WARREN, OHIO—FEBRUARY 15, 2024—The Raymond John Wean Foundation is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2024. To mark the milestone, the Wean Foundation is reinforcing its focus on building community and advancing equity in the Mahoning Valley, the place it has called home since 1949.
“The coming year is an opportunity for the Wean Foundation to illuminate what we have learned, celebrate the valuable partnerships we have developed, and innovate for the future, forging fresh ideas and ways of working,” said Wean Foundation President Jennifer Roller.
Throughout the year, the Wean Foundation will host various events, including a one-day nonprofit Summit on Tuesday, September 10, at The Grand Resort in Warren, featuring learning sessions, guest speakers and more. Details will be announced soon. Additionally, the Wean Foundation expects to share historical, informative and thought-provoking content throughout the year on its website and social media channels, Facebook and LinkedIn.
The Wean Foundation has a long history of supporting the Mahoning Valley. Over the last several years, the Foundation has pushed into new frontiers, reorienting its work to put community building and racial equity at the center of everything it does.
In 2019, the Wean Foundation adopted a five-year strategic direction that made race equity and inclusion its North Star and the bar by which it measures success. Since then, the Wean Foundation has taken steps to ensure its work advances its vision of empowered residents creating a more equitable Mahoning Valley. Among these steps, the Wean Foundation committed to funding the development and implementation of viable solutions led by organizations whose leadership reflects the racial demographics of the communities they serve.
To better meet this commitment, the Wean Foundation in 2022 began disaggregating its Community Investment grantmaking data by race, noting the number of grantees who have both a staff and board composition of more than 50% who identify as Black, Hispanic or Latinx, as well as the total dollar amount awarded to those organizations. In 2023, the Wean Foundation awarded $905,400 to five Black, Hispanic or Latinx-led organizations, a 64% year-over-year increase in total dollars. Learn more by downloading the Wean Foundation’s 2023 Impact Report here.
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
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