Recent Grants
june 2010 GRANTS
Warren City Schools Foundation
$33,000 to the Warren
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.
Through the HandsOn Center fo
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.
September 2009 Press Release
June 2009 Press Release
March 2009 Press Release
Recent Grants