Youngstown Foundation Distributes $1.7M to Agencies
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- With record-breaking assets of more than $92 million and an increased spending policy for 2013, the first-quarter distributions of The Youngstown Foundation reached $1.76 million, reports its executive director, Janice E. Strasfeld.
This includes contributions of $250,000 from the Support Fund that gives participating nonprofits an opportunity to earn an extra 5% in donations of $100 or more.
Ten area organizations were awarded grants from the unrestricted fund of the foundation while 60 more received awards from restricted and donor-advised funds. The largest grant, $70l,850, was awarded through the Hine Memorial Fund for outpatient medical rehabilitation services, respite and audiology services to Easter Seals and Youngstown Hearing & Speech Center. Sharing in that grant was Operation Search and Help, a program designed to address the individual needs of families of children with diagnosed disabilities.
First-time distributions came from three new donor- advised funds: the Stephen Gyomber Memorial Fund, the Mary Bianco Whalen RN Memorial Fund and the Jeff and Kimberly Simon Family Fund.
“Through these grants it is our goal to continue to fulfill critical needs and remain actively engaged in the major issues that impact Youngstown," Strasfeld said in a prepared statement. "The awarded grants reflect the desire of The Youngstown Foundation to be innovative, inclusive and responsive to the needs of the community.”
Last year, The Youngstown Foundation experienced a 20% increase in grant requests from local nonprofit organizations, Strasfeld said. In response, the foundation raised its spending policy to a maximum of 4% of the fair market value over three years from 3.5%, which generates an additional $300,000 for grant distributions this year.
Unrestricted fund distributions are:
- Action, $15,000to create a network of resources to help formerly incarcerated individuals with successful reentry. The program will provide support on matters such as education, job training, food and clothing.
- Ballet Western Reserve, $25,000 to repair a damaged roof and replace dance floors in the Morley Center for the Arts.
- Hands On Volunteer Network of the Valley, $12,000in support of a new initiative, the Corporate Volunteer Council. The council is a local network of businesses formed to address social, economic and educational needs of the community through workplace volunteering.
- Help Hotline Crisis Center, $13,437 for renovation of the 24/7 Crisis Phone Room. Help Hotline is a comprehensive crisis intervention/suicide prevention community resource center that received more than 136,000 calls last year.
- Neighborhood Ministries, $25,000for its summer food-service program. During the summer of 2012, this program provided more than 23,000 meals to children at 19 sites in Mahoning County.
- Oh Wow! The Roger & Gloria Jones Center $25,000toward renovating a new occupational learning center.The space will provide two new classrooms that offer programming where children and families can make, play and design.
- The Henry H. Stambaugh Auditorium Association, $25,000toward renovating the ballroom, kitchen, grand entrance, front steps and exterior.
- The Youngstown Business Incubator, $35,000over five yearsto launch a new program initiative allowing it to continue its role in the region’s economic transformation.
- Youngstown Historical Center for Industry & Labor (Steel Museum), $4,255to purchase equipment needed to digitalize large-scale archival materials. The digitization will serve to preserve and protect Ohio history as well as make materials available to a far wider audience.
- Humility of Mary Health Partners, $10,000to purchase a panoramic X-ray unit for the mobile dental clinic, “Smile Station.” The clinic provides care for children who have no regular dentist while the X-ray unit will improve diagnostic capacity for children and adults with special needs unable to receive standard oral X-rays.
Hine Memorial Fund distributions:
- ACLD Learning Center, $20,000to provide tutoring scholarships for children with learning disabilities.
- YWCA, $16,937to support its summer respite program that offers parents full day care in August for children with special needs.
- ARC of NE Ohio, $7,850to provide parent education training seminars for families with children who have developmental disabilities.
- Easter Seals, Youngstown Hearing & Speech, Operation Search & Help, $701,850to provide outpatient medical rehabilitation, weekend respite services, outpatient speech pathology, audiology, “Deaf Kids” enrichment program and caseworker services intended to respond to the individual needs of children with disabilities.
- YMCA, $60,000to help fund aquatic and physical education programs for children diagnosed with disabilities as well as programs at Camp Fitch.
- Children’s Rehabilitation Center, $75,000to assist with unmet costs of providing speech, counseling services, physical and occupational therapies for children who reside in Youngstown.
- Help Hotline, $34,500in support of a central information and referral source for parents and caregivers of children diagnosed with disabilities.
- Sisters HIV/Aids Ministry, $20,000for continued support of the Just For Kids program that provides wraparound services at Casa Madre for children either infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS.
Grants from among the foundation’s other donor-advised and restricted funds come from gifts that range from $1,000 to $18,000 to more than 25 local organizations.
The Youngstown Foundation, founded in 1918, is the largest community foundation in the Mahoning Valley, the fourth-oldest in the country and ranks in the top 100 nationally.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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