Wean Foundation gives nearly $100K in grants

Staff report

WARREN

The Raymond John Wean Foundation recently awarded nearly $100,000 in grants to 27 grass-roots community organizations and student-led groups in Warren and Youngstown under its Neighborhood SUCCESS and Leadership Program.

The program consists of two distinct yet overlapping components: Neighborhood SUCCESS 1.0: Engaging Residents and Neighborhood SUCCESS 2.0: Cultivating Leaders, said Corrie Adams, program associate for the foundation.

Over the past six years, Neighborhood SUCCESS has provided more than $1 million in grants to more than 300 grass-roots groups, Adams said.

“While we’ve funded youth-centered projects in the past, this is the first time students have participated throughout the entire process, from grant-seeker orientation to technical-assistance workshops and the interview process,” Adams said.

The foundation, in partnership with the We Are Warren initiative, conducted grant-making sessions earlier this year to provide exposure and access to funding for student-led projects.

As a result, more than 30 high-school students participated in planning and developing ideas that materialized into four grant applications. The students’ efforts focused on youth entrepreneurship, community revitalization and youth sports leagues. Two of the grants were approved for funding, Adams said.

Some of this year’s grant recipients include the We Are Warren Youth Squads, to fund Youth Volley for a Cause with the Warren G. Harding volleyball team, $2,600; Rocky Ridge Neighborhood Association, to continue Building a Better Foundation and related community revitalization projects, $4,385; and The Upton Association, to fund the 4th Grade Outreach Program throughout Warren, $3,600.

These funded projects concentrate on the foundation’s five issue priorities — early childhood, educational opportunity, economic opportunity, community revitalization and public- and civic-sector leadership.

Under the program, a maximum of 30 projects will receive grants ranging from $500 to $5,000 at the beginning of each year. A resident council made up of Warren and Youngstown residents, guides the foundation’s funding of the projects, foundation officials said.