09/20/2007 in Grantmaking

Foundation Awards $5.4 Million in September

CLEVELAND OH — The George Gund Foundation made grants at its September meeting to organizations working to address issues related to predatory lending and the sharp increase in home foreclosures in Cuyahoga County.

Neighborhood Progress, Inc. was awarded $50,000 on behalf of the Vacant Property Coordinating Council, a collaborative effort of several Greater Cleveland nonprofits and governmental agencies addressing both practical and policy issues related to foreclosures.

The Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, which received a two-year $120,000 operating grant, has assumed a leadership role in the Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending, a network of organizations working to promote fair and equitable lending practices for low-income working families. A focus of the coalition’s work will be payday lending institutions that make extremely high interest short term loans and target low-income individuals.

These grants were among 62 totaling $5,394,962 made to arts, education, human services, environment and economic and community development organizations at the Foundation’s third quarterly meeting of 2007.

The Foundation also continued its commitment to research on the causes, nature and prevention of retinal degenerative diseases with a $2,285,000 grant to The Foundation Fighting Blindness which is based in Maryland but funds research throughout the world.

Other grants of interest include:

  • $284,400 to the Cleveland State University Foundation for the Cleveland Schools Book Fund, a program to establish a permanent library collection in every K-3 building in the Cleveland Municipal School District.
  • $200,000 to Case Western Reserve University for the Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development.
  • $130,000 to EcoCity Cleveland for Greater Ohio, a statewide organization working to advance smart growth policies at both the local and state levels.
  • $100,000 to the Public Education Network for its work on reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act.
  • $70,000 to Cleveland Public Theatre for the 2007–2008 theater season and the DanceWorks series.
  • $55,000 to Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio for its efforts to encourage policies that provide affordable, quality health care for low and middle income Ohio residents.
  • $54,000 over two years to Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization for the Cleveland EcoVillage.

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 quarterly in the areas of education, human services, economic and community development, environment and arts. Foundation commitments to date have totaled almost more than $498 million.

For further information contact:
Deena M. Epstein (216) 241.3114