Recent Grants

JUNE 2011 GRANTS

Valley Counseling Services Inc., one of the oldest mental health services providers in the state, will use its $15,000 from The Raymond John Wean Foundation to help support the costs of a development director who will seek to secure new external funding for the non-profit mental health agency.

Consistent with The Raymond John Wean Foundation’s desire to help organizations and individuals build their own capacity, the foundation also awarded $30,000 to The NewsOutlet.org, a partnership between Youngstown State University’s journalism program and professional media organizations.

TheNewsOutlet.org reports and then offers to area media important issue stories that legacy media often do not have the time nor staff to develop. Recent stories have included an investigation of living conditions in an adult group home for mentally challenged individuals. Funding from The Raymond John Wean Foundation will allow TheNewsOutlet to seek national foundation support and to secure the program’s future.

The Raymond John Wean Foundation awarded $15,395 to YSU’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies for its effort to expand the Mahoning County Regional Property Information System to Warren and Trumbull County. The system collects important data about vacant properties, crime rates, property ownership, foreclosure, tax liens and basic census data.

This compiled information is important in assisting local government agencies as well as non-profit organizations in understanding needs of various neighborhoods and developing plans for how to best address the issues.

The directors awarded was $10,000 to JumpStart, a Northeastern Ohio organization dedicated to helping entrepreneurs develop business in the region. The Wean Foundation is funding the JumpStart Inclusion Services project,  designed to help reach and educate minority and female entrepreneurs and to provide them with more advanced technical assistance to get their business ideas into actual development and implementation.

MARCH 2011 GRANTS

MVOC has already achieved significant results, including groundbreaking work with vacant properties, improvements with the availability of fresh food in certain neighborhoods and the development of leaders who can advocate for change.

YWCA of Warren
The Raymond John Wean Foundation awarded $30,000 to the YWCA of Warren to help the organization continue its long-term planning. The YWCA is investigating a possible renovation of its large facility. Officials are interested in making the building more effective for programming. The organization is also interested in hiring a marketing director to help it better promote its activities and secure more members. The organization also wants to hire a grant writer to help it identify and secure additional funding.

The YWCA, once known as a place for women’s fitness, now has an expanded mission. The YWCA strives to provide programming and services that are aligned with its mission of “eliminating racism, empowering women, promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.”

The Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio
The Girl Scouts of Norheast Ohio will receive $30,000 from The Raymond John Wean Foundation for its campaign to increase the number of girls who belong to the organization. The organization, which has been operational in the Mahoning Valley since 1918, seeks to give girls “courage, confidence and character.”

With support from The Raymond John Wean Foundation and other area organizations, The Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio seeks to hire a full-time staff member to help build membership.

The Organizacion Civica y Cultural Hispana Americana
The Organizacion Civica y Cultural Hispana Americana has been awarded $20,000 from The Raymond John Wean Foundation for its strategic planning process.

The organization, which provides a wide range or support to area Spanish-speaking people, started in 1972.  The organization will develop a strategic plan to help determine its long-term vision and to develop goals and measurable steps.

The Center for Community Solutions
The Raymond John Wean Foundation awarded $20,000 to the Center for Community Solutions for its statewide efforts to lobby for early childhood educational advances in Ohio.The organization has been working with a national organization to increase state and federal resources for children between the ages of birth and 6. Research indicates that this is a critical time to reach these children for physical, social, emotional and cognitive development.

September 2010 GRANTS

The Burdman Group
The Raymond John Wean Foundation is awarding a $60,000 grant to the Burdman Group to help the organization provide services to other area nonprofit agencies.

The Burdman Group will use some funding from The Raymond John Wean Foundation to create a business division to provide grant writing, marketing and other services to non-profits who do not have the ability to accomplish those aspects of non-profit governances.

The Burdman Group offers behavioral health, employment and job retention and domestic violence help for people in the Mahoning Valley.

Lien Forward Ohio
The Raymond John Wean Foundation’s $20,000 grant to Lien Forward Ohio Community Foundation follows its history of supporting initiatives intended to rid the community of vacant and abandoned properties.

Lien Forward Ohio, which collaborates with other organizations supported by The Raymond John Wean Foundation, will use a majority of the Foundation’s grant to increase people’s awareness of what they can do about vacant properties in their community.

Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio
The Raymond John Wean Foundation has awarded a $15,000 grant to the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio to support statewide advocacy concerning issues impacting low-income Ohioans.

The Coalition plans to pursue more efforts that are targeted to help people of the Mahoning Valley.

YouthBuild Trumbull County -Western Reserve Housing Development Corporation
The Raymond John Wean Foundation has awarded a $12,000 grant to YouthBuild Trumbull County, a project operated by the Western Reserve Housing Development Corporation. The program will provide economically disadvantaged young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 with hands-on training experience in housing construction and rehabilitation.

Youngstown State University/SMARTS
The Raymond John Wean Foundation has awarded $20,000 to Students Motivated by the Arts, SMARTS. The program, operated by Youngstown State University, provides free art education classes in music, dance, theater, visual arts and creative writing to about 150 Youngstown City school children each week. The grant will help the program explore new approaches and continue educational programming.

POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Another group concerned about the educational and developmental needs of children, the Potential Development Program, will receive $65,000 from The Raymond John Wean Foundation.

The Potential Development Program, which has been providing educational services to children with developmental delays since 1953, will use Foundation funding to help hire a development director.

YMCA of Trumbull County
The Raymond John Wean Foundation has awarded $40,000 to the YMCA of Trumbull County's Campaign for Strength.

The campaign includes a study to gather information about the programming needs of the community as well as finalizing a strategic plan.

june 2010 GRANTS

Warren City Schools Foundation
$33,000 to the Warren City Schools Foundation to help with development efforts.

Treez Please Inc.
$16,000 to Treez Please Inc. to help educate children and young adults about the importance of trees to the environment. Additionally, funds will be used to conduct a Fall and Spring planting.

Planned Parenthood of Northeast Ohio
$225,000 to Planned Parenthood of Northeast Ohio to renovate its existing health center on Midlothian Boulevard in Youngstown. The improvements will be phased in over a three-year period.

D & E Counseling Center
$575,000 to the D & E Counseling Center for operating the SPARK program for pre-school children living in the City of Youngstown. SPARK pairs 4 year-olds and parents with a learning mentor to improve literacy and instill a love of learning. The grant will help support the program for three years.

Community Legal Aid Services Inc.
$15,000 to Community Legal Aid Services Inc. for its "Support for Workers of Mahoning Valley Project." Community Legal Aid will use funds to help recently unemployed people with the many legal problems that are often associated with financial distress.

City of Warren - Warren Strengthenning Community
$70,000 to the City of Warren for the The Warren Strengthening Community project which will receive significant federal funding as well. The contributions from The Raymond John Wean Foundation will be used to support the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership.

Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Mahoning Valley
$15,000 to Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Mahoning Valley to help the organization develop a strategic plan. The organization will be working with other Big Brother & Big Sisters organizations and various non-profits to help develop a six-year plan for how the organization can grow and better serve the children of the Mahoning Valley.

MARCH 2010 GRANTS

Valley Counseling Services Inc.
$32,000 to Valley Counseling Services Inc. to help support a development director to be shared by Valley Counseling Services and Family Service Agency. This development director will work to promote programs, pursue funding, build relationships with other organizations and implement a strategic plan.

Mental Health and Recovery Board - Trumbull Lifelines
$30,000 to the Mental Health and Recovery Board for its Trumbull Lifelines project which offers alcohol, drug addiction and mental health services for Trumbull County. The funding from The Raymond John Wean Foundation will assist the agency to more effectively market its services, including a name change.

Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative
$500,000 to the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative to assist with general operating funds. During the 2010 year, the organization seeks to increase the capacity of block clubs, neighborhood groups, churches and other stakeholders in addressing quality of life issues in Youngstown and Warren.

The Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative's overall mission is to "reweave the fabric of communities in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties. The organization works with more than 60 churches, neighborhood organizations, inions and other grassroots groups to help bring change. "The vision of the group is to improve the quality of life in the Youngstown/Warren region through the creation and support of healthy neighborhoods," board of directors of The Raymond John Wean Foundation wrote.                                                                                  

HandsOn Volunteer Network of the Mahoning Valley
$30,000 to help HandsOn Volunteer Network provide various services to area non-profit organizations. The program, HandsOn Center for NonProfit Excellence, will be a for-profit venture that seeks to help non-profit organizations become better able to accomplish their missions.

Through the HandsOn Center for NonProfit Excellence, area non-profit organizations can access leadership training, volunteer administration programs, staff and board training and individual technical assistance. The idea for the HandsOn Center for NonProfit Excellence was developed after studying the needs of more than 300 non-profit organizations in the area.

Members of the board of The Raymond John Wean Foundation have long recognized the potential impact that volunteers can have for the overall health and wealth of the Mahoning Valley and see this project as one means of tapping into that resource. "In the Mahoning Valley, the perception of a volunteer as the little old person who is only capable of stuffing envelopes and staffing information booths, unfortunately, too often persists. Nonprofits have had a difficult time transitioning to trusting and utilizing the talents and skills of volunteers as resources of needed services," board members wrote.

Youngstown Business Incubator     
$50,000 to help the Youngstown Business Incubator to support a partnership with Youngstown State University's STEM College to help develop a center for advanced materials. With these funds, the Youngstown Business Incubator will work to identify entrepreneurial opportunities in information technology and advanced materials and manufacturing sectors. The funding will allow the Business Incubator to hire what they are calling an "innovation identifier."

The ultimate goal of the project is to attract, retain and create high value companies that create quality employment opportunities for Mahoning Valley residents.

Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries
$17,500 to help Goodwill expand its retail operations to offer more job training and employment opportunities for clients it serves. The expansion includes the creation of three additional retail stores and participation in an online auction site. The first new store is located in the Austintown Plaza.

Members of the board of directors of The Raymond John Wean Foundation endorsed the project and wrote, "Youngstown Goodwill is a mature organization in the Mahoning Valley with sophisticated management and clear direction in its mission."

DECEMBER 2009 GRANTS

Beatitude House Green Clean
$30,000 to help Beatitude House form Beatitude House Green Clean, a potentially worker-owned and -operated cooperative which will clean homes and provide six low-income women with immediate part-time work. The organization has plans to increase its staff to 12 employees within one year.   In this cooperative model, the business is controlled by the employees rather than outside shareholders. As a member of the cooperative, Beatitude House retains control of the mission and purpose of the program. The women are in the process of purchasing stock in the innovative cooperative.

Children’s Museum of the Valley, dba Children’s Center for Science & Technology
$30,000 to help Children’s Museum of the Valley, dba Children’s Center for Science & Technology, continue its 2009 Operating Campaign. This organization plays a key role for inner-city children who have limited opportunities for educational offerings outside of the classroom.

Flying High, Inc.
$12,000 to help Flying High, Inc., to continue to be involved in organizing young people to take ownership and assume leadership roles to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods.

North Side Citizens’ Coalition for Community Development
$20,000 to help North Side Citizens’ Coalition for Community Development to oversee the completion of the Disposition Plan throughout 2010, which will focus on the sale of 10 houses and sale, transfer or foreclosure of 11 lots and monitor progress of properties with interested parties.

Planned Parenthood of Northeast Ohio
$25,000 to help Planned Parenthood of Northeast Ohio continue to provide comprehensive reproductive and complementary health care services in settings which preserve and protect the essential privacy and rights of each individual, advocate public policies which guarantee these rights and ensure access to such services, and provide educational programs which enhance understanding of individual and societal implications of human sexuality.

Youngstown City Schools Foundation & Alumni Association, Inc.
$25,000 to help Youngstown City Schools Foundation & Alumni Association, Inc., to unite alumni, staff, friends and supporters of the Youngstown City School District. This program is intended to foster a spirit of loyalty among alumni, students and friends of the Youngstown City School District, increase communication between alumni and the school district, provide programs and activities of interest to alumni, and provide additional educational support services to the students of the Youngstown City School District.

Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation
$400,000 to help Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation to continue to transform neighborhoods into places where people invest time, money and energy. into their homes. The MVOC has a strong track-record of engaging residents to work for common goals.

Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership
$100,000 to help Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership to develop a community development effort in Warren and to hire a staff person.

Eastern Ohio P-16 Partnership for Education
$50,000 to help the Eastern Ohio P-16 Partnership for Education operate in 2010 and build on their initial progress.   The Eastern Ohio P-16 Partnership for Education is a comprehensive and multi-county approach to improving educational outcomes and consequently enhancing the economy, civic capacity, and the quality of life in the area for all students.

Global Green
$25,000 to help Global Green to establish a local presence and work toward making Youngstown more environmentally sustainable.  Global Green proposes the creation of a model sustainable city to highlight the transformational role of cities in mitigating climate change and adapting to the impending impacts triggered by it.   As the effects of climate change become increasingly evident, the need to quickly move from conceptualizing climate-friendly, sustainable cities to creating them is immense.