The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland (SOCF Cleveland) Board of Directors recently approved grants totaling $874,500 for the fourth quarter of 2023, which brings the year-to-date total to more than $2 million in grants awarded. Grants support the foundation’s mission to increase the community’s ability to improve the lives of people living in poverty, with special attention to families, women and children. Investments advance strategic goals to end homelessness, reduce health and educational disparities in Cleveland’s Central Neighborhood, and sustain the ministries of Catholic sisters.
The latest round of grants include:
Sustainable, Resident-Led Local Food System
SOCF Cleveland is investing $225,000 in
Environmental Health Watch (EHW) as match funding to a three-year grant from the BUILDHealth Challenge to support a sustainable, resident-led local food system in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood and surrounding community. EHW, in collaboration with many community partners, was awarded funding from BUILDHealth to support efforts to create a tangible and economically viable food system that includes multiple initiatives, including a food co-op that is built, owned, operated and managed by local residents; a community garden network; a health food café that offers nutritious prepared food; a food jobs pipeline that connects to food-related training and employment opportunities, and more.
Additional grants to support food equity and access include: Case Western Reserve University ($30,000) for the
Nourishing Neighborhoods, Empowering Communities Study (Nourishing Power) and the
Rid-All Foundation ($50,000) for general operating support.
Preventing and Ending Youth and Young Adult Homelessness
To help achieve the vision that every young person in Cuyahoga County has a safe place to call home, SOCF is investing $140,000 in the
A Place 4 Me Collaborative. A Place 4 Me works to end homelessness through three areas of work: direct services, authentic youth engagement and systems change – the coordination of efforts to create a safety net for young people. A Place 4 Me works directly with young people experiencing housing crisis to provide navigation support and financial resources to prevent homelessness or to quickly resolve the crisis. In a little less than 10 years, A Place 4 Me has grown from a small, collective impact initiative with one staff member to a vibrant, diverse organization with 12 team members, including several young adults with lived expertise of homelessness who provide relevant, compassionate services to young people.
Additionally, SOCF Cleveland approved a grant of $25,000 for
Community of Hope and The Hope Program, a trauma-informed, team-mentoring program for young people leaving the foster care system.
Improving Outcomes for Individuals and Families Experiencing Homelessness
SOCF Cleveland is investing $100,000 in
Enterprise Community Partners, which has been a close collaborator with the foundation for nearly two decades. This funding will support continued convening and coordination among community partners to improve outcomes for individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Cuyahoga County. Funding will support the role Enterprise Community Partners has in leading the Housing First Initiative to end chronic homelessness through quality permanent supportive housing (PSH); opening a 50-unit supportive housing development for young people ages 18 to 24; and, promoting cross-system collaboration and strategies to increase income and stability for people experiencing homelessness, with a pilot focused on young adults.
The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland Board of Directors also approved the following grants:
Supporting the Ministries of Catholic Sisters
SOCF is investing $80,000 to support Catholic sisters and their ministries. These grants include:
- Centering Space ($20,000) – funding will support the sustainability of this center for spirituality and prayer in Lakewood, Ohio.
- Trustees of Boston College Catholic Religious Archives ($30,000) – made through generous funding from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, this sub-grant supports in the collection, preservation and study of institutional records and documents belonging to Catholic religious orders and congregations in the U.S. and Canada.
- Heritage and Research Center at Saint Mary’s ($20,000) – made through generous funding from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, this sub-grant supports the center’s mission to preserve and honor the rich history of women religious and their sponsored ministries.
Collaborative Relationship & Community Efforts
In the area of collaborative relationships and community efforts, SOCF Cleveland is investing $134,500. These grants include:
- Family Connections of Northeast Ohio ($50,000) – As part of the Family Partners Initiative, funding will support the SPARK (Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids) program, which provides a kindergarten readiness advantage for families with preschool-age children, as well as community partners in the Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood.
- OhioGuidestone ($37,500) – As part of the Family Partners Initiative, funding will support the Family Strengths Coaching Collaboration. Family Partners is a whole-family initiative with a goal to increase kindergarten readiness and to strengthen protective factors for 30 young families in the Central Neighborhood by integrating early learning home visiting with mental health coaching, enhanced access to family supports and resources, and group activities and connections. Resource coordination is provided by the Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood.
- Fund for Our Economic Future ($37,500) – funding will support general operations to drive equitable economic growth in Northeast Ohio.
- Saint Martin de Porres High School ($10,000) – funding will support a feasibility study for a Health Sciences High School.
- City Club of Cleveland ($15,000) – funding will support 2024 programming aligned with the mission of the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland
- Campus District Inc. ($35,000) – funding will support strategic community development initiatives underway in the district, which includes a significant portion of the Cleveland Central Neighborhood.
Good Samaritan Program
The Good Samaritan Program responds to the community’s challenge of ensuring that its residents can meet their basic needs. SOCF Cleveland is investing $40,000 through the following Good Samaritan grants:
Christmas Honorariums
Finally, in the spirit of the Christmas season, the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland Board of Directors is granting four gifts to local nonprofits who do work that is aligned with the foundation’s mission. These grants include:
About the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland
Since 1996, the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland has partnered with residents, nonprofits and community leaders to change the trajectory of poverty in Cuyahoga County. Its nearly $100 million endowment includes the first health care conversion foundation and first foundation formed by a congregation of Catholic sisters in the United States.
Through grantmaking, collaboration advocacy and more, the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland works to improve the lives of those most in need with special attention to families, women and children living in poverty. The foundation works to end homelessness in Cuyahoga County and to reduce health disparities and improve educational opportunities in Cleveland’s Central Neighborhood. As a Catholic organization, the foundation extends the values of Jesus Christ through the mission of its founders – the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine – and also works to sustain the ministries of Catholic sisters in Northeast Ohio.