Kresge’s COVID-related grant investments total an estimated $14M

The Kresge Foundation announced today a sixth round of grantmaking commitments – totaling nearly $2.5 million – to support nonprofits confronting the COVID-19 crisis. Since April, Kresge has granted approximately $14 million to organizations combatting the negative effects of the pandemic.

Kresge also made, in April, a $2 million program-related investment loan to support Detroit nonprofit access to Paycheck Protection Program loans, bringing its total commitment to COVID response to $16 million.

The following organizations were awarded nearly $1.9 million in new grant support from Kresge:

• Allied Media Projects, Inc., Detroit (fiscal sponsor) – This $100,000 Health Program grant will support the Native American Community Response Fund at the Decolonizing Wealth Project, which provides small grants to Native American-led organizations responding to the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Native American communities.
• American Indian College Fund, Denver – This $125,000 grant from the Education Program will enable the American Indian College Fund to provide emergency financial aid to Tribal College and University students nationwide who are facing basic needs insecurities exacerbated by campus closures and other COVID-19 disruptions, including access to food, housing and internet connectivity.

• The Barthwell Group, Detroit – This $57,000 grant from the Detroit Program supports the Barthwell Group in its efforts to provide technical assistance for five Kresge Detroit Program grantees that have been negatively impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic.
• Brothers Empowered To Teach Initiative, New Orleans  – This $50,000 grant of the Detroit, American Cities and Education Programs, in coordination with the Boys and Men of Color Working Group, will enable Brothers Empowered to Teach, an organization that develops Black educators, to strengthen its virtual capacity during the pandemic, thereby supporting its alternative certification and alternative credential programs.
• CCF Community Initiatives Fund, Los Angeles – This $50,000 Education Fund grant will go toward a pooled fund, stewarded by the California Community Foundation, that seeks to advance equitable postsecondary success in Los Angeles. The fund seeks to support higher education innovations required to respond to new COVID-19 realities.
• Center for Cultural Innovation, Los Angeles – This $300,000 grant from the Arts & Culture Program, supports AmbitioUS, an initiative of the Center for Cultural Innovation that invests in artists and cultural communities’ financial capacity to access, own and circulate resources in support of their culture and creativity, which is especially needed in the COVID era.
• Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program, Detroit – This $10,000 grant from the Detroit Program provides project support to Detroit’s Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program to retrofit parts of its youth facility to meet COVID-19 health and safety requirements.
• Education Strategy Group, Chevy Chase, Ohio – This $125,000 Education Program grant will enable Education Strategy Group, a national consulting firm focused on improving the capacity and performance of the U.S. education system, to advance comprehensive and practical approaches for institutions to improve adult learner outcomes, especially former students who have already earned some college credits but have not completed their degree or credential and may return to postsecondary education following job disruptions caused by COVID-19.
• Efforts of Grace, Inc., New Orleans – This $150,000 grant from the Arts & Culture Program provides project support to Ashé Cultural Arts Center, an initiative that is part of Efforts of Grace, to launch Community Spread, a cross-sector, grassroots collaborative to expand the delivery of culture and health-infused community revitalization in the Claiborne Corridor in New Orleans, which is vitally needed during the pandemic.
• Families in Schools, Los Angeles – This $125,000 Education Program grant will enable Families in School to create an online version of its Transition to College curriculum, which supports first-generation college students and students from low-income households and their families as they transition from high school to college especially during the pandemic. The curriculum covers important topics for parents such as selecting a college, paying for college and supporting college completion.
• First Nations Development Institute, Longmont, CO – This $100,000 Health Program grant will support First Nations Development Institute’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund, which provides grants to ensure that Native American-led nonprofits and tribal programs have resources to coordinate access to services, supplies and other local service providers and state agencies
• InsideTrack, Portland – This $135,000 grant from the Education Program will enable InsideTrack, a nonprofit focused on coaching college students, to deepen its partnership with the California State Aid Commission and colleges to re-enroll thousands former students who previously earned college credits but did not complete a degree or credential. Kresge’s support will help expand an existing program to serve 3,500 additional former students, build relationships with California institutions to alleviate the challenges that originally forced the students to pause their studies and continue an independent evaluation.
• National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Washington, D.C. – This $75,000 project grant from the Arts & Culture Program supports the National Community Reinvestment Coalition in conducting research on the impacts of COVID-19 and response efforts on culturally-specific businesses, particularly those led by entrepreneurs of color, and implications this has to the Creative Placemaking field.
• National Council of Urban Indian Health, Washington, D.C. – This $100,000 grant from the Health Program will increase staff capacity of the National Council of Urban Indian Health and its network of 40 agencies that seek to improve the health of Native Americans and Alaskan Natives (AI/AN) living in urban communities. NCUIH will continue its efforts to work with federal agencies to create policies and advocate for funding practices that are responsive to the unique needs and disparities that have surfaced for the AI/AN population during the COVID- 19 pandemic.
• NDN Collective, Inc., Rapid City, SD – This $100,000 grant from the Health Program will support the COVID-19 Response Project at the NDN Collective, which provides resources to urban and rural Native American communities struggling with the health, social and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Neighborhood Development Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota – This $40,000 grant from the American Cities Program supports the Neighborhood Development Center’s Build from Within Alliance, a national network of organizations serving minority entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs with low-incomes in cities nationwide. Kresge’s funding will support virtual trainings and technical assistance to help minority entrepreneurs re-open their business post COVID-19 and fill vacant spaces along commercial corridors.
• Smart Growth America, Washington, D.C. – This $125,000 Arts & Culture Program project grant supports Smart Growth America’s launch of an equitable Creative Placemaking collaborative for three cities, selected through competitive call, to design transportation projects that equitably respond to COVID-19 community impact.
• University of Orange, Orange, N.J. – This $120,000 Arts & Culture Program grant provides operating support to the University of Orange, a community-based urbanism organization, to build residents’ collective capacity to cultivate a just and equitable city. Through this grant, the University of Orange will continue expanding the use of its Collective Recovery program to mobilize organizations and residents to promote the restoration of social bonds and to support anti-racist practices during and post-pandemic.

In keeping with an earlier commitment to offer current Kresge grantees greater flexibility and resources, the Foundation is also providing supplemental financial support in new grant amendments – totaling  $570,000 –  to help organizations meet challenges wrought by the pandemic. These grant amendments include:

• Center for Urban Pedagogy, New York – This $60,000 Arts & Culture Program grant amendment and extension will enable the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) to move and expand its existing programs centered on racial justice and equity to a series of virtual workshops. The pandemic and the surge of organizing energy for racial justice has called CUP to amplify its offerings on bias and racial justice within the community-engaged design field.
• Develop Detroit, Detroit – This $75,000 grant amendment from the Detroit Program is to provide additional operational resources to provide additional operational resources to address the impact of Covid-19-related construction slowdowns.
• Education Commission of the States, Denver – This $25,000 grant amendment from the Education Program will enable the Education Commission of the States to assist states with understanding how to enhance and apply policies and practices that help students transition successfully from high school into postsecondary education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The resulting series of papers will outline evidence-based policy options for state leaders to construct strong transition pathways for students.
• Grantmakers in the Arts, Bronx, NY – This $45,000 grant amendment from the Arts & Culture Program provides additional resources so that Grantmakers in the Arts can engage a futurist to guide the field’s planning and programming related to alternative funding models and new economies – and how these ideas could serve as tools for members during and beyond COVID-19.
• Journi, Detroit – This $15,000 grant amendment from the Detroit Program supports community engagement and COVID-related considerations to inform the program and facility design for its House of Technology in the Fitzgerald neighborhood.
• Juxtaposition Arts, Minneapolis – This $200,000 Arts & Culture Program grant amendment enable Juxtaposition Arts to enhance their revenue generation potential; support a series of professional development opportunities and wellness programming for its staff; and purchase technology to expand the delivery of their education, employment programming and training that serve youth, artists, and community.
• Live6 Alliance, Detroit – This $10,000 grant amendment from the Detroit Program will support retrofitting Art on the Avenue – a celebration of Detroit art and Black-owned businesses on Livernois Avenue from 6 Mile to 8 Mile as part of the Detroit Month of Design – to meet necessary health and safety requirements.
• Milwaukee Water Commons, Milwaukee – This $15,000 grant amendment from the Environment Program will support this organization’s ongoing work cultivating water leadership within communities as well as will assist with reimagining their community engagement work under the conditions of the COVID-19 crisis and the death of George Floyd to provide assistance and expertise on anti-racism and equity approaches.
• National Wildlife Federation, Reston, VA – This $25,000 grant amendment from the Environment Program will support the National Wildlife Federation’s Clean Water for All Campaign. Kresge’s support works to strengthen, diversify, and expand the participation and influence of environmental and social justice groups within the campaign.
• The Rebuild Foundation, Chicago – This $100,000 Arts & Culture Program grant amendment will enable the Rebuild Foundation to retain staff, continue program virtually and support local artists’ services.

For more about Kresge’s response to the COVID pandemic and resources for grantee partners, please visit our COVID-19 Response page.