The George Gund Foundation

03/02/2010 in Featured Grants

Gund Foundation Makes Multi-Year Commitment to Cleveland Neighborhoods

CLEVELAND OH — The George Gund Foundation re-affirmed its commitment to Cleveland’s residents and their neighborhoods with a $3.6 million three-year grant to Neighborhood Progress, Inc. (NPI).

NPI, established more than 20 years ago as the principal intermediary between funders and Cleveland’s community development corporations, has played a key role in neighborhood residential and commercial revitalization. The organization also has been engaged in developing constructive responses to Cleveland’s foreclosure crisis and exploring new uses for the resulting increase in vacant land.

“Despite the current economic challenges, NPI has continued to fulfill its mission ‘to restore and maintain the health and vitality of Cleveland’s neighborhoods through private investment and support for community initiatives’,” said David Abbott, the Foundation’s executive director. “Our three-year commitment reflects the Foundation’s continued interest in strengthening Cleveland’s neighborhoods.”

Foundation Trustees also made a significant commitment to the children of Cleveland with a $2.6 million grant that will be used to support the Cleveland Municipal School District’s transformation plan and efforts to create new, innovative schools in Cleveland’s neighborhoods.

These grants were among 56 totaling $9,379,900 that Trustees made to education, human services, economic and community development, environment and arts organizations at the Foundation’s first meeting of 2010.

Other grants of interest included:

  • $280,000 over three years to Planned Parenthood of Northeast Ohio for a new regional medical center
  • Up to $250,000 to the Downtown Cleveland Alliance for its efforts to revitalize Downtown Cleveland
  • $75,000 to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for the GreenCityBlueLake Institute
  • $360,000 over two years to the Center for Community Solutions for its policy and fiscal analysis work and for groundWork, a statewide campaign to promote investment in the needs of children birth to six years of age
  • $200,000 over 18 months to the Center for Families and Children for the Greater Cleveland Integrated Re-entry Project
  • $90,000 to the Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy for operating support

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 $548 million.

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