The Stark Community Foundation is seeking applications for the Child Poverty Program.

As Protecting Stark’s Future: A Call to Coordinate Child Poverty Strategies states, transformation is underway in their community. The Strengthening Stark report articulated a framework to achieve economic transformation focused on job creation, job preparation, and job access.

Goals

They are interested in investing in projects at the neighborhood level. They are not looking to fund individual organizations working in isolation. Desired projects will noticeably strive to improve a specific neighborhood in terms of addressing child poverty. These projects will clearly outline its goals and objectives and demonstrate the ability to increase community impact with a one-year planning grant or an implementation grant.

Projects must produce significant impact in addressing the following areas:

• increasing the earnings of families
• promote activities that integrate financial planning

Funding Categories

• Planning Grants: One-year planning grants up to a maximum of $15,000 per project
• Implementation Grants:  Implementation grants may be one-to-three years with a maximum award of $100,000 per project.

Eligibility Criteria

• Organizations must serve Stark County and must specify a neighborhood focus area.
• Organizations eligible to apply for funding include: tax-exempt private agencies, 501(c)(3) organizations (that are recognized as public charities), and government entities located within Stark County or directly benefiting Stark County.
• Organizations with religious affiliations will be considered for funding only if the project for which they seek support addresses the needs of the wider community without regard to religious beliefs.

For more information, visit Stark Community Foundation.