More Than $17 Million in Grants Made in Third Quarter

The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan announced more than $17 million in grants to organizations and initiatives in areas including arts, education, health, human services, and youth development.

“During a year of tremendous uncertainty, the Community Foundation continues to focus on making permanent, positive change in our region,” says Mariam C. Noland, President, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. “We are proud to support organizations in all the areas we serve as they continue to rise and meet the challenges of COVID-19.”

Grants announced during the third quarter include:

Arts:

• $75,000 to the Arab American National Museum to hire staff experts to create high quality digital formats for museum accessibility
• $70,362 to the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum to support District Wide Discovery, a STEM program for 4^th graders in three counties and school districts
• $35,000 to Downriver Council for the Arts to support technology upgrades for strategic plan implementation during and beyond the COVID-19 crisis

Civic Life:

• $34,348 to Count MI Vote Education Fund for support to educate southeast Michigan residents about safe voting practices in the wake of COVID-19
• $30,000 to Streetwise Partners, Inc. for support to scale the workforce development mentoring program for unemployed and underemployed adults

 Education:

• $65,000 to St. Louis Center for Exceptional Children and Adults for support for infrastructure upgrades and on-site educational support services for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities
• $25,000 to Mercy Education Project for support to develop infrastructure, action plans, and training required to implement remote learning

Environment:

• $75,000 to Huron River Watershed Council to support diversity, equity, and inclusion planning and integration, in partnership with Friends of the Rouge and the Clinton River Watershed Council

 Health:

• $35,000 to Hegira Health, Inc. to support a coordinated community response between law enforcement officers and mental health professionals for individuals in crisis
• $30,000 to Hospice of Michigan to support additional telehealth training and virtual technology equipment due to COVID-19

 Human Services:

• $63,600 to Cass Community Social Services, Inc. to support a mental health staff position to address COVID-19-related difficulties among individuals and families experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity
• $50,000 to Community Housing Network, Inc. for support to expand homelessness prevention, rental assistance program and emergency housing programs in anticipation of increased need due to COVID-19
• $48,200 to Mai Family Services for support over two years to provide culturally-sensitive, victim-centered and trauma-informed services to South Asian women who have experienced domestic violence

Youth Development:

• $40,000 to Girls Group for support to provide social-emotional support and academic resilience programming for young women in Washtenaw County
• $38,000 to Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health to establish a virtual transgender youth advisory coundil to cultivate support, leadership, and personal advocacy among members

 Grants were also approved for the Michigan Justice Fund, the Pontiac Funders Collaborative, and for other special programs.