Kresge Foundation Meets Economic Downturn Head on, Awarding a Record $63.6 Million in Grants in Fourth Quarter 2008

Grants advance foundation’s strategic objectives in 30 states, particularly in the areas of community development, health and the environment.

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.

“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.)

    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

For more information, contact Cynthia Shaw, cbshaw@kresge.org or call 248-643-9630.

SOURCE The Kresge Foundation