Community West Foundation Awards $963,000 In Grants For First Quarter

(from left to right) Lynda Kovach, Executive Director at West Shore Meals on Wheels, Lauren Walsh, volunteer at West Shore Meals on Wheels and Marty Uhle, President and CEO at Community West Foundation 

The Community West Foundation Board of Directors approved $785,000 in first quarter grants to non-profit agencies that provide food or refugee services located in Cleveland, western Cuyahoga and Lorain Counties. An additional $178,000 was distributed through their Community Impact Fund bringing the grand total to $963,000. The Community Impact Fund was established for donors who wanted to invest alongside Community West’s mission knowing that contributions would be distributed directly to grantees quarterly.

Community West Foundation announced in December they were reorganizing their grant cycle process for 2022 focusing on specific areas of its mission. For the first quarter, the Foundation fielded applications from organizations that focus on water access and hunger elimination as well as those that aid our refugee and immigrant neighbors. Grant recipients include:

• Beyond the Walls Food Pantry
• Building Hope in the City
• Catholic Charities Office of Migration and Refugee Services
• CHN Housing Partners (Water Champions)
• Drink Local Drink Tap
• Greater Cleveland Food Bank
• Hunger Network
• ID Crisis Collaborative
• Joshua and Caleb Leadership Center
• Refugee Services Collaborative
• Second Harvest Food Bank
• Society of St. Vincent de Paul Food Centers
• The Refugee Response
• Trials for Hope
• US Committee for Refugees & Immigrants
• Village Project
• West Shore Meals on Wheels
• Westlake United Methodist Church – Food Pantries
• Youth Bee Works

Four additional non-profit agencies outside of the focus area were funded after being deferred at the end of 2021 including: Cleveland Christian Home, Linking Employment Abilities and Potential (LEAP), Safe Families for Children Alliance, and Transformations by Cleveland Angels.

The other quarterly grantmaking focus-areas for 2022 include:
• Second Quarter: Housing and homeless services; Incarcerated or those who are re-entering society.
• Third Quarter: Mental/physical health programming; services for the disabled; addiction treatment and recovery.
• Fourth Quarter: Community Service Organizations that provide a variety of services and any other unique programs not specifically listed.

About Community West Foundation:
The mission of Community West Foundation is to advance the health and well-being of our community. The staff and Board of Directors are guided by the words in Matthew 25:35-40. While their mission is based on these teachings, they are not affiliated with any particular religion. Their grantees, friends and donors come from diverse faiths and practices.
For more information, contact Community West Foundation at 440-360-7370 or visit communitywestfoundation.org