Cleveland Foundation Grants Total $15.3 Million

Urban School News is the recipient of a $185,000 grant for its Catalyst: Ohio newsmagazine. For the past decade, Catalyst: Ohio has reported in depth on urban school improvement efforts in the state for its audience of policymakers, school and community leaders, and educators.

The board directed $70,000 to the Ohio Grantmakers Forum to begin the fourth phase of its ongoing education initiative. The first three phases included an in-depth analysis on the state of education in Ohio, a public engagement and education process on the findings, and creation of two work groups to develop policy recommendations for preparing students for success in the global economy and fostering quality teaching and effective school leadership. In this latest phase, the initiative will seek to influence state education policy and facilitate more effective education grantmaking.

Arts and culture
The foundation will grant a combined total of $1.45 million to eight local arts groups as part of its Sustaining Excellence Program, which supports important arts organizations that have risk-taking business models. Those receiving funding are:

• Cleveland Orchestra – $500,000
• Community Partnership for Arts and Culture – $300,000
• Cleveland Play House – $150,000
• Great Lakes Theatre Festival – $150,000
• Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland – $100,000
• Playhouse Square Foundation – $100,000
• Apollo’s Fire – $75,000
• Cleveland Public Theatre – $75,000

To aid in the construction of a new headquarters, the board agreed to grant $250,000 to the Rainey Institute, an organization dedicated to social change for Cleveland’s economically disadvantaged youth through education and participation in the performing and visual arts. Rainey will construct its new facility in the Hough neighborhood.

Civic affairs
The Cleveland Leadership Center was awarded $565,000 to operate the Cleveland Executive Fellowship, in which fellows complete high-level assignments in corporate, education, nonprofit, and public-sector workplaces. At the end of that experience, fellows are encouraged to pursue important roles in the public or nonprofit sectors. Past fellows have gone on to positions of leadership within the office of the mayor of the City of Cleveland, Nortech, and CMSD.