Digital report shares stories, insights from nearly 100 years of investing in People + Places

Today, Kresge launches a new digital report, People + Places, Now + Then. It highlights how work Kresge supported in 2022 invested in people’s dreams and communities’ aspirations and how Kresge has done so for almost a century. Five immersive multimedia stories center on partners in Memphis, Detroit, Toledo and Atlanta. The featured partners and initiatives are:

• Resilient Eastside Initiative: Through the work of a local community organization, Eastside Community Network, and a nationally-focused nonprofit, Elevate Energy, a Detroit flood victim is now engaged in strengthening climate resiliency on the city’s eastside, where three new resilience hubs are being built. The story includes a photo essay and a video story. Kresge’s Detroit Program and Environment Program support this work.
• Prosperity Now: This story includes audio diaries from Memphis’ The Collective Blueprint and Detroit’s UpTogether cohort, both of which received assistance through Prosperity Now’s Human Services Power Brokers project. It also includes an explainer video from Cat Goughnour, director of racial wealth equity strategy at Prosperity Now. Kresge’s Human Services Program and Detroit Program support this work.
• Memphis Medical District Investment Fund: Through many short video clips, a district video tour, and a photo essay, readers will see the impact of a $30 million infusion of capital into seven Memphis neighborhoods through the eyes of residents, developers and small business owners — and the two organizations leading the effort, Pathway Lending and the Memphis Medical District Collaborative. Kresge’s Social Investment Practice, American Cities Program and Health Program support this work.
• HOPE Toledo Promise: Through audio diaries, hear the aspirations of one family pursuing their college dreams. Jerrie Conner, a mother and grandmother, never thought college was within her reach. But through this two-generation College Promise program, she’s going back to school alongside two of her daughters. Kresge’s Education Program and Human Services Program support this work.
• The Guild: Meet the community leaders and artists engaged in a development process that will allow their neighbors to build wealth, find affordable places to live, and own neighborhood assets through a community-owned real estate model. Kresge’s Arts & Culture Program and Health Program support this work.

The 2022 annual report also includes letters from Kresge leadership. In her annual letter, Board Chair Cecilia Muñoz writes about how Kresge has approached investing in People & Places, especially in 2022 when a focus remained on ensuring the swells of federal dollars for infrastructure and other programs land in place equitably.

President & CEO Rip Rapson writes in his annual letter about the tensions that punctuate philanthropy today, which Kresge must navigate in its grantmaking and social investing: Lived expertise versus technical knowledge, philanthropic power versus democratic accountability, and incremental versus rapid or discontinuous change.

In 2022, Kresge’s Board of Trustees approved 550 grants totaling $162.8 million & 13 social investment commitments totaling $38 million through program-related investments, equity investments & guarantees. Learn more about how Kresge allocated our resources in the financial report.

As the foundation’s centennial approaches in 2024, the report also examines Kresge’s history, specifically through eight Origin Stories highlighting the background and beginnings of the eight programs and practices. 

Contributors to this year’s report include Detroit-based illustrator Courtney Jentzen, audio producer Zak Rosen, video producer Mark Marx and the team at Zara Creative, and Creative Director Matthew Billingsley, Technical Director Travis Johnson and Production Director Dana Jensen at Visceral.