Weinberg Foundation Community Breakfast Briefing
Thank you to all who participated!
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation hosted its first Community Breakfast Briefing last month. During the event, Weinberg Foundation leaders announced $200 million will be distributed in grants over the next two years ($100 million each year), including $21 million of new grant funds during the same period. Last year, the Weinberg Foundation distributed more than $106 million to more than 600 nonprofits. In the State of Maryland alone, 310 nonprofits received $39.4 million dollars in grants from the Weinberg Foundation.
More than 1,500 community, civic, and business leaders participated in both the breakfast briefing and the subsequent series of webinar conference calls. The agenda included an overview of the Weinberg Foundation’s grant application and review processes as well as changes to current grant guidelines.
Fall 2009-Winter 2010 Grant Cycle
A new grant cycle was announced at the Community Breakfast Briefing and during the webinar conference calls last month.
The Weinberg Foundation will be accepting Letters of Inquiry, the first step in the grant application process, during the month of August. For detailed grant cycle information, please visit the Foundation’s website, www.hjweinbergfoundation.org
3rd Annual Employee Giving Program
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation hosted its 3rd annual Employee Giving Program on July 21, 2009, providing all Foundation employees an opportunity to participate in the grantmaking process.
Launched in 2007, the program allows each employee to provide $10,000 to support a cause of his or her choice within the mission and grant guidelines of the Foundation. During a luncheon that included 100 guests, all of the Weinberg Foundation employees spoke briefly about their motivation to award such a grant to their chosen nonprofit, each nonprofit spoke about the work of their organization and was presented with a check.
The Employee Giving Program permits the Foundation’s employees an opportunity to learn more about Maryland nonprofits as well as the grantmaking process. Beyond the obvious benefit of funding, recipients also enjoy the annual luncheon, which highlights the great work of local nonprofits and provides an opportunity to network within and across different fields of service.
Recipients of the awards spanned all of the program areas of the Foundation, featuring organizations helping children and youth, basic needs, disabilities, older adults, workforce development, homelessness, food security, family safety, and education.
2009 Employee Giving Grant recipients included:
You are cordially invited to the
Weinberg Foundation’s
Annual Community Gathering
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
4:00-6:00 PM
Beth Tfiloh Congregation
3300 Old Court Road, Baltimore
Please let us know if you plan to attend by calling 410-654-8500, ext. 210 or e-mail jjordan@hjweinberg.org.
Weinberg Grantee Visited by President Barack Obama
A Weinberg Foundation grantee, Year Up, was recently honored with a visit by President Barack Obama. Year Up is a one-year, intensive training program that provides urban young adults who are 18 to 24 years-old with a unique combination of technical and professional skills, college credits, an educational stipend, and corporate apprenticeship. President Obama toured the site and spoke with students about their challenges and how Year Up has been able to help its clients find a pathway to a livable wage career. Year Up was founded in 2000 and is currently in six cities, with a satellite program expected to open in Baltimore in 2010.
The Weinberg Foundation has supported Year Up’s work in Boston, Washington, DC, Providence, and New York since 2003 with a total of nearly $1.5 million in commitments to programming in these cities. The Weinberg Foundation also provided funding for the program launch in Baltimore.
Photo by Year Up Inc.
Recent Weinberg Foundation Grants
Northern Home for Children: Dedication of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Residence Hall
Northern Home for Children celebrated the dedication of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Residence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 11, 2009. The $300,000 capital grant from the Weinberg Foundation supported the renovation of an eight-unit supervised housing facility designed for young mothers between the ages of 18 - 21 with their children. These young adults are aging out of foster care placements and residential facilities and would be homeless if facilities like this one did not exist. Weinberg Hall will provide a safe, comfortable, and home-like atmosphere, where residents will learn the independent living skills needed to be productive adults in society and good parents to the next generation. The social, emotional, and academic needs of the mothers and children will be met and nurtured. www.northernhome.org
Chesapeake Habitat for Humanity (Baltimore, MD)
Chesapeake Habitat for Humanity (CHFH) received a capital grant of $250,000 for its 9.09.09 Project. CHFH will construct nine new, energy efficient row homes, on an abandoned block of East Fayette Street in Baltimore, over the course of nine working days in September 2009. Using prefabricated modules, CHFH will work with volunteers to complete the homes that will be purchased by low-income homeowners. In the future, this transformative project may be replicated in other parts of Baltimore City. www.chesapeakehfh.org
National Council on Aging
The Weinberg Foundation awarded a $1,000,000 grant to the National Council on Aging (NCOA) for its innovative two-part program helping low-income older adults achieve economic security. The first part of the program is the development and testing of a new iteration of the well regarded Benefits Checkup program which screens older adults for benefits eligibility. In many locations, Benefits Checkup screens individuals for as many as 60 benefits programs.
The second part of the program, the Economic Security Initiative (ESI), is intended to help low-income older adults address their economic needs by assisting them to gain access to other services, including: employment training and job placement; foreclosure assistance; debt, health insurance, and reverse mortgage counseling; home repair; and renters assistance. The ESI program will be implemented in ten sites across the United States including Baltimore. www.ncoa.org
Maryland Small Grants Program (MSGP) Recent Grant Awards
In response to current economic challenges, the Trustees of the Weinberg Foundation made a decision to focus the Foundation’s Maryland Small Grants Program on basic needs. The MSGP will support programs that address food security, homeless services, health, family safety, economic assistance, and workforce development. Recent grants include:
TurnAround was awarded a $25,000 grant to support services to victims of domestic violence. Programs include individual and group counseling, victim advocates support in emergency rooms, emergency shelter, transitional housing, and community education and training. www.turnaroundinc.org
Red Wiggler Foundation received a $70,000 award over two years to provide operating support for the Red Wiggler Community Farm which creates meaningful jobs for adults with developmental disabilities. The organization grows and sells high quality organic produce, provides service opportunities for youth to learn about small scale farming, and increases the food supply for a local food bank and group homes. www.redwiggler.org
Rebuilding Together Baltimore was awarded a two-year grant of $40,000 to support renovation projects for 70 low-income homeowners in the Park Heights neighborhood in Baltimore City and the Turner Station neighborhood in Baltimore County. www.rebuildingtogetherbaltimore.org
Community Coalition for Affordable Housing received a $30,000 award over two years to support affordable housing programs for disadvantaged residents of Cecil County with low-income and chronic mental illness.
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