts, Detroit, Detroit, $150,000 to support the Detroit Community Arts Alliance, a collaborative of arts education organizations. 
  • Macomb Community College, Warren, $25,000 to support the Page to Stage program for children at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts. 
  • Mosaic Youth Theater, Detroit, $150,000 over two years to establish Mosaic as the arts organization in residence at the new University Prep Science and Math elementary school. 
  • Next Energy Center, Detroit, $500,000 to accelerate innovation in vehicle electrification and energy efficiency. 
  • Regents of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, $50,000 to support a pediatric food allergy and nutrition education and counseling program at the University of Michigan Food Allergy Center. 

The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan takes a regional approach to community investment and grantmaking. It was founded in 1984 to promote and facilitate community philanthropy across all seven counties of southeast Michigan. Although it is among the nation’s youngest community foundations (many are approaching their 100th anniversaries), it is one of the fastest growing. In 2012 it was ranked 22nd nationally with assets of more than $655 million. The Foundation distributed more than $56 million in grants in 2012 and so far during 2013, it has granted nearly $24 million to nonprofit organizations.