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TROY, Mich., Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The state of the economy did not deter the trustees of The Kresge Foundation from awarding $63.6 million in grants at its fourth-quarter board meeting in December, making the quarter, together with the $181 million in grants for 2008 as a whole, the most generous in the foundation's 85-year history.
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"If ever there was a time for Kresge to put its resources on the line to help nonprofit organizations serving the poor and disadvantaged," says Elaine D. Rosen, chair of the board, "it is now. The magnitude of the economic contraction demands we be both creative and aggressive in our grantmaking."
The foundation made 125 awards in the fourth quarter to organizations in 30 states and the District of Columbia, plus Canada, Great Britain and South Africa. This complements 2008 grants made in the third quarter, the second quarter and the first quarter, in its six fields of interest - health, environment, community development, arts and culture, education and human services.
A complete list of the fourth quarter grant awards is provided below.
Detroit Program
The foundation made 19 grants to advance the five strategic objectives of Kresge's community development work in metropolitan Detroit, its home town: strengthening the downtown, revitalizing city neighborhoods, re-tooling the regional economy, supporting arts and culture, and enhancing the environment.
A $4 million grant to the College for Creative Studies is emblematic of the kind of investment the foundation believes will be central to re-invigorating the region's economic health. The grant will help complete a $145 million renovation and repurposing of the historic Argonaut Building in Detroit to house a new master's of fine arts program, undergraduate and graduate student housing, and a new charter middle school and high school focused on art and design that will serve the city's youth.
With the opening of the Argonaut Building, the College for Creative Studies, a fully-accredited, degree-granting institution, expects to create 200 new knowledge-economy jobs and expand its enrollment by 250 students with its new MFA program.
"The College for Creative Studies' restoration of the Argonaut is an extraordinary example of a project that ripples in multiple ways beyond the immediate needs of the educational institution," says Rip Rapson, president of the foundation. "It will contribute momentum to the Woodward Corridor's increasingly dynamic creative economy. It will signal the importance of directing investment to the Corridor's historic physical infrastructure. And it will provide a vital updraft for young people aspiring to enter careers in the design professions. We are tremendously excited at its promise on all fronts."
Health Program
Kresge's Health Program is working to improve the environmental conditions that disproportionately contribute to chronic health problems among low-income populations. It also supports efforts to both increase access to health care and improve the quality of care for the poor and disadvantaged.
Lead abatement is one such effort. Building upon a previous grant in September 2008 to the Get the Lead Out Initiative, the board awarded multi-year grants to Alameda County Community Development Agency in Oakland, California ($225,000); the Department of Family and Child Well-Being in Newark, New Jersey ($1.5 million); and the Detroit offices of the Michigan Department of Community Health ($55,000) and the Southeastern Michigan Health Association (two grants totaling $900,000), in support of efforts to decrease and eventually eliminate lead poisoning in children.
To complement the lead abatement work, a multi-year award of $180,000 was made to Greensboro Housing Coalition in Greensboro, North Carolina, in support of its nationally recognized program to improve health by improving overall housing conditions.
"Healthy housing should be a given for families and individuals at all income levels," Rapson adds. "Greensboro is quite innovative in its approach, using nurses and social workers to identify potential health risks, contractors that employ healthy work practices while making repairs, and evaluation methods to measure the changes in housing and health conditions."
Environment Program
Climate change is the over-arching priority of the Environment Program. It aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the built environment, accelerate the adoption of renewable energy technologies, and assist in the development of adaptation strategies.
A $5 million grant to the Energy Foundation of San Francisco expands its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings - the cause of approximately 40 percent of carbon emissions in the United States. The multi-year grant enables the Energy Foundation to advance national and state building codes and appliance standards. It also assists in advancing the twin objectives of increasing utility investments in energy efficiency and spurring the adoption of renewable energy policy, particularly in the Midwest and Southern states.
"The Kresge Foundation has been an early and ardent proponent and funder of environmentally sustainable construction and renovation projects in the nonprofit sector," explains Rapson. "We understand the built environment. Through the work of the Energy Foundation, we are able to extend our reach and influence to address the fundamental issues necessary to propel a shift to energy efficiency and sustainability within our nation's building infrastructure."
Advancing adaptation strategies is the focus of multi-year grants made to the Conservation Biology Institute ($1,020,000) in Corvallis, Oregon, and the Center for Resource Economics-Island Press ($600,000) in Washington, D.C. In collaboration with other partners, the Conservation Biology Institute will create an open-access Web database - the Data Basin Climate Center - that will standardize the format and centralize the climate-change related data submitted and used by researchers, policymakers, practitioners and others interested in the field.
Island Press, the nonprofit publishing house for the Center for Resource Economics, is partnering with EcoAdapt, a nonprofit organization dedicated to climate change adaptation issues, to build a Web-based Climate Adaptation Knowledge Environment that will gather, synthesize and disseminate knowledge and informational tools on adaptation to climate change for practitioners as well as create an online environment for users to share information. The Data Basin Climate Center (mentioned above) will be one of the resources available to users.
Awards also were made to arts and culture organizations, community colleges, four-year colleges and universities, and a broad array of human service organizations.
Here is a list of grants approved in the fourth quarter:
(The list includes current and future planned grants.)
For more information, contact Cynthia Shaw, [email protected] or call 248-643-9630.
ARKANSAS Arkansas Repertory Theatre Little Rock $600,000 Economic Opportunity Agency of Washington Springdale County $600,000 St. Bernards Healthcare Jonesboro $500,000 CALIFORNIA Alameda County Community Development Oakland Agency $225,000 Aquarium of the Pacific Long Beach $75,000 Communities for a Better Environment Huntington Park $750,000 Community Partners Los Angeles $400,000 Downtown Women's Center Los Angeles $50,000 The Energy Foundation San Francisco $5,000,000 Liberty Hill Foundation Santa Monica $325,000 National Health Services Shafter $100,000 Occidental College Los Angeles $395,000 Reconnecting America Oakland $1,000,000 State Center Community College District Fresno $800,000 Tides Center San Francisco $600,000 Vista Community Clinic Vista $250,000 COLORADO Crow Canyon Archaeological Center Cortez $50,000 Su Teatro, Inc. Denver $50,000 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA American Association of Museums Washington $100,000 Children's Environmental Health Network Washington $150,000 Island Press - Center for Resource Washington $600,000 Economics Neighborhood Funders Group Washington $45,000 Rails-to-Trails-Conservancy Washington $975,000 FLORIDA Brevard Neighborhood Development Melbourne $100,000 Coalition Glades General Hospital Belle Glade $1,500,000 Ronald McDonald House Charities of Pensacola $500,000 Northwest Florida HAWAII Domestic Violence Action Center Honolulu $325,000 ILLINOIS Children's Home + Aid Chicago $500,000 Hospice of Southern Illinois Belleville $400,000 The Joffrey Ballet Chicago $200,000 Town of Normal Normal $75,000 Puerto Rican Arts Alliance Chicago $300,000 INDIANA The Children's Museum of Indianapolis Indianapolis $1,500,000 Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne $75,000 IOWA Eastern Iowa Community College District Davenport $90,000 Maharishi University Fairfield $50,000 KANSAS Fort Scott Community College Fort Scott $900,000 KENTUCKY The Healing Place Louisville $800,000 LOUISIANA Xavier University New Orleans $2,000,000 MARYLAND Center for Urban Families Baltimore $375,000 MASSACHUSETTS Second Nature Boston $1,242,000 Shakespeare & Company Lenox $800,000 MICHIGAN Arab Community Center (ACCESS) Dearborn $500,000 Brightmoor Community Center Detroit $100,000 City of Troy Troy $40,000 College for Creative Studies Detroit $4,000,000 Community Foundation for Southeast Detroit Michigan $3,500,000 Corporation for Supportive Housing Brighton $100,000 Curious Kids' Museum St. Joseph $300,000 Detroit 300 Conservancy Detroit $100,000 The Detroit Public Library Detroit $100,000 Don Bosco Hall Detroit $150,000 Greater Detroit Area Health Council Detroit $200,000 Grosse Pointe Artists Association Grosse Pointe Park $10,000 Kalamazoo County Parks and Fairground Kalamazoo $800,000 Local Initiatives Support Corporation - Detroit $3,000,000 Detroit Macomb Community College Warren $100,000 Macomb Symphony Orchestra Clinton Township $15,000 Madonna University Livonia $1,500,000 Matrix Human Services Center Detroit $300,000 Mercy Education Project Detroit $204,000 Michigan Community Action Agency Lansing Association $50,000 Michigan Department of Community Health Lansing $55,000 Michigan Interfaith Trust Fund Detroit $100,000 Motor City Brass Band Southfield $20,000 New Detroit Detroit $25,000 City of Novi Novi $24,000 OmniArts in Education Southfield $36,000 The Pewabic Society Detroit $75,000 Plymouth Historical Society Plymouth $30,000 The Scarab Club Detroit $30,000 Southeastern Michigan Health Association Detroit $300,000 Southeastern Michigan Health Association Detroit $600,000 Southern Great Lakes Symphony Riverview $15,000 The Sphinx Organization Detroit $50,000 Stagecrafters Royal Oak $40,000 University of Detroit Mercy Detroit $250,000 Wayne County Community College District Detroit $300,000 Wayne State University - Center for Detroit $50,000 Urban Studies Wayne State University - Press Detroit $70,000 Wellspring Detroit $190,000 YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit Detroit $70,000 MINNESOTA St. Joseph's Area Health Services Park Rapids $250,000 NEW HAMPSHIRE Boys & Girls Club of Greater Nashua Nashua $500,000 NEW JERSEY Department of Family and Child Newark $1,542,000 Well-Being NEW YORK ACCION USA, Inc. New York $200,000 Adirondack Community College Queensbury $350,000 American Jewish Committee New York $50,000 Iona College New Rochelle $550,000 Living Cities, National Community New York $1,000,000 Development Initiative Northeast Parent & Child Society Schenectady $125,000 NORTH CAROLINA Greensboro Housing Coalition Greensboro $180,000 Mars Hill College Mars Hill $60,000 Peace College Raleigh $350,000 Planned Parenthood of Central North Chapel Hill $300,000 Carolina OHIO LifeCare Alliance Columbus $400,000 The Rainey Institute Cleveland $500,000 Youngstown State University Youngstown $1,200,000 OREGON Conservation Biology Institute Corvallis $1,020,000 Fruit & Flower Child Care Center Portland $60,000 Kids Unlimited of Oregon Medford $600,000 Portland State University Portland $50,000 PENNSYLVANIA Erie Art Museum Erie $50,000 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia $1,500,000 SOUTH CAROLINA Lowcountry Food Bank Charleston $450,000 TENNESSEE Meharry Medical College Nashville $100,000 Nashville Opera Association Nashville $350,000 TEXAS Corpus Christi Metro Ministries Corpus Christi $200,000 Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corp Austin $100,000 UTAH Artspace Salt Lake City $80,000 Westminster College Salt Lake City $1,000,000 VIRGINIA Center in the Square Roanoke $50,000 GuideStar Williamsburg $750,000 United Negro College Fund Fairfax $60,000 WASHINGTON Boys & Girls Clubs of Whatcom County Bellingham $350,000 Catholic Charities of Spokane Spokane $160,000 MultiCare Health System Tacoma $2,000,000 WISCONSIN Madison Children's Museum Madison $750,000 Urban League of Greater Madison Madison $380,000 WYOMING Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation Powell $900,000 CANADA Waterloo Region Green Solutions Kitchener, Ontario $50,000 GREAT BRITAIN Whitechapel Art Gallery London $600,000 SOUTH AFRICA South Africa Institute for Advancement Cape Town $110,000 University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch $100,000 University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg $1,500,000
SOURCE The Kresge Foundation
