Community Foundation Grants $185,000 to Local Nonprofits

Dec. 15, 2013

Media Resource: Sara Bonney (515) 447-4201

Community Foundation Leadership Grant Recipients Announced

More than $180,000 given to benefit local nonprofits

Des Moines, IA (December 13, 2013): Through strategic Leadership Grants the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines plays a key role in providing significant funding leadership to projects that strengthen Greater Des Moines by proactively responding to community trends and opportunities. Leadership Grants are funded through donations to the Better Together Fund. Donors to the Better Together Fund give to support community needs now and into the future as identified through the Community Foundations grantmaking process facilitated by the organizations expert staff, Grantmaking Committee and board of directors. The Community Foundation announces support of the following organizations with Leadership Grants:

Iowa Community Capital

A grant of $60,000 has been made available for the funding of a Solidarity Microfinance program. The goals of the program are to provide an opportunity for women with household incomes of less than 50% of the MSA median household income to (1) receive financial literacy training, (2) develop entrepreneurial problem-solving skills, (3) learn management discipline and best practices, (4) develop successful marketing efforts for their enterprises, and (5) repay Solidarity microloans to improve their personal credit scores and access to capital for their enterprise.

Contact: Dr. Mark Edelman, Board Chair, marke1871@gmail.com , 515-298-1871

Child & Family Policy Center

A $50,000 grant was made available to the Child & Family Policy Center to support the expansion of the Urban Core Community Development Coordinators. The work of these coordinators focuses on engaging and connecting residents, as well as, leaders and neighborhood organizations. Expansion of the current program through this grant will extend services provided to all Urban Core neighborhoods and will strengthen the connections between this ground-up activity and the overall Capital Crossroads vision to address the needs of residents.

Contact: Charles Bruner, Executive Director, cbruner@cfpciowa.org , 515-280-9027

Youth Emergency Services & Shelter of Iowa

The Emergency Shelter Expansion campaign was granted $50,000 to support the expansion of its emergency shelter and crisis intervention services. Currently operating at agency service capacity, expansion of this facility will provide the infrastructure necessary to care for the unique needs of children who may be struggling with trauma, mental health issues, and crisis situations.

Contact: Stephen Quirk, Executive Director, quirks@yessiowa.org , 515-243-7825

Des Moines Area Religious Council

A $25,000 Leadership Grant to the 1435 Mulberry Initiative Capital Campaign supports the purchase and renovation of the former Central Iowa Shelter & Services site in Des Moines for the housing of both DMARC administrative offices and the expansion of the Food Network distribution operation. The expansion will result in significant operational cost savings for the organization.

Contact: Rev. Sarai Schnucker Rice, Executive Director, sarai@dmreligious.org , 515-277-6969

About Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines
The Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines improves quality of life for all by promoting charitable giving, connecting donors with causes they care about and providing leadership on important community issues.we're simply better together.