The people—and purpose—
Behind The Work
As we hit the ground running to make a difference, we’re simultaneously learning as much as possible about our communities’ needs. It’s an approach that lets us be responsibly aggressive–acting with the urgency required by our spend-down while also taking the time to understand the complexity of the issues at hand.
With these considerations in mind, in 2015 the Foundation committed $60 million in Transitional Legacy grants, reflecting the personal passion of our namesake and providing grants to many of the organizations Mr. Wilson had a connection to in the past.
We have also identified and funded a small amount of “shovel ready” projects in the core funding areas that provide immediate opportunities and align with our mission. To date, these grant recipients include:
New Economy Initiative
(Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan)
Program Area: Healthy Communities: Economic Development
Amount: $5 million
To create jobs and build a more entrepreneurial culture by supporting the New Economy Initiative, an effort to build a network of business support organizations, accelerate the commercialization of intellectual property and create greater inclusion in business ownership.
charitySTRONG
Program Area: Healthy Communities: Non-profit Productivity
Amount: $225,000
To establish, expand and operate innovative board matching and education programs throughout Western New York, including both Greater Buffalo and Rochester.
Grow Detroit’s Young Talent Initiative
(Detroit Employment Solutions)
Program Area: Young Adults & Working Class Families
Amount: $2 million
To provide work experience, skills training and exposure to career pathways for Detroit youth through the Grow Detroit’s Young Talent (GYDT) Initiative.
Launch NY
Program Area: Healthy Communities: Economic Development
Amount: $2.5 million
To create jobs and build a more entrepreneurial culture by supporting Launch NY’s efforts to accelerate the commercialization of intellectual property, and execute planning towards building a broader network of coordinated business support in the region.
Playworks Education Energized
Program Area: Children & Youth
Amount: $1.14 million
To grow and expand programs in Western New York and Southeast Michigan in order to increase the social competencies in elementary students that are critical to educational and life outcomes.
TechHire
(Detroit Employment Solutions)
Program Area: Young Adults & Working Class Families
Amount: $2 million
To support the Detroit Regional TechHire Initiative, and provide the region’s growing IT industry a local, diverse source of talent, while at the same time developing career pathways and employment opportunities of Metro Detroiters of all skill levels.
Midtown Detroit, Inc.
Program Area: Healthy Communities: Access & Design
Amount: $500,000
To fund the implementation of several green infrastructure elements as part of the 6568 Woodward Avenue building redevelopment to serve as a case study and education tool for those doing similar development projects in the city and region. With the Foundation taking the second floor of the building as its headquarters, this will provide staff with a direct learning experience.
Buffalo Fine Arts Academy (Albright-Knox)
Program Area: Special Opportunities
Amount: $6 million
While the arts are not our Foundation’s core funding areas, we could not pass up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to collaborate and leverage a historic gift to the Albright-Knox to advance this valuable community asset, and improve access for all residents.
Head Start Innovation Fund
(Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan)
Program Area: Children & Youth
Amount: $2 million
As a new member of the Southeast Michigan Early Childhood Funders Collaborative, a group of regional and national foundations working to strengthen early childhood development and education, we provided a grant to the Head Start Innovation Fund to expand its good work to the larger region, including Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties.
Help Me Grow Western New York
(Niagara University)
Program Area: Children & Youth
Amount: $1.8 million
To support and expand the Help Me Grow Western New York initiative in achieving its goal of helping young children stay on track in meeting developmental milestones and receiving appropriate assistance when they’re not meeting milestones.
GreenLight Fund
Program Area: Healthy Communities: Non-Profit Productivity
Amount: $250,000
To support the inaugural GreenLight Detroit Fund, which will identify non-profit service gaps, and fund and import innovative solutions to fill those gaps to improve community outcomes for low-income and working class families and children in the region.
Detroit RiverFront Conservancy
Program Area: Healthy Communities: Access & Design
Amount: $345,000
To support a professionally led, community-driven design competition that will help transform West Riverfront Park into an internationally recognized public gathering place.
National Comedy Center
Program Area: Healthy Communities: Economic Development
Amount: $3 million
To increase tourism and economic development in Western New York by supporting the development of the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, NY.
Inner Circle Greenway
(City of Detroit)
Program Area: Healthy Communities: Access & Design
Amount: $2 million
To support the design and pre-construction of all uncompleted portions of the Inner Circle Greenway and overall framework planning to connect the 26-mile loop in the most impactful way.
Operating Engineers 324
Program Area: Young Adults & Working Class Families
Amount: $450,000
To support purchasing and deploying six equipment simulators for both classroom and career event environments that will assist in the engagement, recruitment and education of both apprentices and current journeypersons in skilled trades career opportunities.
Fair Food Network
Program Area: Healthy Communities: Economic Development
Amount: $1.5 million
To expand Double Up Food Bucks produce incentive program through innovative technology and communications in Southeast Michigan and Western New York.
Livingston County Catholic Charities
Program Area: Caregivers
Amount: $90,000
To support the operations of senior service programs (Be Our Guest Adult Day, Volunteer Caregiver and Resource Advocacy) that provide resources and respite to caregivers.
SisterFriends
(Southeastern Michigan Health Association)
Program Area: Children & Youth
Amount: $2 million
To support the establishment and operations of SisterFriends, a project of the Detroit Health Department designed to reduce the infant death rate and increase healthy practices by providing volunteer mentors called SisterFriends to women during pregnancy and for one year after birth.
Macomb Community College Foundation
Program Area: Young Adults & Working Class Families
Amount: $1.1 million
To support a workforce development training program – PRISM (Prosperity Reaches into Southern Macomb) project – that will support training for adults in advanced manufacturing, outreach to introduce and engage high school students in information technology fields, and a pilot on enhancing employer engagement in sustaining workforce training programs.
