May 14, 2009

Community Foundation Announces Spring 2009 Special Project Grants and AACF Grants

The Community Foundation of St. Joseph County has awarded more than $90,000 in Special Project grants and African American Community Fund grants as part of its 2009 spring grant cycle.

For this round of grantmaking, the Community Foundation chose to focus on programs that address the effects of the extraordinary economic challenges that members of our community face. Approximately half of the $70,000 in grants awarded will support the work of three organizations that are on the frontline of need: the St. Vincent DePaul Society of St. Joseph County’s Direct Assistance Office, which addresses the immediate day-to-day needs of families by providing food, clothing, and, at times, financial assistance; Prevent Child Abuse of St. Joseph County, and the Suicide Prevention Council of the United Health Services.

“When we talk to local social service organizations about these difficult economic times, we hear that they’re seeing increased need, especially among the ‘newly poor’—that is, recently unemployed people who have not had to turn to their agencies previously,” says Rose Meissner, president of the Community Foundation. “These clients are very stressed, and that stress can turn into domestic violence, child abuse, mental illness, and suicidal tendencies. That’s what we’re trying to help to alleviate with these grants.”

Other organizations that received Special Project grants include Slice of Life; LOGAN; Corvilla, Inc., and the Children’s Dispensary.

The Community Foundation’s African American Community Fund made three grants in this grant cycle, including a $5,000 grant to Indiana University South Bend to support the publication of five books on race relations, civil rights, and African-American History in South Bend from IUSB’s Wolfson Press. The titles in this series—which will run approximately 100 pages and will be written for a general audience—include The Negro in South Bend, a Social Study; A History of Hering House, 1925–1963; “Race Relations and Public Accommodation in South Bend, Indiana”; “Tugging on the Reins of Power,” and “Charles Martin: Role Model for a Community.” (Charles Martin also inspired the Charles Martin Touch a Life Scholarship, launched by the African American Community Fund and friends and former students of Martin’s earlier this spring.)

Other organizations that received African American Community Fund grants include Grace Community Center and the Boy Scouts of America LaSalle Council for Troop 419 of Greater St. John Missionary Baptist Church.

The Community Foundation’s Special Project Challenge grant process encourages projects in community development and urban affairs; health and human services; parks, recreation, and environment, and youth and education. African American Community Fund grants are made to nonprofit organizations with programs that enhance the lives of African Americans in St. Joseph County. For each type of grant, two grant cycles are conducted yearly with deadlines of March 1 and October 1.