Leadership Akron Class Announces $40,000 in Funding for Local Non-Profits

AKRON, OHIO, May 30, 2001 - At a time when nonprofit agencies are searching for new sources of funding to support entrepreneurial projects to meet new social maladies, Leadership Akron Class 17 set out to find those agencies and activities and chose nine to fund out of 52 proposals received.

Mayor Don Plusquellic with Leadership Akron members and Leadership Akron grant recipients following May 30, 2001 news conference outside Leggett School.

"We reached out to the community and invited all nonprofits to submit proposals on how they might create programs to fulfill one or more of Imagine.Akron:2025 goals. The result was 52 excellent proposals that carried a price tag of almost $400,000. The 34 members of Class 17 evaluated each proposal and chose nine to fund with an outlay of almost $40,000," said William Lowery, Class 17 president and executive vice president at Annaco, Inc., Akron, at the Mayor's Press Conference, May 30. Agencies selected were ACCESS Inc., $3,000; Akron

Area YMCA, $4,900; Decker Family Development Center, $2,529; Family Services/Community Services for the Deaf, $2,671,Greater Akron Musical Association, $2,500; Healthy Connections Network, $4,400; Open M, $10,000; and Project LEARN, $10,000.

"The proposed programs reach out to at least six of Imagine Akron: 2025 goals, from the delivery of health care through collaborative partnerships to ensuring that resources are in place to promote lifelong learning programs that supply tools to the entire population for economic self-sufficiency," Lowery said.

Project LEARN, which will receive one of two $10,000 grants, will surge forward to offer computer-based reading programs. Leadership Akron Class 17 members saw this program as a dual-use proposal: the software program teaches basic reading skills to entry level workers and it teaches proficiency in the new communications work environment of computers to people who have no regular access to this ubiquitous workplace hardware.

OPEN M will also receive a $10,000 grant. These funds will be used to help establish a dental clinic within the new Akron facility. "The visit to OPEN M was a highlight for many members of Leadership Akron Class 17, highlighting what is possible in our community when organizations collaborate for the betterment of people," said Class 17 Vice President Amy Nichols-Swanson, Regional Director for Burges & Burges Strategists.

Other programs that will receive funding from the Leadership Akron Class 17 philanthropy project are: Decker Family Development Center, to establish a 'Pre-employment Studio'; Akron Area YMCA, to send 30 youth to Camp Y-Noah; Greater Akron Musical Association, to provide scholarships for student musicians; ACCESS, Inc., to provide materials for the KATS (Kids Are Tomorrow's Strength) program; Family Services, to begin a program to motivate and develop leaders in the deaf community; and Healthy Connections Network, to offer health care for uninsured and at-risk families.

Leadership Akron Class 17 built its philanthropic budget with $10,000 in start-up funding from the Burton D. Morgan Foundation and then added a $10,000 matching grant from the GAR Foundation. In addition, in the Mayor's State of the City speech in February, Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic requested $20,000 through Akron City Council to bolster this community-minded effort as it sought to spur agencies forward to pursue several Imagine Akron: 2025 goals.

Leadership Akron, One Cascade Plaza, is an independent, nonprofit educational program with a mission to expand leadership in community service. It provides tomorrow's leaders with the training and networking infrastructures they will need if they are to contribute to the growth of the Greater Akron area.

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