We strive toward a more just community and society that eliminates the conditions that create human need or limit fundamental rights.

Historic racial and economic barriers to opportunity for both individuals and families must be removed to fully realize human potential. Consequently,

• We invest in the healthy and equitable development of children at critical life junctures, including pre-natal through early childhood, and adolescence into young adulthood,
• We support enacting public policies that reduce poverty and strengthen family economic stability,
• We aid those fighting to secure equitable access to basic human needs such as food, shelter, and health care—particularly primary, behavioral, and reproductive,
• We pursue justice for youth and adults in the civil and criminal legal systems, long plagued by racial disparities,
• We promote fair tax and fiscal policies to secure needed public investment in those at society’s margins, and
• We further the use of data to accurately reflect the conditions of—and avoid the weaponization of data against—society’s most vulnerable and targeted populations.

Successful grant applicants will make a connection between their work and one or more issue areas in the Foundation’s What We Believe statement.

The Thriving Families and Social Justice program area does not currently prioritize the following areas:

• Programs addressing specific health conditions (e.g., cancer, asthma, autism)
• After-school programs, or summer programs outside the City of Cleveland
• Direct service programs outside Cleveland/Cuyahoga County
• State-level policy reform outside Ohio
• Basic academic research (note: applied research tied to public policy goals is of interest)