Wean Foundation Awards $130,000 in Grants

WARREN, Ohio — The Raymond John Wean Foundation, at its March board meeting, announced $130,000 in grants to four local organizations: Empowering & Strengthening Ohio’s People, Inspiring Minds, Tabernacle Baptist Church – CDF Freedom Schools and We Are Warren.

The organizations and their programs are aligned with the foundation’s strategic priorities of community revitalization, economic and educational opportunity and public service leadership, said Jennifer Roller, foundation president.

“The foundation goes far beyond funding programs,” she said in a statement. “We support, lead and align efforts that fill a gap in the landscape.”

Empowering & Strengthening Ohio’s People has been awarded $30,000 in support of its initiative to provide financial education programs for low-to-moderate income seniors. 6.

Inspiring Minds, which supports activities to engage, inspire and empower youth through education and exposure to new experiences, was awarded $25,000 for the college and readiness component of its enrichment program.

A grant of $20,000, over two years, will support the Tabernacle Baptist Church Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools. Programming is offered to 50 students in grades K-6 onsite at Tabernacle at no charge to families. Recruited from the Youngstown City School and surrounding districts, participants engage in a six-week program based on literacy, character building and community connections.

A grant award of up to $55,000 was awarded to promote a “package” of approaches in support of We Are Warren, an initiative developed with more than 600 Warren parents, students and community members to ensure the youth of Warren live safe, healthy and productive lives. The Warren City School District, in partnership with the city, was awarded up to $25,000 for existing staff to fulfill near-term goals of the We Are Warren Framework. A grant was awarded to Inspiring Minds for up to $25,000 to concentrate on the areas of the framework that align with their work and expertise and Eastern Ohio Education Partnership (EOEP) was awarded up to $5,000 for the development of a community portals.

Since its establishment in 1948 by industrialist Raymond John Wean, the foundation has made more that $100 million in grants to a broad variety of nonprofit organizations. The vision of the Foundation is to empower residents to create a healthy, vibrant and economically stable Mahoning Valley community with equal opportunity for all.

More information is available at www.rjweanfdn.org.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.