WARREN, OHIO—DECEMBER 20, 2023—The board of directors of The Raymond John Wean Foundation earlier this month approved a total of more than $1.5 million to seven nonprofits operating in the Mahoning Valley. The Community Investment Grants support the Foundation’s priorities of educational opportunity, community revitalization and public and civic sector leadership.
The board approved an additional $300,000 to support the equitable compensation of nonprofit talent across the seven grantees. Equitable nonprofit compensation has become an increasing focus of the Wean Foundation over the last few years.
“We have come to the conclusion that a critical element of nonprofit success that is often missing is fair pay,” said Wean Foundation President Jennifer Roller. “What we also know is the burden of low pay in the nonprofit sector falls disproportionately on women and minorities. We don’t just want nonprofits and their workers to survive; we want them to thrive.”
Grants supporting Educational Opportunity include:
- Kent State University-Trumbull, to build up its Building Black Leaders program, which provides Black, biracial and multiracial students with personal, professional and academic support. The two-year grant will enable a study away experience for students, emergency funding, and the ability to hire a student to support the program.
- Youngstown City School District, Rayen Early College High School, for programmatic support of its Summer Bridge program for one year. The Summer Bridge program supports incoming freshmen in their academic readiness and social-emotional well-being as they transition to high school.
Grants supporting Community Revitalization include:
- Boston Avenue Neighborhood Association (BANA), which is focused on creating safe and beautiful spaces in this South Side of Youngstown neighborhood, for general operating support over two years, including support for a fellow dedicated to building capacity in marketing, fundraising and outreach.
- Economic Action Group, which provides economic development and entrepreneurial assistance programming within Youngstown and Warren, for general operating support over two years.
- Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership,which works to empower residents and promote sustainable community development in Warren,for general operating support, local organizing and the Strategic Partners Fellowship over one year.
- Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., which focuses on improving the quality of life in Youngstown, for general operating support, organizing and the Strategic Partners fellowship over one year.
Grants supporting Public and Civic Sector Leadership include:
- Philanthropy Ohio, a statewide membership community of philanthropic organizations, to support advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and furthering its membership within the philanthropic sector of the Mahoning Valley over one year.
“These organizations believe in our community and that we can collaborate to work toward solutions,” said Fallon Peterson, senior director of programs and operations at the Wean Foundation. “Each exhibits a commitment to bringing lasting change at the systems level to ensure a more equitable, vibrant Mahoning Valley. We are honored to partner with them.”
The Wean Foundation’s Community Investment Grants seek to fund the development and implementation of viable solutions that address long-held assumptions, redistribute decision-making power and challenge the lack of equitable access to resources, knowledge and opportunity.
“Our Building Black Leaders Program aims to empower and enrich Black college students to become leaders in the classroom, community and in the lives of others,” said Tiffany Tyree, Assistant Director of the program. “The grant and support from the Wean Foundation will enable us to push forward with the program mission and carry out what is needed to assist our Black students in defining and achieving their own ideas of academic, personal and professional success.”
The Wean Foundation is on course to distribute more than $3 million in grants in 2023, including more than $80,000 of Resident Engagement Grants to support community-building in Warren and Youngstown neighborhoods. For more information about the Wean Foundation’s grant opportunities, visit https://www.weanfoundation.org/apply-for-grants/.
About The Wean Foundation
Established in 1949, the Wean Foundation is dedicated to community building in the under-resourced communities of Warren and Youngstown in Ohio’s Mahoning Valley. The Wean Foundation leverages a dynamic combination of grantmaking, capacity building and convening and partnerships to provoke new thinking, strengthen communities and disrupt the status quo to achieve its vision: empowered residents creating an equitable Mahoning Valley. Visit weanfoundation.org to learn more.
Media Contact
Sara McCarthy
330.770.8842