Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan Awards Over $7.6 Million in Grants to Area Nonprofits

Oct. 6, 2010 - PRLog -- At the September Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan (www.cfsem.org) more than $7.6 million was approved through more than 330 grants to support nonprofit organizations working to improve the quality of life in the region.

The following nonprofit organizations are among those receiving grants from the Community Foundation:
       
Arab American National Museum,  Dearborn, $100,000 over two years for programming to support an exhibition about Arab American contributions in civilian and military service from the Revolutionary War to the present. Patriots and Peacemakers: Arab Americans in Service to Their Country will travel to museums, military academies and bases throughout the country.  The Arab American National Museum will develop accompanying educational and cultural programming for southeast Michigan, including films, concerts, poetry readings and an interactive website and curriculum and lesson plans for teachers.  It will also include the development of new resources and information about Arab Americans for the Museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Heidelberg Project, Detroit, $50,000 over two years for support for its Arts, Community & Environmental Education program.  The first-year pilot program will engage third grade classes at six public schools, providing teachers with lesson plans and educator’s kits for classroom activities designed to help students begin thinking about their community and their environment in a way that fosters ownership and responsibility. The internationally known Heidelberg Project, begun by artist Tyree Guyton, is a two-block artistic environmental landscape that draws an estimated 275,000 visitors annually. This is the Heidelberg Project’s first competitive grant from the Community Foundation.

“It’s very exciting that thanks to the Community Foundation grant we can launch our art education program the same year that the Michigan Art Education Association is focusing its annual conference around it,” said Jenenne Whitfield, the Heidelberg Project’s Executive Director.

The Fair Food Network, Detroit, $50,000 over two years to extend the “Double Up Food Bucks” project across southeast Michigan.  “Double Up Food Bucks,” which was piloted in 2009 at Detroit’s Eastern Market, allows recipients of supplemental food assistance to double the value of their benefits when purchasing locally grown fruits and vegetables.  The expansion of this project statewide will increase access, affordability and availability of healthy foods in underserved communities and provide local small-scale farmers with a broader and more diverse market for their products. It will also help shift public food assistance policy toward greater incentives for nutritious and healthy food choices.

The Fair Food Network has achieved national recognition for the “Double Up Food Bucks” program and has forged effective partnerships with regional food-focused organizations to increase the viability of local systems and improve access to nutritious food. The Community Foundation is one of several Michigan foundations responding to the opportunity to expand this program throughout the region.

# # #

The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is a permanent community endowment built by gifts from thousands of individuals and organizations committed to the future of southeast Michigan. The Foundation works to improve the region’s quality of life by connecting those who care with causes that matter. The Foundation supports a wide variety of activities benefiting education, arts and culture, health, human services, community development and civic affairs. Since its inception, the Foundation has distributed more than $436 million through more thannearly 36,500 grants to nonprofit organizations throughout Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, Washtenaw, St. Clair and Livingston counties. For more information, please visit www.cfsem.org.