49 organizations supported by first round of grantmaking

The Cleveland Black Futures Fund yesterday announced $1.89 million in grants to 49 organizations in its initial round of grantmaking. The Fund has amassed more than $4.3 million since its inception in late 2020 to support the capacity of Cleveland-based nonprofit organizations that are both Black-led and Black-serving.

The overarching goal of the Cleveland Black Futures Fund is to strengthen the ecosystem of Black leaders and Black-serving organizations in Greater Cleveland by providing intentional resources to help grow organizational infrastructure and capacity. Long term, the foundation aims to deepen the field of leaders working to dismantle systemic racism and advance the community towards racial equity.

The grant recipients have a wide array of missions, ranging from civil rights advocacy to environmental concerns, to arts endeavors to youth work, from health care to literacy to community development. The grantees range from long-established entities like the Cleveland NAACP, East Mt. Zion Baptist Church, and Burten Bell Carr Development Corporation, to relatively obscure and new groups like Black Space Productions and Peel Dem Layers Back.

The complete list of grantees, which appears below, suggests both the huge number of self-help efforts underway in the black community and the immense needs. It also indicates an impressive amount of work done by the Fund in its initial outreach, and the broad scope of civic concerns resident in the black community.

Two organizations — Environmental Health Watch and the LGBTQ Community Center of Greater Cleveland — received $100,000 each, the largest grants awarded in this first round. The Jordan Community Resource Center, which is based in Willoughby and offers supportive services to women in need, received $75,000.

All other grantees received either $50,000 or $25,000. [Complete list below]

More than 220 submissions were received during the initial application period – more than 40% of which represented first-time applicants to the Cleveland Foundation. A seven-person committee comprised of community leaders and foundation representatives worked to select the recipients.

“The outstanding application response to the fund was not entirely unexpected because we knew the need is there, but now we know how great the need is in service of this work,” said Courtenay Barton, Cleveland Foundation program director for arts & culture and racial equity initiatives. “As our community continues to give generously to this fund, we will be able to support a wide array of organizations that are doing the hard work on the ground each and every day.”

It was also announced that KeyBank made a $250,000 contribution to the fund, joining initial partners Facebook, George W. Codrington Charitable Foundation, The HealthComp Foundation, Saint Luke’s Foundation and the Treu-Mart Fund.

The Cleveland Black Futures Fund was established in the aftermath of the George Floyd lynching by a police officer, launching what is believed to be the largest civil rights movement in the history of the United States. The Fund, created partially in response to that movement, was initially seeded with $2.5 million and had grown to more than $4.3 million prior to the Round I disbursements.

A second round of grantmaking will take place in the fall of this year. For more information or to donate to the Cleveland Black Futures Fund, visit ClevelandFoundation.org/Futures.

2021 Cleveland Black Futures Fund Recipients – Round 1

99 Treasures Arts & Culture ($25,000)

American Association of Clergy and Employers ($25,000)

Birthing Beautiful Communities ($50,000)

Black Lives Matter Cleveland ($25,000)

Black Lives Matter Lake County ($25,000)

Black Space Productions ($25,000)

The Block Club Community Development Corporation ($25,000)

Brandnew Community Inc. ($25,000)

Burten, Bell, Carr Development, Inc. ($50,000)

The Cleveland Observer ($25,000)

Cleveland VOTES ($50,000)

CollectivExpress Inc. ($25,000)

Community Suds Inc. ($25,000)

Cory Glenville Community Center ($25,000)

The Diaper Bank of Greater Cleveland ($25,000)

East Mount Zion Baptist Church ($25,000)

Environmental Health Watch, Inc. ($100,000)

Fab Foundation ($50,000)

Food Depot to Health ($25,000)

Gardening in the District Nonprofit Organization ($25,000)

Hands-On Health ($25,000)

Jordan Community Resource Center ($75,000)

Journey On Yonder (JOY) ($25,000)

LGBTQ Community Center of Greater Cleveland ($100,000)

Little Africa Food Cooperative ($25,000)

Men and Women of Central ($25,000)

Metropolitan Cleveland Alliance of Black School Educators ($25,000)

Minority Organ and Tissue Transplant Education Program of Cleveland, Inc. ($25,000)

Motivated and Empowered Inc. ($50,000)

Museum of Creative Human Art ($25,000)

My Brother My Sister Global Inc. ($50,000)

NAACP Cleveland Branch ($50,000)

Northeast Ohio Alliance for Hope (NOAH) ($50,000)

Peel Dem Layers Back ($25,000)

Pregnant with Possibilities Resource Center ($50,000)

Promise of Democracy Foundation ($25,000)

Recess Cleveland ($50,000)

The Rid-All Foundation ($50,000)

RollinBuckeyez Foundation ($25,000)

See You At The Top (SYATT) ($50,000)

Shooting Without Bullets ($50,000)

Somali Bantu Community Cooperation of Cleveland ($50,000)

Time for A Change Community Diaper Bank ($25,000)

Union Miles Development Corporation ($25,000)

Urban City Codes ($40,000)

A Vision of Change, Inc. ($100,000)

We Think 4 A Change ($25,000)

William E. Sanders Family Life Center Inc. ($25,000)

Writers in Residence ($50,000)

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