www.memphis.edu/scgrants

5/25/2011

For Immediate Release

Memphis, TN:  The Strengthening Communities Initiative (SCI) recently announced grant recipients for the 2011 funding cycle.

Grants awarded were as follows: 

• Capacity Building Grants -Awarded to community nonprofits partnered with University of Memphis faculty for 18-month projects:
  • Interactive GIS for Faith-Based Organizing – $18,000. A partnership between the Center for Transforming Communities and Dr. Esra Ozdenerol of the Department of Earth Sciences that aims to create a strategic plan using community mapping for multiple shalom community sites to be site tested at the corners at Highland Heights.
  • Le Moyne-Owen Expanding Assets and Steering Initiative (EASI) – $18,000. A partnership between the Le Moyne-Owen College Community Development Corporation (LOCCDC) and Dr. Gregory Washington of the Division of Social Work to develop culturally-centered youth mentoring in South Memphis using drumming circles that build upon the cultural assets of youth and their elders. 

• Small Grants - Awarded to community nonprofits for 12-month projects:
  • Cooper Young Community Association Alley Project - $2,500.
  • Glenview-Edgewood Manor Area Association Arboretum Study - $2,500.
  • United Housing, Inc. Scenic Hills Dam Education Project in Raleigh - $2,500.
  • WesTCORE, Inc. Neighborhood Based Prisoner Re-Entry Centers - $2,500. 

“We are very pleased to be able to make our fourth annual grant awards,” said Susan Schmidt, Executive Director of the Institute for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at the University of Memphis.

 The Strengthening Communities Initiative grants are generously funded through a collaboration between the University of Memphis, the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis and the United Way of the MidSouth.  SCI programs are designed to build capacity in neighborhoods and community organizations while furthering the engaged scholarship activities of the university faculty.  SCI is part of the new Institute for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership (IPNL) in the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy which leverages the expertise and dedication of faculty, staff and community partners through collaborative research to promote effective philanthropy, advance nonprofit leadership practice and strengthen the nonprofit sector through education and research.

 Grant Recipients will receive funding in early August for their projects.  The application process for the 2012 SCI funding cycle will begin in October. Applications are due at the end of January each year.

 For more information on the initiative, grant award requirements and funded projects visit www.memphis.edu/scgrants.