Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan Awards More Than $600,000 in Grants to Area Nonprofit Organizations

Detroit, MI, January 08, 2009 --(PR.com)-- The Board of Trustees of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan approved $627,500 in grants to nonprofit organizations working to improve the quality of life in the region. The Board approved the grants at its December meeting. The following organizations are among those receiving grants from the Community Foundation:

• All the World’s a Stage, Clinton Township, $50,000 (over two years) to support the development of project NEED, a life-skills theater program for at-risk youth. The goal of the project is to reduce the impact of several risk factors facing youth ages 13 to 18 years and to increase their self-esteem, value of education and financial literacy. Theater educators will design and deliver theater arts activities and will work with partner organizations to coordinate activities.

• InsideOut Inc., Detroit, $75,000 to support the expansion of the Voices project, a writing workshop program, to Southeastern High School. The Voices project expands InsideOut’s ability to bring creative writing to new subject areas including history and biology. The expansion will be achieved through the addition of a team of two writers who each work in the schools.

• VSA Arts of Michigan, Detroit, $75,000 to support the expansion of the artsJAM Gallery & Studio program for high-school-aged youth with disabilities. The program will provide youth with opportunities to learn through the arts, thereby helping them become more successful in school, and introducing them to potential career options. As with other VSAMI projects, this project maintains a strong emphasis on meeting educational benchmarks established by the Michigan Department of Education.

• Covenant Community Care Inc., Detroit, $77,500 to support a dental program for children and adults with mental illness. This grant will allow Covenant to target pediatric patients and adults with severe and persistent mental illness, integrating oral health care with primary medical care and behavioral health care. Staff will focus on prevention, screening, early intervention and patient education, including lifestyle changes such as smoking cessation.

• Kids Kicking Cancer, Detroit, $60,000 to support expansion services to underserved pediatric oncology/hematology patients. The expansion will target three populations in southeast Michigan that are underserved in the areas of complementary pain management support: youth and families in Macomb County; children between the ages of 2 and 5 suffering from acute lymphocytic leukemia, and youth 6 years of age and older with sickle cell anemia.

The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is a permanent community endowment built by gifts from thousands of individuals and organizations committed to the future of southeast Michigan. The Foundation works to improve the region’s quality of life by connecting those who care with causes that matter. The Foundation supports a wide variety of activities benefiting education, arts and culture, health, human services, community development and civic affairs. Since its inception, the Foundation has distributed more than $324 million through more than 30,000 grants to nonprofit organizations throughout Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, Washtenaw, St. Clair and Livingston counties. For more information, please visit www.cfsem.org.

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