07/14/2017 in Grantmaking

The George Gund Foundation awards $7.4 million at its summer meeting

The George Gund Foundation awarded $1.2 million to the Cleveland Metropolitan School District to continue the work of transforming education in the city as part of more than $7.4 million in grants at its July board meeting. These included grants totaling more than $2 million to support nonprofits working to have a stronger advocacy voice on important current issues.

The grant to the school district advances Cleveland’s Plan for Transforming Schools, whose goal is to ensure every child in Cleveland attends a high-quality school and every neighborhood has a multitude of great schools from which families can choose. The current grant will support start-up expenses of 12 high schools opening this year or in the past few years.

Among the policy-related grants were: 

  • Up to $400,000 to the Center for Community Solutions to advance the Ohio Transformation Fund, which is a collaboration working toward criminal justice reform, particularly the reduction of the number and racial disparity of people incarcerated in Ohio.
  • $100,000 to Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, which has been targeted for funding cuts by the state and federal governments.
  • $80,000 to Cleveland Neighborhood Progress to build advocacy capacity among community development organizations. 

Other grants of interest include:

  • $240,000 over two years to support Cleveland Housing Network (CHN), the largest nonprofit provider of low-income housing in Cleveland. CHN owns approximately 2,000 housing units, many with long-term leases to tenants who may take ownership after 15 years.
  • $50,000 to Cleveland Neighborhood Progress to help update the City of Cleveland’s Climate Action Plan, outlining steps on projects, programs and policies needed to reduce Cleveland’s greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
  • $100,000 over two years to support the Medicaid reimbursement strategy of Magnolia Clubhouse, an organization that integrates social, vocational and psychiatric interventions to people diagnosed with severe mental disorders, while engaging them in Clubhouse operations, supported community employment and the pursuit of educational attainment.
  • $100,000 to University Circle Incorporated to help restore a portion of the Cozad-Bates house and transform it into an Underground Railroad Interpretive Center outlining how the University Circle neighborhood participated in the pre-Civil War abolitionist movement.

The George Gund Foundation was established in 1952 by George Gund, former chairman of the Cleveland Trust Company. The Foundation funds programs that enhance our understanding of the physical and social environment in which we live and increase our ability to cope with its changing requirements. Grants are made three times a year in the areas of education, human services, economic and community development, environment and arts. Foundation commitments to date have totaled over $701 million.

Further details on the summer 2017 grant awardees can be found at www.gundfoundation.org.