Meyer Foundation Awards $2.8 Million in Grants

At its May 2 meeting, the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation board of directors approved 76 grants totaling more than $2.8 million in the Foundation’s four program areas of Education, Healthy Communities, Economic Security, and a Strong Nonprofit Sector. These grants will support organizations whose work collectively touches the lives of more than 100,000 low-income people in the Washington metropolitan region.

Grants awarded include:

• 26 grants totaling $1.125 million in the Economic Security program area, which supports organizations that focus on workforce development—providing literacy classes, computer training and certification, and other career and employment services—and organizations that engage in advocacy and provide legal services to enable residents to address legal status, housing, benefits, and employment crises.
• 22 grants totaling $840,000 in the Education program area, focused on programs to help young people from low-income families make successful transitions from middle school to high school and from high school to post-secondary education.
• 20 grants totaling $770,000 in the Healthy Communities program area, which supports organizations that provide healthcare and other essential services and advocacy organizations working to advance policy changes that will lead to lasting improvements in the lives of low-income people throughout the region.
• 8 grants totaling $245,000 in the Strong Nonprofit Sector program area, which supports organizations that work to increase the effectiveness, sustainability, and influence of the Foundation’s grantees and the region’s nonprofit sector, and to strengthen philanthropy in the region.

The $2.8 million in grants awarded this May represents a slight increase over grants awarded at the same time last year—the first year-to-year growth in the Foundation’s grantmaking since 2007.

For a complete listing of grant awards, please visit our website. For more information about the Meyer Foundation visit www.meyerfoundation.org. Find us on Twitter (@meyerfoundation), Facebook and LinkedIn.