Grants for Arts, Health, and Community Awarded

The Community Foundation, through its Community Priorities grant cycle, is responding to requests from nonprofit partners in the areas of art, history, culture, health, and broad community needs. Thanks to donors who look to the Community Foundation to make a difference close to home, grants have been awarded to nonprofits who will work on bringing art and music to our communities, expanding safe places for children, maintaining healthy environments for people of all ages, bringing more affordable housing options to our communities, and much more.  

Organizations like the Great Lakes Center for the Arts, Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra, and Charlevoix Circle of Arts work hard every year to bring a variety of art, music, performances, and education to our communities. These organizations will all receive funding to bring art and cultural experiences to Charlevoix County, including an upcoming orchestra concert that will compare music by the Beatles to the more traditional “The Four Seasons” by Astor Piazolla. Additionally, the Beaver Island Historical Society will use grant funding to improve art displays during the Island’s popular Museum Week, while the Charlevoix Historical Society will work on cataloguing, digitizing, and archiving a large collection of historic documents and photos.

Healthy communities require quality care for people of all ages and abilities. The McLaren Northern Michigan Foundation will use grant funds to help replace fetal heart monitors in their birthing center. The Bergmann Center will purchase a new handicap accessible lift van to help transport clients to and from center activities and programs. Hospice of Michigan will supply hospice patients with technology and a special app, called WEconnect, that will provide 24/7 access to a virtual team of nurses and social workers to help people through their most difficult time.

Child and Family Services of Northwestern Michigan will use their grant to recruit more foster families in Charlevoix County. When children are placed in foster care, the goal is to disrupt their lives as little as possible. To keep children in their school and community, more foster families are needed. Similarly, the Safe Families for Children program, operated by Bethany Christian Services, also works with helping families to weather the storms of life and will be recruiting host families in Charlevoix County so that children who need temporary safe families won’t have to be displaced from what is most familiar to them.  

Two organizations are working on addressing the need for housing in Charlevoix County. Housing North will use grant funds awarded to collaborate with partners and design specific accessory dwelling unit (ADU) plans. They will also assist homeowners with the process for adding an ADU to their property. In addition to working on building a home in East Jordan this year, Northwest Michigan Habitat for Humanity will use grant funding awarded to help generally support their mission and core work to bring more affordable housing to Charlevoix County.

In total, nearly $150,000 in grants have been awarded through the 2021 Community Priorities grant cycle. Click here for a complete list of grants awarded.

The next grant cycle is called Geographic Enrichment. Applications will be available after August 1, 2021. This cycle will focus on requests from eligible nonprofit partners that serve the specific communities of Beaver Island, Boyne City, Charlevoix, and East Jordan. In 2021, requests for general support are being accepted in all grant cycles. Applications are due by Friday, October 1, 2021.  The Community Foundation welcomes inquiries about applying for grants anytime. Visit our Apply for a Grant page to learn more, or contact Ashley Cousens at acousens@c3f.org to get started.