Neighborhood Connections,
with additional funding from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, announces $150,000 in
grants to 66 neighborhood projects in Cleveland and East Cleveland
CLEVELAND (November 17, 2014) – Neighborhood Connections, the small-grants and
grassroots community-building program affiliated with the Cleveland Foundation,
has approved $150,000 in grants to support 66 different projects in Cleveland
and East Cleveland. Cuyahoga Arts &
Culture, Cuyahoga County’s local public funder for arts and culture, will co-fund
25 of the resident-led arts and culture projects through a partnership with
Neighborhood Connections. View the list of funded projects.
Highlights of the grants include:
Hands That Speak
Volumes, Inc.* will receive $1,400 for Everybody
Can Make Music, workshops and drum sessions for the deaf or hard of hearing
in downtown Cleveland.
African American
Men Who Excel in Fairfax will receive
$3,000 for Developing Youth to Make a Difference in the Community After
School Program, a mentoring
and tutoring program for elementary and middle school students.
Ty and the Knight
Writer LLC* will receive $2,000 for Youth
Fighting Stigma, an intergenerational program where 20 mental health
patients write their memoirs, which are then designed and edited by youth in
Midtown.
Fullerton Block
Club in Slavic Village will receive $3,000
for Bike-a-Thon and Night Out Against Crime. These two events will help
strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships.
St. Clair Superior
Youth Leadership Council* will receive
funds for a Teen Center that will host teen-led cooking, art,
skateboarding, computer and gardening programs for leadership development in
St. Clair Superior.
*Co-funded by Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and
Neighborhood Connections.
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture invested $85,000 in Neighborhood
Connections in 2014 to support vibrant arts and cultural programs in Cleveland and
East Cleveland, with the aim to support community-based arts and culture
activities organized by and for residents.
“We believe that empowered, active residents are at the
heart of the Cleveland renaissance,” said Tom O’Brien, program director of
Neighborhood Connections. “We see Neighborhood Connections grants as an
investment in those folks and their innovative ideas, which are invigorating
our city block by block.”
“Cuyahoga Arts & Culture’s vision is to create energetic
neighborhoods that are infused with arts and culture,” said Karen Gahl-Mills,
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture’s executive director. “A partnership with Neighborhood Connections
has ensured that public funding, which comes from the community, is helping
residents to make their neighborhoods more vibrant.”
Neighborhood Connections’ grant program offers grants of
$500 to $5,000 twice a year in May and November to groups of residents in
Cleveland and East Cleveland who organize projects to improve the quality of
life in their neighborhood. Groups are
encouraged to work with partners, and to propose creative solutions to challenges
in their neighborhood.
About Neighborhood Connections
Neighborhood Connections is a
grassroots community-building program created by the Cleveland Foundation in
2003. Neighborhood Connections awards small grants of less than $5,000 to fund
citizen-led neighborhood projects, events, and activities that benefit
Cleveland and East Cleveland. While most foundations solely extend grants to
nonprofit organizations, Neighborhood Connections grants support the ideas of
everyday people to make life better, right where they live.
Through its grants,
Neighborhood Connections seeks to build community by connecting people in
Cleveland’s neighborhoods and encouraging them to become more engaged with each
other and the city around them.
Neighborhood Connections is
guided by a grantmaking committee made up of 24 Cleveland and East Cleveland
residents with a history of community involvement. The citizens’ committee
reviews and approves all grants. Since 2003, Neighborhood Connections has
awarded more than 1,800 grants totaling more than $6.9 million. For more information, visit neighborhoodgrants.org.
About Cuyahoga Arts & Culture
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture’s
mission is to inspire and strengthen the community by investing arts and
culture. CAC was approved by Cuyahoga
County voters in 2006, and since 2007, CAC has invested more than $112 million
in 259 local arts and cultural organizations in Cuyahoga County. In addition, through a partnership with
Neighborhood Connections, CAC has co-funded 80 resident-led arts and culture
projects in Cleveland and East Cleveland since 2013.
CAC’s vision for its first ten
years of public funding for arts and culture is to help build stronger, more
resilient arts and culture organizations, create vibrant and energetic
neighborhoods infused with culture, and establish Cuyahoga County as a hub of
creative activity and a destination for artists. For more information, visit cacgrants.org.
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View the list of funded projects.