Fremont Area Community Foundation recently awarded $3.2 million in its final community grant round of 2024. In both 2024 community grant rounds, the Community Foundation awarded nearly $6 million total.
Grant support was awarded to a variety of organizations and programs serving Newaygo County residents, including programs centered on watershed restoration, career and college access, literacy, hunger prevention, and more. Most grants targeted one of the Community Foundation’s three focus areas: community development, education, and poverty reduction.
The Newaygo County Environmental Coalition was awarded an $18,000 grant, along with an additional $2,000 from a donor advised fund. The grant will support the Healthy Habitats Project and encourage awareness, education, and engagement around restoring native habitats. Along with regional partners, the group will train “citizen scientists” for specialized volunteer projects and species data collection.
Newaygo County received a $13,600 grant to purchase and place 32 bleeding control kits within each public school building in the county. The kits are a goal of the Newaygo County Safe School Collaborative, a countywide partnership focused on addressing school safety issues and planning. The bleeding control kits help to address potentially life-threatening bleeding that can occur after emergencies, accidents, or disasters. Kits contain essential equipment school employees can use while waiting for trained responders to arrive.
Rooms of Refuge, a new program of Love INC, was awarded a $74,500 grant with an additional $500 from a donor advised fund. This program provides a rotating emergency shelter for people without housing. It utilizes local church partners as host sites that provide an evening meal and a private space for guests to sleep. In the morning, transportation is provided to a day center where guests have access to laundry, kitchen, and other facilities that help them keep up on day-to-day activities while they work to secure housing.
The Community Foundation accepts community grant applications online twice each year. The next deadline is March 3. For more information, visit facommunityfoundation.org/grants.
