Callahan Foundation Awards $145,000 to 18 Cleveland Nonprofits

Twice each year, the Callahan Foundation awards Northeast Ohio nonprofits who embody the foundation’s mission in demonstrating superior leadership and creating value for those in need, through programs in higher education, the arts and social services.

The Callahan Foundation is pleased to announce it has awarded $145,000 to 18 nonprofits in its Fall 2019 grant cycle:

City Year Cleveland: City Year is an education-focused, service-based organization that partners with public schools in high-poverty communities to help keep students in school and on track to graduate. City Year Cleveland was awarded $5,000 towards their AmeriCorps program, which pairs young adult members with in-need students to help build the social-emotional and academic skills students need to achieve their goals. Seventy-six City Year Cleveland AmeriCorps members will serve as student success coaches, providing 1:1 interventions to approximately 3,200 students in need.

Cleveland Council on World Affairs: The Cleveland Council on World Affairs (CCWA) aims to inspire engagement in international affairs and world cultures through education, citizen diplomacy and public dialogue. CCWA was awarded $5,000 to create additional training resources to support teachers and students engaged in CCWA’s Model United Nations program, which has been running since 1945. The program brings world affairs alive through trainings, workshops and conferences for over 1,800 participants from more than 56 Northeast Ohio schools each year.

Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM): The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) was awarded $5,000 towards their Annual Fund, enabling the yearly operation of the school, its programs, and its scholarships. Funding will help support scholarships and fellowships that lower the financial burden for the 15% of students who come from underrepresented ethnic groups. Through fellowships dedicated to diversity, CIM aims to increase access to high quality music instruction and create a more diverse pipeline of musicians who can perform at the highest level of artistry. 

Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF): As annual presenting sponsor, the Callahan Foundation awarded CIFF $30,000 towards the Roxanne T. Mueller (RTM) Audience Choice Award for Best Film, IFF’s most prestigious and internationally acclaimed honor recognizing impactful filmmakers. Funding allows CIFF to not only present the award, but cover the costs of bringing back the year’s winner for a supplemental screening post-festival, further engaging audiences and propagating interest in the festival.

Cleveland Print Room: The Cleveland Print Room is a nonprofit community darkroom, education center, workspace, and photographic gallery. Their target population is underserved students in Cleveland who are denied access to opportunities to study photography due to lack of financial resources, parental guidance, and access to facilities and art classes. This fall, the organization was awarded $7,500 for operating costs, which would allow CPR to further build organizational capacity and invest in a teaching artist coordinator dedicated to community arts.

Cleveland School of the Arts: The Cleveland School of the Arts (CSA) creates an environment that empowers children with the opportunity to achieve excellence through arts education. CSA serves over 450 high school students, their families, and diverse audiences at dozens of CSA shows. CSA was awarded $2,500 for general operating support, helping fund additional efforts to create an all-school project, “We Are One,” in the current school year. 

College Now: As Ohio’s largest and the nation’s first college access organization, College Now Greater Cleveland helped establish the “college access” movement and field of service. College Now serves 30,000 socioeconomically diverse students and adults yearly through programs and counseling on postsecondary educational attainment. The organization was awarded $5,000 for general operations, allowing them to continue to lead in the field of college access across Ohio and the region.

Case Western Reserve University’s (CWRU) National Youth Sports Program (NYSP): CWRU’s NYSP is a summer sports camp which provides a structured environment with established expectations of positive behavior and mutual respect for socioeconomically disadvantaged youth. In the past three years, NYSP has been able to provide an enriching five-week camp to 500 socioeconomically disadvantaged Greater Cleveland youth. CWRU’s NYSP was awarded $5,000 for their 2020 program.

CWRU Research ShowCASE: Case Western Reserve University’s celebrated, daylong research presentation fair, Research ShowCASE, is the university’s second largest annual event. The fair, which showcases cutting-edge research done across the university and garners over 1,500 attendees, was awarded a $25,000 sponsorship. Funding will help bring a keynote speaker to campus to share a meaningful message with researchers and scholars. This year’s event will be held Friday, April 17, 2020 at CWRU’S Veale Convocation Center.

Dress for Success Cleveland: Dress for Success empowers women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire and development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. Since 2011, Dress for Success Cleveland has maintained a 52% or greater placement rate of women getting employed for the first time and/or re-entering the workforce. Dress for Success Cleveland was awarded $2,500 towards their workforce readiness programming, allowing four cohorts (of 20 women each) to train and graduate from the established and effective 10-week program. 

FIRST Robotics: FIRST is a competitive-based education program where students design, build, program and compete as a team using robots to solve new challenges every year. The program was awarded $10,000 for their Buckeye Regional High School Robotics Competition, a landmark for both Northeast Ohio and all other FIRST Regionals, taking place this March 26-28, 2020. 

LifeAct: LifeAct is devoted to preventing adolescent suicide in Northeast Ohio through programming that uses screening and educational intervention to identify at-risk youth and connect them to professional mental health services. The organization was awarded $5,000 for their evidence-based middle and high school suicide prevention classroom programs for the current school year.

Northeast Ohio Coalition for Homeless (NEOCH): NEOCH seeks to break the cycle of homelessness in Northeast Ohio by organizing and empowering homeless and at-risk men, women, and children through public education, advocacy, and the creation of nurturing environments. The organization was awarded $5,000 to aid in hiring a full-time street outreach worker, expanding critical street outreach services that serve individuals and families in need of stability and transition to permanent housing.

Recovery Resources: Recovery Resources helps people triumph over mental illness, alcoholism, drug and other addictions. The organization provides outpatient treatment and recovery services, along with running a well-established training institute and providing behavioral health prevention services for youth and adults. Recovery Resources was awarded $5,000 to provide mental health first aid training to police, fire, and EMS workers throughout Cuyahoga County. The training helps participants identify, understand, and respond to signs of addictions and mental illnesses within the community.

Towards Employment: Towards Employment empowers individuals to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency through employment. The organization was awarded $5,000 to support their Career Pathways program for people with barriers to employment, providing 535 individuals an opportunity to a career pathway that includes job readiness training, technical training, and/or work experience.

UCI Transportation Study: University Circle Inc. (UCI) has a mission to build a community experience that connects all people with Cleveland’s center of culture, healing, and learning. UCI was awarded $10,000 to improve access to and mobility in University Circle through their “Park Once” upgrades in Uptown. Park Once aims to connect people who drive with a non-driving option for reaching their second destination. 

Youth Opportunities Unlimited: Youth Opportunities Unlimited helps teens and young adults succeed by providing educational and workforce opportunities, skills development, and access to career pathways. Their target population is youth that live in families near, at, or below poverty level, including Opportunity Youth – teens and young adults who are neither in school nor working, of which there are 22,000 in Cuyahoga County alone. Y.O.U. was awarded $5,000 for their school-based workforce programs in the current academic year.

YWCA: YWCA’s Nurturing Independence & Aspirations (NIA) supportive services provide the stability and support that young people in crisis need to build self-sufficiency and ultimately transition back into the community as thriving and engaged young adults. Many of these young adults live at YWCA’s Independence Place, for those who have aged out of foster care or have spent teen years in foster care—the group that makes up the majority of homeless youth. YWCA was awarded $10,000 to support 12 months of case management for two tenants at Independence Place. 

About The Callahan Foundation

The Callahan Foundation is a family foundation based in Cleveland, Ohio, that provides support for Northeast Ohio nonprofits to add value to the entire region. Started in 1968 by Francis Joseph “Joe” Callahan and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Callahan, the Callahan Foundation is primarily focused on art and higher education grants, as well as the funding of numerous social service endeavors. Since its founding, the foundation has awarded more than $15 million in grants to nonprofit organizations throughout the area that demonstrate superior entrepreneurial leadership and a track record of value creation.