Wean Foundation Awards $729,400 in Grants

WARREN, Ohio — The Raymond John Wean Foundation approved grants totaling nearly $729,400 at its June 2 meeting to organizations committed to its strategic priorities of community revitalization and educational opportunity.

Funding includes $115,000 for Western Reserve Land Conservancy, which along with Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership and Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., will support the education of residents in tree stewarding practices and enhance technology for an accurate accounting of the housing stock. The work will utilize the previous property inventories of the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative, TNP and YNDC.

“The success of the Land Conservancy, along with the local partner’s capacity to impact change, makes aligning these organizations an obvious choice,” Jennifer Roller, president of The Raymond John Wean Foundation, said in a statement. It’s consistent with the foundation’s priority to promote a “spirit of collaboration” and will increase the long-term sustainability of the Valley’s neighborhood revitalization work.”

Toward these efforts, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress was awarded $20,000 in support of a study that seeks to understand and compare the impact of residential rehabilitation to demolition in strengthening neighborhood revitalization.

Educational grants demonstrate the foundation’s support to achieve school, college and career readiness. These grants include:

Eastern Ohio Education Partnership: $200,000 a year for two years to strengthen the organization, which seeks to serve as the center of community collaboration around education.
Inspiring Minds: $75,000 a year for two years for its after-school and college and career readiness programming for students in Warren.
Invent Now Inc.: $13,750 to provide full scholarships for 50 Youngstown Chaney middle school students to participate in its Invention Project STEM program.
Warren City School District: $30,649 to build on the success of its 2015 pilot that transitions students from primary to intermediate grades and middle to high school with year-long engagement of youth and their families.

Source: Raymond John Wean Foundation.