Our Community Grant Fund: New Partners and Programs
The vision of a thriving community guides Heart of West Michigan United Way. We do this by investing in long-term solutions to help individuals and communities realize their potential.
When you give to Heart of West Michigan United Way, your gift supports the Community Grant Fund, powering 48 life-changing programs at 40 local agencies. All gifts to the Community Grant Fund (i.e., undesignated gifts) stay here in Kent County and work toward reducing poverty and social inequities through affordable housing, food security, violence prevention, workforce development, and education.
All gifts to our Community Grant Fund help support 48 programs at 40 partner agencies here in Kent County.
By creating a diverse mix of program types and target populations, the Community Grant Fund seeks solutions to critical needs. We provide grant funding to nonprofits in six issue areas of housing, family crisis, food security, financial security, mental/behavioral health, and youth education. To make sure United Way invests funds in the most effective and efficient way possible, community volunteers vet and select grant proposals by considering program quality, administration, and financial sustainability.
On July 1, 2020, we entered a new three-year grant cycle, and welcomed the agencies and programs listed below.
NEW AGENCIES
NEW PROGRAMS
Empower Program, Women’s Resource Center
Customized Workplace English, Literacy Center of West Michigan
Certified Nurse Aide Training Program, Goodwill Industries of Greater Grand Rapids, Inc.
Workforce Development Services for Persons with Disabilities, Disability Advocates of Kent County
Food Security, North Kent Connect
Culture of Health, SECOM Resource Center
The Other Way Market Co-Op, The Other Way Ministries
Eat Healthy, Live Healthy (EHLH), United Church Outreach Ministry (UCOM)
Seeking Safety for Young African American Males Impacted by Violence, Family Outreach Center
Refugee Family Engagement: Crisis Prevention & Intervention Support, The Refugee Education Center
To College, Through College: T2C Studio: Grand Rapids Center for College Success, Our Community’s Children
Youth Development Program, Urban League of West Michigan
Full STEAM Ahead, West Michigan Center for Arts & Technology
Thank you to all the agencies that partner with us year after year to do the work that no one can do alone. We look forward to forming new collaborations, funding quality programs, and helping even more people thrive through our Community Grant Fund.