Eight grants total $1,239,920

Staff report

WARREN

The Raymond John Wean Foundation awarded eight fourth-quarter grants totaling $1,239,920, making it the largest grant-making quarter of the year.

“These grants support a strong group of organizations, the work of which is aligned with our core values and strategic priorities,” said Jennifer Roller, Foundation president.

Of the eight grants awarded at its December board meeting, five were made from the foundation’s responsive portfolio. They are: Community Advocates for Young Learners, $100,000; Invent Now Inc., $9,900; Mahoning Valley College Access Program, $100,000; Policy Matters Ohio, $30,000; and Youngstown State University Center for Nonprofit Leadership, $50,020.

The CAYL Institute’s project, Voices for the Valley, is designed to link local education leaders with families to cultivate an atmosphere of quality education in the Mahoning Valley.

The Invent Now Inc.’s Camp Invention curricula promotes critical thinking and communication skills through hands-on STEM and entrepreneurship content. Camp Invention provides training, curricula and program materials to talented local teachers.

Support to MVCAP will provide a wider and deeper approach to providing college-access services to impact the Valley’s demographics on college admissions and completion.

Ohio CASH, a program of Policy Matters Ohio, is looking to build on its success by tackling new challenges and forging policy change in four areas: improving state Earned Income Tax Credit results; maintaining Ohio’s debt-adjuster statutes against new threats; ensuring best practices on all public debit cards; and addressing payday lending regulation.

YSU’s biennial Nonprofit Leadership Summer Honors Internship Program provides an opportunity for about 10 students that represent a variety of majors from across campus to serve as full-time interns in regional nonprofit organizations or public-sector offices.

The remaining three grants represent the foundation’s ongoing commitment to its 2015 strategic partners: Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative, $400,000; Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., $350,000; and the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, $200,000.

The Wean Foundation recently hosted a convening of its “strategic partners” to celebrate the group’s collaborative work and share the partnership’s vision with board members, staff and employees of the partners.