Wean Foundation awards grants

Staff report

WARREN

Neighborhood SUCCESS, a program of The Raymond John Wean Foundation, awarded a total of $82,817 to organizations in Warren and Youngstown.

Grants ranged in size from $500 to $5,000 and include neighborhood gardening initiatives, summer sports programs, block-watch efforts and neighborhood beautifications.

The grants were awarded by the Neighborhood SUCCESS Grant Making Committee.

Nearly all projects funded by the Warren-based foundation involve neighborhood residents working to solve their own problems and to improve their communities.

The Montessori School of the Mahoning Valley will use its $4,464 in grant money to clean up Lynn Avenue Park in Youngstown’s Brownlee Woods neighborhood.

Jennifer Roller, program officer for the Raymond John Wean Foundation, said the latest round of grants, awarded in June, marks the third year the foundation has funded neighborhood initiatives intended to help improve the lives of the people of the Mahoning Valley.

Since its inception in 2008, Neighborhood SUCCESS has funded 214 groups for nearly $800,000.

Roller explained the Neighborhood SUCCESS program operates on the fundamental belief that residents are in the best position to identify and then to address their own neighborhood challenges and opportunities.

“We encourage groups to collaborate and to leverage resources that already exist in the community,” Roller said.

In Warren, Grace A.M.E. Church’s program, “Know Your Numbers,” which received $3,058 through the Neighborhood SUCCESS, is an example of collaboration as well as leveraging of current resources. The church operates two free health screenings for community residents who may not have insurance.

Know Your Numbers is a partnership between the Grace A.M.E. Church, the Warren Health Department and Humility of Mary Health Partners.

Cheryl Strother, director of nursing for the Warren Health Department and president of the church’s nursing guild, said for seven years the church has offered the health services, which include blood pressure, cholesterol and prostate-cancer screenings. Through the screenings, seven people discovered they had prostate cancer and then were able to get treatment, she said.

Two weeks after the lab work is drawn at the screenings, participants come back to the church for the results and to participate in workshops intended to help them deal with issues such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

The next screenings will be July 26 at the church, 1137 Main Ave. SW. To register, call 330-841-2596.

The next Neighborhood SUCCESS deadline is Sept. 15. For more information, see the foundation website at www.rjweanfdn.org, or call the foundation at 330-394-3203.